Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - anyone know anything about casati?

I found this guy selling this bike for in my area and I'm gonna check it out today or tomorrow...

Its a 55.5 casati track frame. Its a gold line racing edition. It has special seat stays and a vented bb shell. standard 120mm rear spacing and 100mm front. Includes bb and some sugino's with a 47t chainring. he will throw the headset on as well. Says the geometry is very tight, but he has never had a problem with overlap. lugged, not drilled for brakes. Oh yea, i have a seatpost for it too. Says price is $400 firm.

Anyone know any history of Casati? Any weird issues i should be aware of with this bike? Is the price decent... thanks!

Good price, great frames, very tight clearances. Italian. Buy it.

yum, i'd buy it if it was my size.

sheldon says:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-a-f.html#casati

Roomate had a bright pink Casati. ****ing sick bike. His overlap was a ton but it was a sweet bike. Ended up selling it for a Mikelson. Get it.
Rob

I ride a red lugged Casati Monza track frame and love the ride. Quick response, tough (got hit by a SUV on Valencia and no damage), old school craftmanship, tight geometry, 3 generation Italian family making bikes, etc. Great bike.

my friend evan rides a casati monza as well. amazing bike. tight clearances, terrific handling, hott... he loves it. he keeps wanting to retire it, but he can't... he's a addicted to it robert palmer style.

kinjo, i dig the duchamp avatar.

i have a casati monza track as well. tight as can be, italian craftsmanship, tough paint too. great price, go for it.

I like mine.

Insane...colorful, TNCLR

3 casatis in sf. i know of a 4th too thats not a member here. we should have a casati pride day.

3 casatis in sf. i know of a 4th too thats not a member here. we should have a casati pride day.

oh totally.

casatis are fresh!

Justin, You Are A Dork.

Dennis, go buy some matching valve caps.

I like mine.

awesome!

Damn J - the red rims are nice.

The first real bike I ever had was a Casati. It was awesome.

Well, I am still waiting on this guy...

In the meantime I am going to look at this Andre Bertin track bike later today... Anyone Know anything about Andre Bertin??? $200 w/minor chips, not shure about the year yet...

4 Casati track bikes in SF? Makes me love this city even more knowing that others are out there.

Ok, I finnaly got to see this guys Casati... Its real nice except its been repainted solid flat white... The bike fits me real good but that repaint is killing me.... I was hoping for original paint and decals... You think that price $400 is too steep that he is asking... should I just keep on looking? I don't need another bike "right now" but the sooner the better....

decals are pretty inexpensive, or you could have it restored. or just get used to white. or repaint it yourself for cheap. there are options. if it fits and you like the frame, go for it. its hard to find a nice, vintage, italian, lugged steel track frame these days and that is a nice price for certain. or try and bargain, offer a little less and use the old "well, she's gonna need work...." routine.

the paint isn't original. its a rattlecan job. when he got the bike a couple years ago, the powdercoating wasn't original, and it was done very poorly (very thick), so that's the reason for the spray paint.

About how much can a restore cost?
I'm thinking Paint removal, clean then prime, paint and clear coat... or should it be powder coated? How much is that? I want to try to factor this into the cost of the frame and see if he is interested... Since this is my winter time build-up project i have the time to do this...

stripped and re-powder coated depends on the shop, but figures from members on here seem to point to as low as $75 (frame and fork) to as high as $200. i'd say $100 is a safe bet. i know its the same price for 1 frame as it is for 2 or 3 at most powder coat places, so maybe if you found a friend that wanted the same color you could split the cost. if you could find the decals (good luck!) then they could probably fix them on there and clearcoat over however that might bring their cost up a bit... i'm sure though you can level with the powder coat people and say "hey, its just a bike frame, it will take you like 2 minutes labor and practically no materials..." and they might be down to spend some more time on it for you.

if you wanted to reallllllly restore it, www.cycleart.com (or something like that). they can fully restore it with any color paint plus factory original decals, chroming, etc. i think that place does it for like $250 starting... but could probably easily get up to $400 or more. i imagine that's a bit out of focus. i dont know how attached you are to having a period correct, restored casati. if you are a casati collector, or have always wanted one, then it's no problem. but you could probably look around longer and find a similar vintage italian lugged steel track frame... or spend a little more and get a keirin frame. or more still and get custom. if you like italian and want new, look at marinoni or cramerotti. they make new frames, great great great new frames, track as can be, steel too. $600 - $700 i think? maybe less maybe more. if you could fit a 58cm, make me an offer. i have a casati track frame/fork in decent shape.

if you like italian and want new, look at marinoni or cramerotti. they make new frames, great great great new frames, track as can be, steel too. $600 - $700 i think? maybe less maybe more. if you could fit a 58cm, make me an offer. i have a casati track frame/fork in decent shape.

Hooray for canadian frames!
(Cramerotti doesn't make steel track frames anymore, but they've still got some old stock. Their main store is here in town)

I'm a 58.... hint hint

yeah, cramerotti is super slick stuff. the old stock steel frames are getting low in price, though no where near my size sadly. great stuff. retirement rumour though... my buddies in vancouver are friends with him.

yeah, cramerotti is super slick stuff. the old stock steel frames are getting low in price, though no where near my size sadly. great stuff. retirement rumour though... my buddies in vancouver are friends with him.

you're a 58? last time is was in there they still had 57, 58 and 59's. and some smaller stuff.
but that was a couple months ago.

yeah i heard about the potential retirement. Guiseppe's getting pretty old. and i hear his son isn't too interested in continuing on either. Too bad, 'cause that store is great. So many drool-worthy parts and frames - High flange DA hubs, Merlin Ti frames... - and still some super cheap everyday stuff.

so, about that Casati.....

ha. well, i am scoping a new frame that ends soon. the one and only frame i've ever really lusted for, and the first and only time i have seen one on ebay ever, in the 6 years i've been looking for it. if it happens that i win it, then the casati is gone. i'll get pics and post them, as it is relevant to this thread. its 58.5 if i'm not mistaken. bit chippy, but well loved and still gorgeous. casati's are something special.

bump, one more casati track bike for san francisco.