hersefan@comcast.net wrote:
> The other thing that begs the question is the frame number. Three
> digits. Three digits is very early Cinelli, in my limited experience.
Jay Sexton
Sebastopol, CA
> Looking at Hiroshi's site, I'm not sure the dropout dating is so
> clear. And in any case, the frame in question appears to have
> dropouts from 3 different eras. And the possibility that some were
> changed out. And it is also possible as others have pointed out that
> early dropouts can be dug out of the bin and used on a later frame.
>
> Just seems unlikely to be an early frame given the late lugs and the
> late apparent headbadge drilling.
>
> Mike Kone in Boulder CO
>
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: Jay Sexton <jvs@sonic.net>
>
> > I only wrote the following in response to Mike Kone:
> >
> > Mebbe so, but what about those open C dropouts. Wouldn't these
> pre date the
> > dropouts with the spring holes?
> >
> > Jay Sexton
> > Sebastopol, CA
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > To my eyes, the frame looks nearly identical to the one I had on
> ebay last week
> > that didn't hit $700 (sold later off ebay for a good bit more,
> all very
> > surprising). The dropouts on Dale's bike do look like later ones
> (the clue to
> > the one I was selling as likely having had a dropout replacement
> I think). The
> > one I sold was certainly built around 1959 to 1961. I'd peg the
> date of the bike
> > in question as being from 1958 to even as late as 1967 - with
> the dropouts > pushing the build date to the later period as wise
> Harvey Sachs points out.
> >
> > Cinelli Serial numbers from what I can tell are generally
> meaningless - a
> > "stroll" through the Cupertino log book years ago showed very
> weak correlation
> > between year and serial number, although bikes sold in very
> close time to one
> > another often had close numbers. But those batches of similar
> numbers were not
> > sequential. Quite maddening!
> >
> > Another clue would be if the bike in question accomodated the
> reproduction
> > headbadge without difficulty - if so it is a late 50's bike or
> later. The
> > really hard-to-find earlier bikes used a larger size headbadge
> with screws for
> > fastening farther apart.
> >
> > Mike Kone in Boulder CO