Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - old italian frames: brands to look for?

hi all,
i was wondering, what are some decent italian frame-makers? i see a lot of italian-sounding frames on ebay and craigslist (olmo, debernardi, serrota, colnago, etc) but since i'm not very familiar with italian bikes, i never know which ones are good and which ones aren't. are there any (preferably not super expensive brands) that i should be on the lookout for? thanks!

I have a guerciotti and love it

I have a guerciotti and love it

What an awesome bike a Guerciotti is. Do you have one with pantographed parts? I dream of someday owning one with a full campy pantograph set... Someday!

hi all,
i was wondering, what are some decent italian frame-makers? i see a lot of italian-sounding frames on ebay and craigslist (olmo, debernardi, serrota, colnago, etc) but since i'm not very familiar with italian bikes, i never know which ones are good and which ones aren't. are there any (preferably not super expensive brands) that i should be on the lookout for? thanks!

Sheldon Brown has a handy guide to pricing for vintage lightweights if you are looking for an older bike. The prices are outdated but the info on the history and quality of frames is very useful.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-a-f.html#alan

I actually found my guerciotti track frame in a bike junkyard of sorts...i stripped and rebuilt it, with the only original part being the campy bb....its an incredibly fun fixie to ride...lightweight and fast

The Serotta is US built.

Others to look for:
Basso
Viner
Rossin
Casati
Battaglin
Ciocc
tons more but they escape me right now.....guys....a hand.....

Dave

Masi
Mondonico
Cinelli
Gios
DeRosa

What an awesome bike a Guerciotti is. Do you have one with pantographed parts? I dream of someday owning one with a full campy pantograph set... Someday!

my friend got a pinarello roadie with all pantographed campy...and it was stolen the same night he bought it, along with his harry havnoonian track/work bike...i hwas having a party that night, and he was invited too. if he would've come to my party, he'd probably still have the pinarello.

he got the HH back, never saw the pinarello again...but then he got a merlin Ti frame for like, $800 and set it up with full '03 record and ksyriums...then he got another merlin for $500 and was gonna set it up with older dura ace 8 speed as a "winter work bike." last i heard he was gonna sell both of them because he hadn't built up the second, and he never rode the first....

...oh well.

I had a Tommasini road bike that I converted to fixie. Unfortunately, the headtube cracked right above the bottom lug - right in the heat affected zone.

Right now I have a very flashy Faggin (pronounced fajeen with a smoothed j) converted to fix. I dig it b/c it's very loud visually - pantographed seatpost, stem, crankarms, and chainring. But, I can see that the frame was put to together like crap. Beware of crappy italian quality from the 80's.

...yeah. some bianchis from the 70s and 80s are complete and utter ****. dropouts like paper, lugs that look like pipe fittings...just all over nasty.

Love my DeBernardi. I might only trade it for a Cinelli but that's because they seem cooler and I can be a sucker for that.

I have a Chesini that I'm building up right now. Italian steel with beautiful lugs (hearts cut out) and some cool decals.

Seriously, aren't ALL Itialian frames decent? Are there any crappy ones?

More Italian bikes (but not crappy):

Pegoretti
Pinarello
Benotto
Tomasso
Colnago

Pogliaghi! When they made by Sante Pogliaghi.

Eddy Merckx makes bikes.

Eddy Merckx makes bikes.

yeah, but he's Belgian.

I Just bought a chesini track bike. I'd like to know more about it. Any suggestions?

my favorite Italian track frames would be Gios Torino, Cinelli, Leganno, Frejus, and Bottechia.

I've been thinking a lot about just spending the mullah and getting a new Cinelli steel track frame while the last of the real mccoy's are still available.

Mike

Someone gave me an old Columbus Zullo frame, but it was crashed. Nice frame though.

I have a Marinoni road frame. Kinda Italian kinda Canadian. Great lug work and all columbus slx. Currently my road bike frame but in a few years when I have one made she will be a fixie.

I'm still working on my moser. That is Italian.

medici

Romani

Gianni Motta.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/Italy.html

Romoni_63,

I posted some photos awhile back of my Romani road frame in this (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=60332&highlight=romani) thread.

SteveE

I gots me a pinarello trevisio roadie, i love it!

Benotto is Mexican, not Italian.

Almost all the brands listed made some low end models that are not that great. Some of the Atala's and Bottechia's especially are real crappy.

Benotto used to be made in Italy, pre mid/late 80's.

Italvega was a good Italian frame.
I'd take a Masi (pre california). I'd
really like to find a mid 60's Pogliaghi thats
one of my holygrail bikes.

Marty

I stand corrected on the Benotto's.
A Pogliaghi would indeed be a great find.

I stand corrected on the Benotto's.
A Pogliaghi would indeed be a great find.

I had a great beater Pogliaghi. It'd been crashed badly enough to bend the top tube, so John over at Land Shark had welded a sleeve over the bend, added top-tube cable routing and canti bosses, and pulled off the derailleur braze-on. I built it up as a cross bike and christened it the "Pogli-Ugly". I think someone from my old shop is still riding it.

I've got a Pogliaghi, but don't ride it much as I'm so paranoid about the damn thing. Great bike though, and great as art on my wall as well.

OK - since this was resurrected....

That Faggin I have - right rear dropout broke - like snapped in two.

AND THEN...

The left seatstay cap split in half.

Fortunately, my ghetto brazing skills fixed both of them.

Beware of crappy italian bikes.

Umberto Marnati (OOOOOOOOOOhm-beeeeaeaeaeaeaer-toe..................Maaaaaaaarna-teeee!)

I just finished building up a Gios Super Record...sweet ride!

Simoncini

are the new Bianchi bikes better than those from 25 years ago ?

Frejus are crap. if you come across one, contact me immediately. I will make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. especially if it's chrome.

:D

did i miss it.. or did no one say my favorite... ciocc

did i miss it.. or did no one say my favorite... ciocc

I think it was already mentioned. I don't think I've seen Somec, the most unItalian sounding name ever.

Might have been mentioned earlier, but Viner makes a good product and I own one. Small company, handmade in Italy. Good craftsmanship and price.

I too also thought that the Benotto that I'm riding now was Italian.
I also have a Carrera, is that from Italy, or Germany? :roflmao:

I was at TrackStar the other day and they had the new "Bareknuckle" frames. Not Italian sounding but it is. Deda Elementi tubing made in Italy in a small frame shop. No stickers or markings on the frame. Frames were going for around $550. I'm sure the powder coats on these are more durable than the paint on my Cinelli.

i got a steel cinelli frame for $100AUD at a used bike shop outside Melbourne....bargain!!! the guy that owned the place found it behind some junker car in his garage. he'd forgotten he had it. it came with no name wheels on bladed spokes and campy record hubs. how great a deal was that?

I was at TrackStar the other day and they had the new "Bareknuckle" frames. Not Italian sounding but it is. Deda Elementi tubing made in Italy in a small frame shop. No stickers or markings on the frame. Frames were going for around $550. I'm sure the powder coats on these are more durable than the paint on my Cinelli.

i really want one of those. i feel like selling my surly frame and getting one, but $550 just seems like a little too much. if it were $100 less i'd pull the trigger.