[CR] Barra Frame on eBay

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Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:40:52 -0800
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
To: 'Classic Rendezvous' <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <789222.1183.qm@web82203.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Subject: [CR] Barra Frame on eBay


In addition to the Ideale saddle leather tops discussed, CR member Jaouen Bazin also has this early 50's Barra frame:

http://ebay.com/<blah>

Still pretty reasonable at $217.50 with a day and a few hours to go. There are a couple of small dents, but I don't know if that will reduce the final price. One consideration is the unique brazeon (or weldon) for the FD. It will probably be extremely difficult and expensive to source a special Barra FD. Anyone know another FD that might fit? Looking at the Barras in TGAOHB, this FD fitting seems typical of Barra. Another thing is the rather long horizonal DO's, perhaps not ideal for a touring or randonneur bike. Of course many Barras were raced, including some in the TdF. Did Barra ever use vertical DO's on touring models?

The FD fitting also will restrict the size of the large chainwheel, although there were certainly steel constructeur bikes with similar special FD fittings. That's one disadvantage of constructeur bikes. They were highly integrated with the original components, but that also means it may be difficult to change components or replace the originals half a century later.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA