Originally Posted by
Oldairhead
Billy,
He sent me the photos to include on the website. I categorized it as late 60's because the two badges only seemed to occur during the last years of the marque. Also, as a mid tier or lower frame because of the dropouts. It is all speculation however since there seem to be no available catalogs to reference.
Thanks for the input!
From doing my own research (mostly using your website) I figured that it was a mid to late 50s mid tier model because it has the same headset as the 1959 on your site as well as the paint scheme from the 1952. Another strong piece of evidence is the Champion of the World badge might mean someone on their team won a race that year. Rik Van Steenbergen won the 1954 Milan-San Remo on the Girardengo Team.
http://bikeraceinfo.com/classics/Milan-San%20Remo/1954-milan-san-remo.html
He was also 1st in the World Pro Cycling Championships in 1956 and 57, wether or not he still rode for Girardengo, I don't know.
http://bikeraceinfo.com/worlds/worlds-1957.html
I'll have better photos soon and plan on building it to ride. Haven't bought any parts yet because I don't know exactly how old it is.