On Jul 23, 2007, at 7:27 AM, Charles Andrews wrote:
> The frame of this bike is interesting:
>
> http://ebay.com/
> ViewItem&item=280136690549&ssPa
> geName=ADME:B:SS:US:1
>
> Once De Rosa began making frames with cast lugs, it appears that not
> very much work went into finishing said lugs. No thinning to speak
> of,
> and while the shorelines of the lugs were probably touched up a
> little,
> the castings were likely precise enough that not much of that was
> required either. The end result is presentable enough, but a bit
> crude
> and clunky to my eye. The lack of obvious hand-work gives those later
> De Rosa frames a strange sterility that has never done much for
> me. The
> same is true of many, if not most, of Italian frames post-1978 or so.
>
> This De Rosa appears a little different. The chromed head-lugs would
> have required polishing, so some material might have been removed, and
> might account for the thinner appearance of the lugs. But note the
> seat-lug: no chrome, but it sure looks like someone took a file to
> it,
> because it looks nice and thin.
>
> Also, these lugs look a little different from De Rosas usual of the
> time. Simpler.
>
> The older De Rosas, from before the cast-lugs, show many signs of
> hand-work, and are far more attractive than the later ones. There
> is a
> delicacy to the best ones that is hard to find in nearly any other
> frame
> similar-style frame of the period, as well as an obvious hand-wrought
> quality that is a pleasure to see.. Not all the old ones are equally
> nice, but nearly every one I've seen (not many, as they appear to be
> quite rare in this country) is extremely tasty.
>
> This one-off bike on ebay recalls some of that hand-wrought quality to
> me..and thus, I'm *really* glad its far to big for me, as I would be
> horribly tempted to bid on it. I'll be very curious to see where it
> ends.
>
> Charles Andrews
Interesting auction text: Up for auction is one of the rarest De Rosa frames ever offered on Ebay...the only 40th Anniversary De Rosa frame ever built. I sold this stunning bike new in 1993. At that time I had sold more of the commemorative De Rosa frames than any other shop in the US and had a special relationship with my sales rep at Gita Sporting Goods, the De Rosa importer. When this frame came available along with the background history associated with it, I snapped it up! Ugo De Rosa had made a special edition of his 35th anniversary frames five years prior. Gita invested in a full size run of the 35th anniversary frame, but found them slow selling to retail bike dealers as the latest advancements in ti frames and carbon forks stold the spotlight in the late 80's and early 90's. When De Rosa sent over this frame as a sample for Gita to inspect and hopefully order, Gita decided to invest on other products. This then became the only 40th Anniversario De Rosa frame produced.
The tubing in this frame is Columbus TSX tubing, their flagship tubeset before Nivachrome was introduced, with continuous rifling in the toptube, downtube, seattube and chainstays. The paint job was done specially for this bike and features a gorgeous metallic blue contrasted with brilliant metallic silver and chromed headlugs, chainstays and dropouts. The decals are also special and in perfect shape. The fork and seatstay caps are engraved De Rosa. The dropouts are stamped De Rosa. The rear brake cable is internally routed. The fork crown is the signature flat crown that Eddy Merckx used on so many of his race bikes. Eddy once told me in a visit to my shop in 1986 that the flat De Rosa crown was his favorite for cobbled roads...more supple.
This bike has the original Campagnolo 8 speed record group with 175mm cranks I assembled it with. The Cateye wireless computer shows 7055 miles. The Mavic Relex rims are true, the tires in great shape. This client has two other more utilitarian bikes that have bourn the brunt of his riding through the years. He always knew how special this De Rosa is and used it for Sunday rides in good weather. This bike has never been down. The paint and decals are in excellent shape, with very few nicks or chips. No pedals are included.
Dimensions are: seattube 60 c/c, topttube 59 c/c, head tube lenght 184mm, chainstay 41.5cm w/ 1010 style dropouts. front center (bb to ft axle) is 60.8 cm. This is a beautiful bike with the wonderful ride qualities De Rosa's are noted for. The fact that it's the only 40th Anniversary bike ever made makes it even more special.
There is no production serial number. You'll see in the photo of the bb a stamped line, which might be a 1 followed by a period. In the other bb photo in the indented cast section of the shell is DA64 which refers to the socket angle of the BB shell.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)