I bought this Giordana Capella frame a number of years ago from a fellow who sold them new. He said that it was built by Dario Pegoretti. Found out later that it was actually made by Billato.






The frame is made of Italian Oria ML25 thin wall straight gage Chrome Moly steel tubing. The 0.8mm wall thickness on the main tubes should make for a supple ride. Back in the 90's a lot of top quality Italian frames were made of Oria tubing which came in about 6 versions.

From the horse's, or rather the centaur's mouth:

"The Giordana bike brand was the house label for Gita, a supplier of bikes and clothing. Gita, the United States distributor for Merckx, Pinarello, and De Rosa bike lines at the time, wanted a high-end frame set that would offer great quality at a slightly lower price point than the other brands they carried. Thus, the Giordana was born! Gita enlisted the assistance of Dario Pegoretti in designing the prototypes of the frames before they turned the final production over to Billato.

In 1992, the Capella represented the entry level of the Giordana line. It came in 3 models:

Crono - a time trial version with sloping top tube and a 26" front wheel
Strada - the basic road version
Pursuit - another version with a 26" front wheel

All 3 used Oria ML25 tubing with investment cast fork crown and standard lugs.

If the frame is Ferrari red or Cobalto blue, it is the Strada. Anything else and its one of the other versions.

Even though they were made by top builders Giordana frames never got the recognition they deserved because they were "farmed out" by a clothing company."

I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a Pegoretti but the workmanship is excellent. Need to put it together and see how it rides.

I have 2 Lemond Team Z bikes with Billato frames. The Billato Brothers contract built frames for a lot of top name brands. While generally not fancy they were very well built.

verktyg