Some of the mail-order houses were selling Austro-Daimler bare frames like this one in the early 1980's for around $200. The buyer could outfit it with whatever he wanted. I think they were Reynolds 531 tubes. They built up into pretty good rides. A-D also sold a line of complete bikes. The Ultimas were their top of the line; all of them I saw were a candy purple color.
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My C&V Bikes:
1972 Bottecchia Professional, 1972 Legnano Olympiade Record,
1982 Colnago Super, 1987 Bottecchia Team C-Record,
1988 Pinarello Montello, 1990 Masi Nuova Strada Super Record,
1995 Bianchi Campione d'Italia, 1995 DeBernardi Thron