Originally Posted by
Citoyen du Monde
I don't get this fascination with low end clunkers. In Italy, these bikes are readily available and can be found without too much difficulty, without a hole in the frame, for next to nothing. The crank is not a valid option for an older bike as the spacing between the crank arm and the spider is likely increased to permit the fitting of the chainguard. The headset looks to be a Way Assauto.
So $100 plus 2 hours driving time, plus gasoline and wear and tear on your car + clunker Gloria with hole in the seat tube = a cool $200 clunker Gloria with a hole in the seat tube.
I hope that it rocks your boat, which I guess is all that is important in the end.
Alot of it has to do with the fact that bikes like this didnt make it to the States. We rarely saw a geared bike with fenders and chainguard. And I've only seen one Gloria in my lifetime. About the only bike brands that was available from europe when I was a kid was Raleigh and Peugeot, and they were exotic in the 60's. The 70's brought a wider range of brands but most were sans fenders, lites, chainguards. Heck if it wasnt for us C&V dinosaurs fenders would be extinct in the states. So its eye opening to see that Gloria in all her refinery still intact after all these years.