There are heart cutouts in the bottom bracket shell - at the base of the seat tube and in the forward section underneath the bottom bracket shell - I have no doubt it is a De Rosa. I am really not sure what has happened at the seatstay caps - with the paint being quite thick it is very difficult to see clearly. The chainstay bridge, seatstay bridge and rear dropout treatment are exactly the same as featured on several of the bikes on 43bikes.com I do remember reading somewhere (though cannot remember where) that the first bikes De Rosa built for Molteni had plain lugs - this may something to do with the fact there is some confusion over when Colnago finished supplying Molteni and when De Rosa started. Tomorrow I will add a few more pictures to the listing showing the heart cutouts and will attempt to clean the paint off the seatstay caps.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
Tam Pham wrote:
> On Dec 5, 2007 4:32 AM, kim klakow <Akimbo71@gmx.net> wrote:
>
>> Hilary wrote:
>>
>>> there are two De Rosa frames, a good 1980s one and a very interesting
>> mid
>>> 1970s one which is allegedly ex-Molteni team - it came from Belgium and
>>> has plain lugs without heart cutouts, slotted bottom bracket shell and a
>>> number braze-on...
>> The "Molteni" frame has awfully mashed stay caps or is that just the
>> picture?
>>
>> The auction could use some better, detailed photos if it's being alleged
> as an ex-Molteni frameset. Those seat stay caps almost look like somebody
> tried to stamp "DE ROSA" (with a big O) onto the stay caps *after* they've
> been brazed onto the frame... and with nothing to support the caps on the
> backside they collapsed/dented.
>
> Overall, the frameset looks like it could be a De Rosa but the indentation
> for chainring clearance isn't consistent with mid-70's De Rosas nor are the
> squarish reinforcements for the bridge tubes on the stays. There is the
> (better?) possibility that the frame is a Benotto, IMHO.
>
> Tam Pham
> Huntington Beach, CA - USA