Bottecchia fan
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 3,520
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
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Interesting - maybe I'm a little confused...I thought the stage race frames were fairly relaxed by comparison to a criterium frame (though not anything like a touring bike). Frank Berto's 1988 book when discussing racing bikes describes typical Italian frames as stage race frames and typical Japanese frames of the period as criterium frames with much steeper geometry. Of course it depends on what period we're talking about too I guess.
How would an actual Italian stage race frame compare to a production Italian frame that a regular person could buy in the late 60's - mid-70's? My production bike has what I would consider fairly traditional Italian geometry for that period - 58.5/58.5 ST/TT and 73/73 ST/HT angles, 43.5cm chain stays. I don't remember the wheelbase but I think it's 40-inches or so. I'll have to check.
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1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista