Originally Posted by
randyjawa
This is, at last, interesting, however; my bike bears the two digit stamp 18. Does this mean that my Grand Premio is from the second quarter of 1973? I, actually, find that kind of surprising. Why..?
The one thing that really puzzles me is when did the stenciled on down tube art disappear, to be replaced with a decal? I thought the painted stencil version indicated a sixties, or earlier, vintage...
The front mounted seat post binder bolt - when did it disappear? Once again, I thought that this style of seat post clamp bolt did not find its way into the 1970s. They are unusual and getting hard to find.
Then, I turn to one of my favorite Legnano features, the lovely head badge. I see most seventies bikes sporting a head tube decal rather than a badge...
I got my Legnano as a frame, fork and head set only. I have since collected as many original components as I can find for it, including an embossed head set, a pantographed Campy high flange hub set, and a Legnano pantographed cottered crank set. This bike is one of my favorites of all time and the more I can learn about it is important to me. Any help or advice that you can share would be much appreciated.
Originally Posted by
randyjawa
This is, at last, interesting, however; my bike bears the two digit stamp 18. Does this mean that my Grand Premio is from the second quarter of 1973? I, actually, find that kind of surprising. Why..?
The one thing that really puzzles me is when did the stenciled on down tube art disappear, to be replaced with a decal? I thought the painted stencil version indicated a sixties, or earlier, vintage...
The front mounted seat post binder bolt - when did it disappear? Once again, I thought that this style of seat post clamp bolt did not find its way into the 1970s. They are unusual and getting hard to find.
Then, I turn to one of my favorite Legnano features, the lovely head badge. I see most seventies bikes sporting a head tube decal rather than a badge...
I got my Legnano as a frame, fork and head set only. I have since collected as many original components as I can find for it, including an embossed head set, a pantographed Campy high flange hub set, and a Legnano pantographed cottered crank set. This bike is one of my favorites of all time and the more I can learn about it is important to me. Any help or advice that you can share would be much appreciated.
The stamping '18' on your Gran Premio would reference production from the first quarter of 1968. From approx. 1948 to 1950-51 the Legnano logo was a decal transfer on either side of the downtube with multi-coloured bands between the two logos. This may have been done to commemorate Bartali's TdF win in 1948 although it is not certain. Beginning in 1950 the 5 white bands bordered in black and gold striping were added to the seat tube, the downtube Legnano decal was dropped and it was painted or rather stencilled on either side of the downtube in red and white. Why they chose to stencil the logo rather than continue to use a water slide decal as per all of the other markings on the frame is not known.
The Legnano logo changed on or about 1970 from the sausage or hotdog shape to a parallelogram shape . . . although I have come across a few Roma frames into the very early 70s that were still adorned with the older stencilled logo. These exceptions may have to do with the closing of the expansive Legnano factory
on the Strada Statale 527 as the entire company’s operations moved to the location at 1 Piazza Emilio Bozzi. Other exceptions or changes to the Frejus brand may also have to do with the factory consolidation in 1971. The reason for the 'modernizing' of the Legnano logo was probably down to marketing as competition overall heated up for the Italian brands. The Legnano logo changed again on or about 1980, eliminating the parallelogram framing and the adoption of a more modern typeface or single letters on the downtube.
Below is the Legnano Roma Olimpiade pictured in the 1972 Bozzi SpA catalog that was most likely printed in late 1971 for the year end bicycle fair in Italy. You can see the new parallelogram shaped logo on the downtube however the old logo still adorns the top of the brochure page. You can also see the this Roma still features that unique Legnano seat lug that incorporates the seat binder bolt ahead of the seat tube and below the top tube. This characteristically and unique Legnano detail drifted on into the very early 70s with the Roma and perhaps some other models however it was completely gone by 1973 by all accounts, replaced by the more conventional placement of the seat post bolt at the rear of the seat lug.
