Originally Posted by
Giacomo 1
Wow, the Tommaso's are coming out of the woodwork! Where have you guys been hiding them all this time? They really look beautiful and have nice attention to detail. They look well built and have a racy looking geometry to. Nice!
So since we know that they are made in America by an American, was the "Tommaso" name a marketing gimmick to make the brand sound Italian?
As Daf says contract built in Italy just like the Geurciottis, Battaglins, some Lemonds, and a few other names owned by 10Spd Drive
Originally Posted by
LateStart
I have the Tomasso 'raw' frame below that is going to get some love and a build out. Any ideas about how to tell WHICH model of Tomasso it might be since it is free of labels. From what I have learned of the history, the importer, Ten Speed Direct, went under with unpainted frames in storage. I bought this from an SF LBS as a naked frame in about 2003 and I think it is an early 1990's model.
I have gear to build it out, but I am very up-in-the-air about colors...
Thanks for your thoughts.
I think these were just offered as tubing names and then the group applied Tomasso SL Ultegra Tomasso SLX Chorus.
Originally Posted by
daf1009
As I understand the history of Tommaso...the bikes were originally Italian and imported by Ten Speed Drive Imports (both of the ones I have owned had the TSD stickers). Eventually...and others may know the timing, but I think sometime in the 80's, the brand "became" American...so, no, I do not think that Tommaso is a "gimmick"
Based on my limited sample size of two...I highly recommend these bikes...both that I owned were great looking and riding (what more can you ask for in a bike?)...value wise, I find them to be highly variable, but mainly based on components that are on the bike. Both of mine were purchased for reasonable prices with full Dura Ace (age appropriate)...
I was never sure, but I always thought Tommaso was a made up name that sounded like Tommasini for a house brand. One of 10spd Drives gimmicks was they brought the frames in bare and used a good Dupont paint, so you could custom order any color or color scheme you wanted. We had a customer who got a CorMor frame in a hideous sort of Chartreuse Yellow with RX100 group. I think for another $200-300 he could have had a SLX Bianchi with Athena.
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