Hell, if T-Mar says it's a Limongi, I'd settle for that! I've never heard of one before now, but the poetry is perfect: French and North American influences co-mingled...that suits it.

Unworthy 1, thank-you for the vote of confidence. I am quite confident this is a Limongi, which I used to see when I raced in Montreal. It is going to be very hard to prove, but I do recall a B/W ad with a pic of the seat cluster. Hopefully, I can find it to vindicate my statements.

I have a late 80's Limongi Special which is a sloping top tube, 650C front wheel TT bike. It is also Columbus Sl (or SP) but it does have an Italian BB. Also the seatstay tops are not blended in but are flattened caps attatched to the side of the IC seat lug. The caps have "Limongi" engraved or cast into them in a script font. My front fork is not aero like the one shown here. One unique feature of mine is that it has track ends with an attatched derailleur hanger.

This is just to add to the discussion, Pepe Limongi also built for Paris Sport along with many other prominent American builders, maybe Dave Moulton would recognize the bike?

vjp

I found the Limongi ad that I was looking for. While it cannot conclusively prove that the frame in question is a Limongi, the frame in the images is virtually identical except for the chrome plating. These are the only two images in the ad, but the following traits are apparent:

1. dropout design is the same
2. finishing style on dropout end of seat stays is the same
3. fastback seat stay attachment is the same
4. binder bolt collar is the same
5. frame uses a rear cable routing on the left side of the frame. Internal routing is not directly visible, but given that it is obviously not routed along the top or bottom of the tube, internal routing is the logical alternative.

Just for reference, here's RL #13, made in the late '70's.

Wish the pics were a bit clearer, but this is the closest match, yet. Since it's repainted chances are the chrome was sandblasted off, if it had chrome. What year is the ad?

The literature has been put back into the archives but it was about 1988/1989. The original pics are only about 1 square inch in area and the media is only slightly better than a paperback, so increasing the resolution actually made things look worse. A straight JPEG copy seemed to work best.

Chroming and the extent may well have been an option, as you suggest, as the finish in the dropout picture appears to paint, as opposed to plating. This was fairly common for small volume builders who did a lot of custom work.

The ad pics match really well with Food's pics and what I recalled from this period. When you consider the additional facts that Limongi was located in the region and often spec'd a model with French components, I can't come up with a better candidate.