I had the fortune this past weekend to pick up an absolutely immaculate Alfa Romeo Red with white panels "early 1980s" 58cm De Rosa Pista from a local here in NYC. Apparently the bike was built for the Alfa Romeo/De Rosa team that raced out of the NYC area in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and this bike went to one of the team managers, who has then stored it for the last 20+ years. There's only 2-3 scratches on the frame, and it's got a full Record Pista group (including the less-often-seen low-flange Record Pista hubs, tied and soldered to Ambrosio rims) and pantographed Cinelli/De Rosa stem and Cinelli bars. Basically unridden, with the original Clement tires still on the bike.
I've been trying to dig around online to figure out what year this bike may actually have been built, but I'm a bit stymied. The frame does /not/ have any cutouts on the lugs -- only the De Rosa pantographing on the seatstay caps, and the fully chromed fork has no pantographing on the crown either. The only serial on the bottom bracket is "71". The head tube badge shows the nested hearts over a world-champion striped diamond, but no "D" inside the heart. Tubing sticker is "Tubi Rinforzati Garantiti - Acciaiao Speciale" Columbus.
Any ideas?
I've only got one photo of the bike thus far --
http://www.flickr.com/
The seller was clearly unhappy to part with the bike, but it just wasn't his size. He's got an "early 70s" Pogliaghi that's only been ridden on a trainer in the parlor as well!
sasha "forza italia" eysymontt, nyc.
---
,+'^'+ sasha eysymontt
sashae at gmail dot com - http://subtle.org/
`+,.,+` new york city.