VintageTTfan

You are correct. There is not a lot of Motta lo pros. Or at least not many pictures of them. This picture you found is pretty rare. The NISI disc wheels are pretty cool.

Just to refresh everyone's memory I will repost pictures of the other two Motta's that I know of. One is the one you mention. The other people will recognize:



Oh yeah! Love what they did with these exquisite bullhorns. And the pantos and carvings....Everything down to the signature is pure class.



And this one is the ultimate for me. It is THE holy grail for me. If there is any bike I could wave a magic wand and have this would be it. And the paint is fluorescent by the way.

VintageTTfan

Well I went bird watching and I found a rare bird:









And it is nice when you can include the companion road version:

VintageTTfan

I really love the uniqueness of this build except with the evil putrid handlebars. They are a cardinal sin....hopefully I am making my disdain subtle here. On the other hand, that saddle is super cool and unique. Matches the paint job perfectly. Has anyone ever seen that seat post before? I kinda like it. The wheels are killer of course, especially the front COSMIC. Even the peddle straps match. Now all it needs are some curvy bullhorns with neon hot pink bar tape! I like the whimsical fun aspect of this build.

VintageTTfan

Today you folks are getting an extravaganza:

Some serious saddle bling:


Imagine this on your favorite matching steed. Would really highlight and accent the bike. I have a soft spot in my heart for ISCASELLE though.

Reynolds 

The seatpost looks like the original Giant TCR.

VintageTTfan

Thanks for the info.

More eye candy:

P!N20

Euro Sport were built by Brian Hayes in Australia, who did his fair share of Olympic track frames. That photo was taken in Melbourne, my home town. I'll be sure to hunt down the owner and sentence them to a life behind (TT) bars.

VintageTTfan

Ha ha...good one.....we will have the jail cell waiting.......whatever building that is in the background, it is super nice. Thanks for the info...I will keep the name in mind.

Another picture:

Lattz

Hey, thanks. I guess the situation in Germany is still quite okay compared to other places but i have a feeling that the effect of the eased restrictions will just come into play. Every day you can read about cases like resraurants or schools who generated ca. 100 cases each alone in an instant. Plus peole also think the "beside the mask thing" everything is normal again so they meet in hordes of course without keeping distance or wearing mask beside the supermarkets.. But lets see how it goes on.

VintageTTfan

I do not want to turn this into a Corona virus thread so I will just make one last comment based on my own experience. My aunt's best friend caught the virus, went to the hospital, and died. He was not able to have any friends or family there with him when he died because of the contagious nature of the virus. Truly horrible. With this virus you can get it, not know you have it, and pass it along to someone who can then die of it. I am not saying many don't already know this....just sharing my experience. And now I will leave the topic alone.

VintageTTfan

As you probably know by now Paletti lo pros are extremely hard to find pictures of. There are a small number of them and I would like to believe that most of them are being posted here. So whenever I find one it is like nabbing that rare butterfly. Now if I could just own them all! So here is one I just found:



Couldn't find a larger picture of this unfortunately. This bike belonged to a guy who sold off all his lo pros. He said it is floating around Japan right now. So if you happen to be in the Land of the Rising Sun and you see a bike floating through the sky like a Magritte painting then you will know what it is.

What I like here is the frame. Nice curves and paint job. Never been too in love with Zipp wheels. So that is one more rare butterfly pinned to my scrapbook.

Nemosengineer 

: Mike

Lattz

wanted to make sure that these stay close to the herd.

Lattz

The road TT version of Cicli Berlinettas iconic white-blue Columbus air miracle.
Unfortunately the paintjob and saddle dont amaze me as much as the frame.




and the road bike version

Lattz

A nice track frame for those who like flag-themed paintjobs, unfortunately no high-res photos, and the Ms Pain red arrows pointing to the glitches are not so fancy.
I am personally more interested in the keirin brake adapters, would have been nice to know about these back when I let a Takhion frame run, because it was track.

Lattz

Bumped into this DeFranchesci the other day, I like it a lot (no its not as simple as if Italian and red I like it) minus the tape... with so much attention to details on this, they could have searched for a white to red one, this fading cellos are really nice, but this silver/bordeaux is somehow off, but of course even mentioning it feels awkward. Maybe an other thing is that I would have gone either for a black brake rubber or for a white seat, but everything else is top, at least for me.

VintageTTfan

I love this regular road bike twin version of the TT bike I posted earlier. This is really nice. I like the paint job and this thing looks classy. Very cool that you found this. I had never seen it. Also cool that you found the other Motta TT bikes. Not a heck a lot of them out there. Thanks.

And as per usual I try to include a new picture in every post if I can:


Love photos like this that place a bike in an environment in a cool way.

VintageTTfan

This is a nice bike you found. What a I really love are the FIR wheels. I want a pair of these in white or red. That bar tape is pretty cool too but all white or correct fade colors would have been better as you say. No reason to feel awkward about mentioning it because bar tape makes a huge difference. Details are so important. Love how they write citta' di BASSANO on the handlebar stem. Nice engraving on the shell.

