Narhay

More photos here. 1974 Atala Professional https://imgur.com/gallery/map7Wp6

I am assuming 1974. Pat 73 Nuovo Record RD, serial number that starts with 74, CPSC front derailleur. Cinelli unicanitor, modified NR chainring spider, drop bolt brake, 531 tubes, forks, stays, overall a nice find. No chromed seat lug. 27" wheels clinchers may have been rebuilt on the high flange tipo hubs. 23" ct st 22" cc tt

What can you tell me about this bike?

Bad Lag

I do like them, but for me, there was always something just a little bit "off" with the ATALA bikes - they would always go cheap on something. It might be the brakes or the pedals or whatever but they never seemed to have a full Nuovo Record gruppo, even on their best bikes. I think it was Frejus that had this same "problem".

On that bike, I see Nuovo Tipo hubs instead of Nuovo Record hubs. Are the pedals Nuovo Record or some thing else?

I drove there once to the upper east side of Manhattan wanting to look them over and intending to buy one (I can't remember exactly where, perhaps Spanish Harlem?). I got all the way there but never went in and never bought one.

randyjawa 

I wonder about the lack of interest in these wonderful old road bicycles. They look great, ride great and seem to be well built. The one the OP presents is a great example of the brand.

I have owned two high end Atala bicycles.

One from the seventies which I foolishly sold years ago...


And the one I have now and am riding now...

T-Mar

Don't hold the wheels against the bicycle as they definitely are not OEM. The original wheelset would have been tubular rims laced to Campagnolo Record hubs. It was typical to find top of the line Italian bicycles with lower grade brakes on otherwise all Campagnolo (Nuovo) Record models, especially from the mass production manufacturers. Universal 61 or 68 were typical, with Campagnolo Record being an option, because they were so expensive. Adding Campagnolo Record brakes would increase the price by about 15%.

T-Mar

Atala was reportedly the the largest Italian brand during the early 1970s bicycle boom. At the time, Atala was quite popular, however not to the extent of their main rival, Bottecchia. Both were imported in the USA by the same distributor, Stuyvesant. However, the view at the time was that the Bottecchia were finished a little better and looked nicer. It didn't hurt that Bottecchia flaunted their palmares in their catalogues.

Atala lost prestige in the wake of the boom. Part of the reason was that Atala was a full range brand. As the avid American cyclist became more educated, they increasingly focused on the high end Italian manufacturers, such as Colango, Guerrciotti and Pinarello. Full range brands were generally regarded as inferior, relative to the specialists.

Still, they could have flourished. Other Italian full range manufacturers, such a Bianchi, continued to grow in the USA market. However, Bianchi set up a separate USA based company and was smart to offload entry level models to Japan, who were the experts at providing value in lower end models. Bianchi also spent huge sums on USA marketing. Finally, Bianchi emphasized their Reparto Corse, a separate division dedicated to only to high end models which, in eyes of the consumer, made them superior to a typical full range manufacturer.

Conversely, Atala continued to be imported by an independent USA distributor and the entry level models continued to be built in Italy, These did not fare well against the Japanese offerings. Stuyvesant did not have as big a marketing budget as Bianchi and had to share what they did have with their other Italian brand, Bottecchia. With relatively little marketing, Atala's exposure and prestige continued to diminish in the USA. The final nail in the coffin was Greg Lemond winning the 1989 Tour de France on a Bottecchia. This cemented Bottecchia's dominance over Atala in the USA market.

None of this is meant to imply that Atala was a bad brand. They just weren't handled as well as they could have been and are therefore less popular. Of course, that means you have a more rare bicycle. Enjoy!

Kilroy1988 

I've gone through an Italian phase or two since I began researching about what I wanted to ride, and I never glanced at Atala twice... I think I just don't like the name. It sounds funky. Those bikes are surely pretty, of course!

-Gregory

Wildwood 

The ride report always talks more loudly than the comments, IMHO.

Give us feedback.

It needs 700c tubulars.

obuckler

Dougbloch 

repechage

Narhay

These are the 'as found' photos. Obviously the bike will need stripping and a fair bit of work. The wheels are likely not original but probably an owner was tired of tubular tires and wanted clinchers, 27" fitting the frame. The frame is probably one size smaller than I would like. I have to make a decision to refurbish and try to ride or strip and find another frame or sell and continue the search.

I have this set without a bike. They still need some work but might be fun. I have great plans to finish them off this weekend. We shall see if that pans out. The tedious cleaning and steel wooling of spokes and brake track is finally done and now I just have to put them back together.

Record/Fiamme tubular wheel rescue

Narhay

The pedals appear to be the garden variety Nuovo Record. Other than the modified outer chainring and the wheels it is a full NR set.

T-Mar

Atala and Lygie were both manufactured by the same company, Rizzato, after 1938. Atala had been formed by Angelo Gatti in 1908, before being sold to Steiner in 1919 and eventually being acquired by Cesare Rizzato in 1938. Lygie had been founded by Alfredo Sironi in 1905. It was sold to Ernesto Rolando in 1908 and was acquired by Rizzato in 1932. Rizzato had started out in 1921 with his Ceriz brand. Other brands that acquired by Rizzato include Maino and Dei, They also contract manufactured many brands including Stuyvesant's house brand, Corso.

Narhay

The bike disassembled without too much drama. There were four layers of incredibly sticky hockey tape under the blue wrap which took me nearly as long as the rest of the bike to undo. Going to give the frame a polish and wax and then decide what I want to do with it.

The pedals are Gran Sport, not NR. Otherwise not too many surprises. The hoods did disintegrate and tear while removing them but that is to be expected.