I've purchased another project from Italy, this one appears to be a higher end bike with SL tubing. I've researched the brand and it appears to be tied to a bike shop in northern Italy. So this was likely built by a local frame builder there. It has an Ofmega groupset with later Campy brakes. For those interested, there are a few Ebay sellers in Italy who will basically sell you these for the price of shipping to the US. Like anywhere in the Mediterranean area, they love to haggle on price. So now I've got local bikes from builders in Palermo and Codogno.

That is possible, although many of those "shop brands" came from one of the big OEMs like Billato or BMZ. Still a nice find, though

Cool bike. I've seen these for sale and often thought of taking a flyer on one. I agree with above that more often than not, these are from one of the big builders and branded for a local shop.

I'm very interested in these sellers. Please go on.

My guy is Luceantica12. Very reasonable. Ships a bike from Italy to me for $40 and well packed. I think it has to do with the exchange rate. This Bike was $240 shipped. Any other European seller would charge $200 just to ship.

I just did a search for him on ebay.it

That guy has a ton of midgrade Italian bikes in the 52-56cm range, if anyone is looking; asking prices look pretty reasonable.

And a ton of vintage espresso machines, too!

Get 'em quick while el peso del norte is still relatively strong!

Mediocre hotelrooms in Europe were at least $300/night back in the Spring of 2008.

I've seen that seller before a lot.

I'm not sure what to think of these sorts of bikes. A mish-mash of parts, ugly stems, sometimes completely wrong seatposts, saddles-from-the-parts-bin, worn out 5-6-7-speed hubs and perished tubulars... but really nice steel frames.

Generally, the ones from German & northern EU countries tend to be taller (57-59cm), while ones from Italy tend to be a little smaller (55cm and down).

Either overhaul everything, or replace with modern stuff, it's still a bit of a time sink and can quickly turn into a money pit if you're not careful. But you'll have a nice bike that's probably unlike most out there, and you feel good about putting it back on the road... and if you're patient and have a good idea what you're looking for, you can get a nice deal.

Great little project, well done!

He lists new ones everyday. Very few taller bikes from Italy as you say, the Cannatella bike I bought from him has turned out to be quite nice, well worth it in the parts alone. Came with a like new Campagnolo Victory Crono tubular wheelset with 6speed Regina CX freewheel. And the frame is built of some kind of very light steel. It's the lightest 60cm steel frame I've ever owned, certainly a bit lighter than SL and SLX.

I have purchased two bikes from Italy.
One French manufacture even.
Cost to ship has been $160. Each time.
One transaction went very well, the other was troubled.
Seller on that one left out an early padded Unicanitor ( even featured in the auction photographs) "to save weight".
It was incorrect but I needed it and to buy separately would at the time have been a $125-175 expense.
But he did include the trash crank set that weighed 3x of the saddle, was worn out and way incorrect, think Sugino Maxi on a bike that should have had a Magistroni or FB unit.
Then offered an almost dead leather saddle of the correct period, claiming the other was "lost"...
This was at a time that ebay had tighter time windows to dispute than today.

Thanks for the tip! And [MENTION=89636]Lau[/MENTION]scauxcaveman, those espresso machines look awesome. The wheels are turning...

Those would give me pause, you will undoubtedly need 200-220v and ( from experience) rebuilding a pump on a typical machine is not cheap! Might look terrific, but need $800. In service, easy.

Yes I'd avoid the espresso machines. Also most of these bikes are going to have the "other" Italian components like Gipiemme and Ofmega from what I've seen. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I recently picked up an Italian shop brand (Mata) bike off ebay for dirt cheap.


Mine is Reynolds 531 with full chrome fork/chain stays/seat stays. It came from Poland for $60 shipping. The guy had it on there for $180 or best offer and after a little negotiation, took $80 for it.


It has a small ding in the top tube and the chrome is flaking/pitted, so I get the opportunity to try the dent rolling method, a-la Gugie, and have it powder coated. I'm pretty happy with it overall.

I was thinking I would just use a voltage converter like this. https://www.amazon.com/Voltage-Conve.../dp/B001ES8YY6

Aside from having a great black lump sitting on my kitchen counter, is that not kosher for some reason?

Without knowing what I'm talking about, it wouldn't surprise me if a 110 volt North American household circuit would not be able to provide enough amperage. The European 220 circuit would provide twice as many watts at lower amperage. It's unlikely you could find an adapter with enough capacity. You could probably get it wired into a stove or dryer type outlet.

Effe-bi? Is that like F*ckin' A?

I think there's only one pro espresso machine that runs on 110. The Simonelli Appia 1, single tap. I bought one second hand 4 years ago for under 2K. Lovely machine.
You'd be wise to go this route. Parts available, completely serviceable.

So what country do focus on to get 62cm bikes?

Netherlands - tallest people in the world (on average) and they love their bikes.

That makes sense. I own one of Michel Zanoli's Motorola Team bikes and he was 6'5".