And another picture to keep the troops in TT Land entertained:


Too bad the wheels do not match.

VintageTTfan

Good folks, I bring you an iconic bike:






This is the wonderful Wilier Triestina Ramata Pista. Bianchi has its infamous celeste color and Wilier Triestina has their rust color. But this is no ordinary rust color as you know. This color radiates beauty into the classic Italian bicycle Universe! It glows, it shines, it emanates gloss, it transcends in its magnificent effulgence (that should count for an 11 on the pretentious meter). I have had a fondness in my heart for this bike since I first saw it. I do not know the history of their use of this color or their secret....but I would love to know. Perhaps they use diamond dust. And the builder on this one did some things right......finally. White is the right color for this......has to be.....white saddle....white bar tape.....seems mandatory. It setts off the rust. He or she used nice gumwalls, and nice panto stem I would be interested if anybody can spot any mistakes or anything they would improve to make it more authentic? Perhaps our resident expert can give us an accurate assessment.....I would be curious for sure.

I am fantasizing about riding this on the track right now. I would have a clear advantage as the other riders would be gawking instead of focusing. In summation, Just Beautiful.

FlemmingM

I’m not a painter, but I believe you get the wonderful glow in the color, as seen on the Willier, by painting with a semi translucent paint over a chromed frame.

If the base isn’t chrome, I was once told that, if you add a bit of the base color in the first layer of clear coat, the color will get a lot more depth.

Lattz

That is exactly how it is made. This finish is called cromovelato, and was the big thing in the late 70s and through the 80s. Not only one of the most spectacular finishes, but also the most special one, and the manufacturers who use(d) it never forgot to point this out. As opposed to the normal painting process where small glitches can be corrected or covered with filler and base coat and of course the paint itself, the main "feature" of the cromovelato is to expose, how perfectly the frame is made. So the whole frame has to be mirror polished, chromed, then covered with a tinted transparent clearcoat. This is more effort to make. Those who are interested, heres a youtube vid from Battaglin explaning the same.


Its intersting, that Wilier offers the finish for every current model of theirs as well for a "modest" USD1500,- extra over the bike's price, as I think, with modern frames they anyway paint the underlying chrome coating as well (I think of the carbon frames here), therefore it might not be that difficult to make, rather just "pay for the special look" thing - but I might be wrong.

While I like cromovelato frames for their looks, there is one big downside of them. If the lacquer gets damaged, it starts peeling, which does not look that good, and of course 1., repairing is almost impossible 2., full redo...hm... who would like to do that to a special frame? And if you do its no cheapo. It is always a big question, but definitely more difficult compared to painted ones.
Of course not as bad as having base coat exposed or raw or rusty steel, but not nice either:



As for Wilier, the copper color is their signature one from around 1945, hence the name Ramata (female form of ramato, meaning copper plated), and if I am not mistaken a successful model is called Gioiello Ramato, or Copper Jewel (hard to tell if it refers to every Ramato finished ones in the 80s or only a certain model, thanks to people on the net, who are labelling things to the closest one their imagination allows, like every green Bianchi is an X4 and almost every which has a yellow splash as well was ridden by Pantani himself ).
That Wilier pista is definitely breathtaking...

VintageTTfan

It makes sense. The paint is so important. Thanks for the input.

And I always try to include a new picture:


Yes it actually exist! Sooo rare I could find only one picture on the internet of a vintage Wilier lo pro. If any one can find another picture then you get serious kudos. I would love to see one of these with the curved top tube and fully built up with the rust color. That would be amazing.

Here are the specs on the one above: Vintage Wilier Triestina Cromovelato Low Pro Chrono Frame 54cm 1985 era
EUR 1.117,25 Buy It Nowor Best Offer, EUR 196,50 Shipping,
Seller: (2.637) 100%, Location: Glossop, , Item: 263742967237 Pre-Owned ... rare version, with plenty of scratches, marks and poor chrome on the forks…but great race patina… Frame 54cm · Fits Rear 700c & 24” Front · Size: Seat Tube 54cm Centre to Centre · Size: Top Tube 52cm Virtual (effective) · Rear Spacing 126mm · Tubing Oria “Gilco” type tubing · Rare · ·

VintageTTfan

Brilliant post as usual Lattz. This gentleman does posts of the highest caliber PERIOD. Thanks for this. I find stuff like this fascinating where you have an educational cool video combined with good pictures. Cromovelato really can look fantastic. Even the name rolls smoothly off the tongue.

And of course something new....here are two lo pro videos....something that is hard to find even on youtube:



Both are cool bikes. Just would change the wheels on the Merckx.

VintageTTfan

Had to throw one last one in for the day:


I finally found that disc wheel on a bike and it is KILLER! This is a cool picture....has that big sister---little sister feel......Also gorgeous saddles and wonderful bullhorns.....just really cool bikes...........

Nemosengineer 

: Mike