very late 1976:

Confente Pro-Strada, Pro-Pista
then on the heels, Medici Pro-Strada, Pro-Pista.

I wonder when "Tactical" will be applied to bikes? If it already hasn't.

I think it's mighty nice of the Italians to use an English word like "super" to describe their bikes and stuff.

Yep. Let's not forget everything "Laser" in the 70s, and "Digital" or "Digital Ready" in the 90s, though I don't think the latter spread to bicycles. Wait, what about the late 90s to early aughts? Was there an iBike?

I can't remember the buzzwords from the 90s. I think "Pro" was very much in vogue in the 2000s (aughts). I think the iPod happened in the aughts too. I also seem to remember a lot of mountainbikes (cheap and expensive alike) something with "rock" in it.

It's all relative: as in "Schwinn Super Sport" Don

That's more in the sense of "for" as in "for-the-street" and "for-the-track".

No, "pro" as in "short for "professional"" was more prevalent in the 2000s.

...there's real value. I'm just not certain the value is directly correlated to the word "super", as much as it is to the maker.

"Super" was appropriate in describing the gross sporting improvement (geometry esp) over the next-level electro-forged bikes like the Varsity/Continental.

But the Super Sport moniker would seem to have been borrowed from American muscle-car marketing as I see it.
And I can dig how Peugeot purloined the term (for the 1979 model year) when they finally upgraded their U09 frameset geometry and tubing, as the changes were Super in terms of sporting performance.

My amplifiers are one better than super. They go to 12.

Bicycles come as "super" like cleansers as "ultra". Anything "ultra" came home in my ex's shopping.

UltraGlide?






























https://www.flymo.com/uk/content/hin...raglide-review

No, Mario thought of his bikes Professional Strada, Professional Pista.
Medici just mimicked

In Italian, For is per.

Mehhh.......
I would have used the words "SEXY", "DISCO", "PSYCHEDELIC", "DYNOMITE" and maybe even "COCA" back in the 70's and 80's instead, on bikes and components and would surely have sold jillions more than using boring ole"Super"!

Super, Schmooper! For something really special you need something with "Speciale" in the name, as in my Cinelli Speciale Corsa.

The decal is straight it's just a goofy camera angle

No, in this case ("pro-strada" and "pro-pista") means "for" the road and "for" the track.

Yes, you have to upgrade every 87 minutes.
Works better on smooth roads. No cables.
If it gets stolen, life seemingly ends.
Take it from a teenager, and they pass out.

I lived in Italy for awhile in the 1990s and studied Italian. The adjective ‘super’ (pronounced more like ‘sue pear’, though that’s not quite) is everywhere and many things are ‘supercool.’ It’s just an Americanism that’s firmly planted in the culture. Generally, it felt to me like Italian uses a relatively small number of adjectives relative to English, ‘brutto’ and ‘bello’ chiefly. I haven’t been there in 25 years, so I don’t know if that’s the case any more.

I guess it's my turn to be a pedant, but 'super' is originally latin and goes back to classical times at the very least. It's mainly interesting in that it wasn't modified at all as colloquial Italian gradually came to dominate.

I remember well visiting relatives in Italy. My older 2nd cousin knew only two English words, which he was very proud of and used as much as possible: "OK" and "coca-cola". Neither of which are English, strictly speaking.

It may have its origins in Latin, but in this context it's certainly feels like an American import. I would bet money that it came in with the popularity of Superman. There are many Italian words that are derived from the latin root: superficio, superare, superattivo, etc. But these relate to height or outward surfaces, and not the way that 'super' modifies Superman, or cool becomes super cool. I'm not a linguist or an etymologist, so I could definitely be mistaken.

The best part about the Cinelli Super Corsa moniker is that it only exists because of a decal supplier's typo. Up until (I think) the early to mid-70s, Cinelli always called the model "Speciale Corsa." Somewhere along the line, they ordered new decals. They wanted "Speciale Corsa." The printer gave them "Super Corsa." I am not sure if this happened before or after Cino sold the company to the Columbos (somewhere around 1978), but it appears that whoever was in charge said "what the heck" and used them. Hence the names "Speciale Corsa" and "Super Corsa" became interchangeable. "Super Corsa" eventualy won out. It probably did not help that, up until the 1960s sometime, the sticker that went on the frames said "Mod. S.C.", meaning "Super Corsa" was a reasonable guess at the model name for the non-cognoscenti.

The SC, S.C., speciale corsa, Super Corsa, Supercorsa causes all kinds of grief.

i have found them languishing on eBay when not enough key terms have been used.

i have a ‘71, but really want a ‘64-‘68 before the geometry changed.
one day. An being a contrarian, I want Black.
i have seen them, they do exist in my size even.

Specialized's basic folding bead road tire is the "Turbo Pro". Way to go guys

We didn't say that people ddn't still use it. Porsche sells an EV with the monicker "Turbo".

The Cinelli’s official name is Speciale Corsa. Or, so it started out as such. That is what is written in the frame transfer of my Cinelli.

Mine, too, and it's a good point.
My Colnago Super is not.
My Speciale Corsa is.