miamijim

....."there's a bike". But it in a an inquisitive kind of way. We've been here 3 days and haven't seen anything, its a bicycle ghost town. There've been the occasional 'WalMart' style bikes and I did see an Atala Portour along with 3 guys on road bikes one being a S-Works struggling up a switchback.

This isnt a vacation, my finacee's aunt in ailing and they haven't seen each other in over 10 years, this has been an overly emotional trip for her. She doesnt know bikes and will occasionaly ask, "is that a good one" while pointing at something from the local department store. As we're winding our way through the narrow cramped side streets of this medieval city on our way back the hotel outside the fortressed city walls she said it....."there's a bike" She sounded inquisitive yet joking yet hoping to have found a gem. And she did.

I looked around the narrow street and saw nothing and commented, "where?" She turned, pointed and said "in there" as I followed her outstretched arm to the garage opening in the side of a 15th century building. I hesitently looked in to see an older gentleman hunched over a work bench earning his trade, he gazed my way as I blocked the incoming light. I pointed at the hanging bicycle and said with a American accent, :bicicletta!!!" to which replied, "look" in Italian. My fiancee translated and told me it was OK to go in and look at.

I was amazed. For 3 days we've seen nothing and then the proverbial 'barn find' except in this instance its a garage. The kind gentleman allowed me to take pictures and the boyish grin on my face must have obvious. He said some words in Italian which my fiancee didnt recognize, he moved a few boxes out of the way and pulled an old leather strap helmet out of a box.....and them he pulled a pair of old leather racing shoes which a strange clipless cleats nailed to bottom. He describe in Italian that the cleats were the 'premio' of their kind. Knowing 'premio' is first I was able to understand that he was telling me the Cinelli Mod 71 clipless pedals were the first of their kind.

I asked my fiancee if it was OK for me to buy.....she normaly doesnt care but this trip wasn't about me, its 100% about her and her family. She said, "sure, but do you know how much its worth?" I rolled my eyes. My inital offer was going to be 500 euros and she vehemently said NO. Not because we cant afford it but something her family instilled in her is when in Italy you barter. So I offered 300 Euros ($450) and the gentelman kindly accepted. We made arrangements for me to pick it up tomorrow but circumstances allowed me to pick it up this afternoon.

Intentionaly leaving all of you in suspence I'll only say it has Cinelli clipless pedals, Clemete tubular tires, mostly pre CSPC Campy components, some SR bits, Columbus tubing, long thin point lugs with cutouts, portacatena dropouts, a MASI inscribed Silca pump a chromed 3T stem and a fully chromed fork. It was also built in the city we're staying in.

I did a BikeForum 'advanced search' (yes, I know) and there were 'no results found'.

She's a beauty. (my fiancee)

bbattle

medieval

DiabloScott

Cool story bro.

I suggest googling "Cinelli death cleats" when you get home.

bane

pics or it didn't happen

for serious

realestvin7

Subscribing for the ale of it.

JunkYardBike

Great story. When I read 'Masi Silca pump' I was thinking Confente, but if there are no search results, I guess it can't be that!

Give us a hint. What city? Padua?

KonAaron Snake 

I can't wait to see this Jim!

BentLink

Marry her NOW!

SteveSGP

One more vote for pics or ban.

cudak888 

Just ban him already and be done with it - he owns too many nice bikes.

-Kurt

Gary Fountain

Some people just have a mean streak. Name on frame, Photos, etc!

It was a good story though.

zandoval 

Be careful dude - You could accidentally make a big mistake in time - I would go down to a local bike club tratoria and start networking for a return trip or bike correspondence but even this might be to much - Good luck - Sounds like you are getting into a great family - Don't mess it up with bikes at this time...

Hope all turns out well for all of you...

miamijim

norskagent

coNFente?

old'76

Get on with it, man.

gomango

This is fun!

Tease 'em.

-holiday76

Clearly its a pink px10

noglider 

Congratulations on your engagement.

iab

Bent fork.

Frogbutter 

x2

Chris Chicago

cool story.

be even more impressive if you ride it home

realestvin7

No Fatties?

The cutouts resemble the Tommasini "T" to me.

No real clue of what it is though.

KonAaron Snake 

I didn't know Nelly Furtado made bikes!

Citoyen du Monde

Odd combination, the frame appears to be from the early 80's due to fork crown, brake fixation set-up and drop-outs that you described; so it is odd that the pre-CPSC components would pre-date the frame by a number of years. I suppose that given it comes from a small builder, it could simply be because their sales were so limited they may have only bought in components on an irregular basis. It can also be that the owner of the frame simply transposed parts from an earlier bike over to this frame.

miamijim

As much as i like Peugeot I'd never.....

Thanks. We've been engaged for awhile now and will be going back to Italy and staying in Rome in mid-September for a vacation/honeymoon.

Do they make pontoons for bikes?

That was my initial impression but based on where I acquired it I think the cutouts are V's not T's


Yes, it does have an odd combination of parts. I dont speak Italian and my fiancee's Italian is limited to a few key words and phrases so we couldnt get any information form the owner. Depending on circumstances I'll to go by the previous owners with my fiancee's cousin who lives in town where the bike was and has been our tour guide for the past 4 days. It would be great to find out its history and to search out the work shop where it was made.

The previous owner is clearly a Masi fan, it has a Masi stamped Silca Impero pump and a Masi G.C water bottle. Another unique feature are the Olymipc bands on the seat tube. If memory serves me correct builders are only allowed to use them if their bikes medaled in the Olympics?