coelcanth

nothing spectacular,
but i bought this bike from an old fellow yesterday and thought i might start a thread to distill and collect information regarding Chiordas..
seems they were a small Italian builder that eventually fell under the Bianchi conglomeration.. can anyone add anything ?

I guess this bike to be from 1961 or slightly later
unknown tubing with maybe nervex lugs ?
unknown hubs with a lion or some kind of mythical beast.. look similar to old campagnolo or fb.
i imagine everything to be original excepting saddle, pedals, and probably the steel clincher rims

i think my favorite bit might be the original bikeshop's label... this bike probably never left brooklyn (once arriving from italy) until today ! do any new yorkers remember what the old NI exchange was for ??

divineAndbright

I dont know anything about it, but I have to say that is a lovely looking bike! beauty

iab

With a little elboe grease, that should turn into one fine looking bike. Have fun!

Serendipper 

Those lugs are sweet. So is the paint. That bike deserves a full rubdown with beeswax and a toothbrush!

jjvw

Nice bum bars! That paint looks like it might be really cool. Original? Excellent find.

jet sanchEz

I love it! Any pics of the seat cluster? Nice.

unworthy1

One of the nicest old Chiordas I have seen...you are right, they were absorbed by Bianchi, in fact they, or their contractor, probably built some of the "crappy" Bianchis from the bike boom era that had the bullet-point seat stay caps and gaspipe weight. Chiordas sold in the US were typically like those, although this one is a nice departure. There was a blue "Team" model that was altogether better than the typical Chiroda and was marketed/modeled after the bike ridden by Gismondi to a world record...but probably built by somebody else (Bianchi?) with Chiorda labels added. Clean it up and put a decent saddle on it, it'll be nice.

Rabid Koala

That looks a lot like the "mystery" Italian bike I got from the LBS that I worked in back in the 70's. It came from a police auction with a crappy repaint and no headbadge or decals.

Nice find!

coelcanth

i can't believe you guys like the paint ! it's sort of a lime-pea/puke green over chrome
i think i like it too though ! there's also some patches of blue.. not sure where those fit in

it's probably not one of chiorda's best.. it has a pretty plain seatlug with the bullet seatstays tacked on the side..
but it has some nice parts !
i started cleaning them up tonight.. they are WAY better off than i first thought.. the years of grime and dust protected them well. not a spot of rust anywhere.. you can't leave bikes outside in new york !
too bad about the broken front derailleur cage though.. anyone has any spare gran sport parts lying around ??

jjvw

That lime-pea/puke green makes the scab red really pop!

coelcanth

if anyone's interested, i found some more markings on the hubs..
there is a crown over a shield crest with a long-tailed fierce animal on it
underneath is marked "CIDNEO EXTRA"

the freewheel is marked "G. CAIMI CASTANO ITALIA"

they look very much like the old campagnolo gran sport 3 piece hubs but they have a different drilling pattern in the flanges

divineAndbright

The paint is the best part, aside from the lugwork! I'd love to find a bike with a paint job like that.. kinda reminds me of these multicolored rocketshaped hard candy you could buy when I was a kid (probably took them off the market cause kids could stab themselves or others with it). yumm

coelcanth

who made these hubs ??

Wino Ryder

Man those parts cleaned up great. I love those high flange hubs.

Clean that bad boy up real good, frame and all, and post some more pictures of it.

Be sure and straighten out them handlebars too, while your at it!

coelcanth

thanks, i'll definitely update when i build the wheels !

ok, after closely inspecting the hubs i have come to the conclusion that these were made by FB, Campagnolo's contractor for the manufacture of the early Gran Sport hubs..
the only difference i can see is the missing second set of holes in the flanges but now i can clearly see a faint outline where these holes would be drilled !
ii guess they wanted to save money and the forging or some machining process left these marks behind ??

one weird thing: this front hub has an 8mm axle
also, looking at pics it seems some GS front hubs have 8 big holes and some have 9.. i wonder if this is a date thing ??

lokerola

Keepu us updated as you get this together - I want to see it finished and cleaned up!

juvela

wrt the CIDNEO hubs:

the inside diameter of the barrels is too small to accept a hollow axle so conversion to quick release is not an option.

frame is contructed with Agrati "Roma" series lugset.

Chiorda did a tremendous amount of private labeling. most of their bikes we see have someone else's name on them.

love the bicycle. please post when you have her back together!

T-Mar

Hmm, previous post to yours is from 2006, the OP hasn't posted to the forums since 2010. I doubt we're going to get an update.

juvela

Thank you T-Mar for the heads up.

One might think that a person with even half a mind would have noticed the date.

I shall needs be pay better attention to this in future. Thank you.