Re: [CR] Early 1970s De Rosa and Colnagos

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To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 20:58:48 +0100
From: "Hilary Stone" <hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk>
Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <871943.36857.qm@web82204.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <871943.36857.qm@web82204.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR] Early 1970s De Rosa and Colnagos


Recently I have acquired two early 1970s Italian frames. The most interesting I think is the De Rosa which I found in Belgium. Although spraycan painted in white there are lots of traces of Molteni orange paint both under the white spraycan and inside the head tube and bottom bracket shell. Interestingly the lugs lack heart cutouts and the seatstay caps lack De Rosa engraving. Once all the paint is removed from the seatstay caps (including a thick layer of orange) they show signs of quite heavy filing... The bottom bracket shell and chainstays are pure De Rosa of the early 70s ... and the fork crown is the square shouldered type used by De Rosa after several sloping shoulder designs in the first two or three years of the 70s. I rather suspect this is an ex-team Molteni De Rosa. Size is 52.5cm ctc with a 55cm ctc top tube. Weight is really rather light for a frame built from Columbus SL at 1809g bare.

The other frame is a Colnago that came from Italy and was said to be late 60s but obviously is not. The forks are certainly of the type used by Colnago pre-1977/8 and it has long Campy dropouts. The frame lugs lack any Colnago cutouts and are rather crudely brazed \u2013 but the BB shell has the typical Colnago clover. The rear dropouts have some filing to the extreme rear to square the outside edge but not like most Colnagos of the period. Interestingly Scott Davis at his blog http://sexyracebicycles.blogspot.com/ has some pictures of a very similar Colnago at the Masi Xmas do. My best guess is that both these frames are lower tier Colnagos sold only on the home market. Any suggestions on either frame would be welcome.

Pictures of both can be seen in my Wool Jersey gallery: http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/hilarystone/

Hilary Stone, Bristol, British Isles