Classic & Vintage - Giordana bikes

Hi All,
Can anybody shed some light on this Giordana bike?


http://bbs.ondemandsoftware.com/downloads/download.jpg


I've had a for a few years and I thinking of selling it. Any advice on what it's worth?
The known history:
My Dad's friend bought it from a pawn shop about 7 years ago then give it to my dad. I've owned it for about 4 years now. It's in good condition. It's the easily the fastest bike I've ever ridden.

they were contract-built in Italy for the clothing company (Gita). I never got a definitive word on who did the building, but it was generally a high-quality product (possibly Billato) and imported by one of the big importers in the US, like 10-speed Drive or such. Somebody on this forum will know more details, I'm sure. Better pics, and from the drive side, would be helpful.

Well, I was a little drunk one night and on ebay and found myself putting in the minimum bid on this beauty (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150175934181&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=005). Now a few days later, I'm the proud owner! Only one problem: I don't need another road bike and I live in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. So I'm trying to figure out as much as I can before I sell it to recoup. My frame looks a little different from yours, KennyR. The pic isn't so good, but mine has internal cable routing on the top tube, which maybe means it's later or higher end? I don't know. I do know if you do a search for Giordana on the Classic and Vintage forum, you can get some interesting info and pics of other Giordanas which appear to be either later models or higher end models...nicer paint jobs anyway.
Here's what I was able to find out about the brand in general, but I'd be interested in hearing more about my particular model if anyone knows anything, since the seller didn't do a very good job of describing in the ebay post.


The Giordana bike brand was the house label for Gita, a supplier of bikes and clothing. Gita, the United States distributor for Merckx, Pinarello, and De Rosa bike lines at the time, wanted a high-end frameset that would offer great quality at a slightly lower price point than the other brands they carried. Thus, the Giordana was born! Gita enlisted the assistance of Dario Pegoretti in designing the prototypes of the frames before they turned the final production over to Billato. Frame and fork were built in Italy using French Excell high-end steel tubing.

Billato is a contract master frame builder in Italy who made many frames that carried other famous labels, such as Ciocc, LeMond, Masi, Cinelli Super Corsa, Concorde, and others.


This info above says the tubing is Excell, but I've heard various things, and mine is missing a tubing sticker. Mine has Gs pantographed on the fork crown, and Giordana pantoed on the seat stays at the cluster, Columbus dropouts, and "Giordana - Made In Italy" pantoed on the brake bridge.

When I get some better shots I'll post those and hopefully someone knows a little somethin' somethin'. KennyR, you do the same and let's see what we got...

Thanks!

Seller says it's SLX, which I'd expect would be more likely than Excell, which is just very rare as it wasn't around for long... but true, Giordana was one of the frames that used it. In any case it will undoubtably be a fine ride with whatever tubing was used. Check the inside bottom of the steerer for the Columbus "rifling".

thanks, unworthy1! just checked and the tubes are rifled, which i guess confirms the SLX. Didn't have much faith in the buyer from the rest of his description, so that's good to know. KennyR, here's a good pic of what rifling looks like (http://www.pbase.com/rjnbiker/image/68519257) inside the tubes if you're curious.
been searching around all night and that's about all i can find for now. more later as I figure it out...

Usually that's a pretty strong indication that the entire tubeset is Columbus, but there are going to be exceptions: mixed brand tubing and non-original forks for example.

Friend raced for a team sponsored by them (Juniors). Even as young and light riders they broke all their frames pretty quickly - all cracked, not crash type breaks. Those were the Excell ones, light but fragile. The seat stays met together at the top of the top tube, not sure what that's called. I was thinking about buying one because I really liked his frame but then it broke.

SLX ones I don't know.

cdr

Some of the original Giordanas were designed and built by Dario Pegoretti and the bulk of the production were picked up by Billato. Do a search over at the Serotta forum for more details.

I've had my '92 Spica for a couple of years...beautiful bike. Columbus TSX tubing. Originally built as a geared roadie, I altered it a hair.

55/Rad

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/1045/gfullwidebigok7.jpg

"Well, I was a little drunk one night and on ebay and found myself putting in the minimum bid on this beauty"

funny stuff. I have done the drunkin bidding before. Thankfully, I've never won one!

my boss gave me one (http://flickr.com/photos/73753172@N00/1352942411/).
he raced lots of criteriums on it and trained on it, and he's a very large fella. it was a fine riding bike but too large for me. sold it a to a friend with a longer torso than i have. columbus whatever the sticker says on my flickr photos.

Thanks for all the great info, everyone. 55/Rad, I admired your rides in other threads when I was doing some searching, and they are verrrrrry good looking. Bravo.
Anyhow, I was able to take it outside to get a better look at it in the sun this afternoon and saw that the decals had come off the top tube near the head tube, but in the right light you can see the outline of where the model decal used to be. It is a Polaris. Good to know.
I also took a closer look all the way around and pulled out the measuring tape, and instead of being a 58cm, it is a 62cm. And it's stamped as such on the bb shell and right rear dropout. Soooooo, even if I wanted to build this thing up and ride it, it wouldn't fit. And reselling a 62cm is a much slimmer market than it would be for a 58cm. I've contacted the seller and hopefully we can work something out. grrrrrr......

Time to get a breathalizer installed on the computer!

Thanks for the info All,
I ended up giving the bike to a friend who wants to start biking to work.



Kenny

Lucky friend!