TheSojourner

After having a look around BF, OR, and a number of other forums, I have found that information on Chiordas is spotty and often somewhat less than impartial. As the owner of a $5 "burnt orange metallic" Choirda, I guess I'll start.

Chiorda is Itallian, and apparently made bicycles in the 50's and 60's, and was absorbed/bought by Bianchi some time in the late 60's or early 70's. Felice Gimondi won the Tour de France on a Chiorda shortly (? years) before the buyout, and Bianchi did make a Gimondi Chiorda bicycle that was apparently a well made and highly sought after edition. The vast majority of Chiordas though, have apparently been consigned to the "junk department store" bracket of 70's bicycle-boom era trash. Personally I belive the animmosity is somewhat unwarranted, my own personal experiences with my bike proving (to me at least) that despite their infamy, they are a somewhat light and fun ride.

My orange Chiorda is probably not cherry/stock. While the components appear to be original- Simplex derailers, etc., the bars are pull-backs that look much like what one would find on a cruiser. IMHO, these were probably swapped in later in the bikes life especially when you consider the rather aggressive negative rise stem it is paired with...?

My bike's serial number, 41070, is located towards the bottom of the seatube, about 2" above the edge of the seatube/BB lug. What is somewhat odd is that the tops of the numbers are pointing towards the BB. In other words, if you were to walk up to the bicycle while it is parked on the street and look at the serial number, it would appear to be upside down. If you clamped the frame in a bike stand and turned it upside down (BB in the air, seat near the ground), then the numbers would appear to be right-side up.

If you own a Chiorda, please post whatever you know below: the year, model name, colour, the serial number, the serial number's location and orientation, componments, as well as the price you paid, the condition it is/was in, and any other info you deem helpful. The idea is to get enough serial numbers and concrete information that we can crack the Chiorda serial code and start to build a database of years, models, and component groups. I'd also like to build/write a somewhat complete history of the brand and maybe build a stickie or a Wiki entry out of it.

All this because I kind of fallen in love with a bike I bought for $5 of Craigslist...

TheSojourner

Year: ??
Model: ??
Colour: Orange (kind of a burnt metallic orange)
Serial: 41070, towards bottom end of seatube, numbers upside down
Components: Simplex front and rear derailers, Simplex shifters, Birilla brakes, Dia-Compe brake levers, unknown cranks and hubs
Paid: $5 for complete* on Craigslist
Condition: Complete- but suspect bars and levers have been replaced (they're pull-backs instead of drops)
Notes: Steel frame and fork, tubing details unknown. Crimped dropouts, 27" wheels with dimpled rims

zonatandem

Good luck!
Saw exactly one Chiordia in the mid-70s and the cotterpin/crankarm had just come off. Helped fix it by the roadside. Did look a bit on the cheaply made side.
Believe Chiordas were imported along with lots of other odd-named Euro brands like Browning, Stella, Volkscycle, etc during the '70s bike boom.

mswantak

There's one that looks like yours at the local thrift for $40, but this one has Campy Valentino derailleurs and shifters. Apart from the Campy gear, it looks like typical European bike-boom gaspipe.

markk900

My first 10-speed (1970 or thereabouts) was a Chiorda - I have only my memory and some very grainy photos to help you out but it was white, all Simplex Prestige but strangely had Criterium shift levers (not the crappy plastic and stamped tin ones), with Ballila alloy center-pull brakes and levers with gum hoods, steel small flange hubs and dimpled rims, and bolted on axles (not entirely sure about this one - could have been wingnuts). Drop bars were stock, black plastic bar tape. Rattrap pedals. 27x1 1/4 tires. Stamped dropouts, gaspipe frame. But it WAS Italian. It was definitely a department store bike, but hey I rode it everywhere (along with my best friend, who got exactly the same bike). Can't remember the saddle.

Edit: forgot - no name cottered steel cranks with protector, and a large chrome pie plate on the rear wheel.

If you do a search there are photos of a slightly higher end Chiorda with Campy Valentino on the site from the guy who sells info on buying vintage bikes.

good luck finding more info!

Mark

Rabid Koala

I purchased and parted a Chiroda Gimondi about a year ago. It had a mixture of parts on it, Zeus derailleur, Sugino Super Mighty cranks, Universal brakes. It was too small for me. It was blue and white, and definitely not made of gas pipe.

TheSojourner

I freely admitt my $5 ride is probably the low-end, stove-pipe, department store bike that is often maligned. So far though it rides well and has apparently weathered the years fairly well, better than some other "name brand" bikes I've seen. Then again, I'm not really asking for much either. I needed a commuter to get me to work, and to the local indoor soccer complex. For the $5 I paid, it would have to be absolute rubbish for me to stop smiling.

Seriously though, the ride quality is good and it's held up. The components, while functional, are a bit suspect. Easy enough to remedy with some vintage Campy bits off CL or Ebay. Right now the only two nagging issue I have are: that the PO whacked off a good portion of the seatpost which at 6'2" means it's a tad short for me with enough in the seatube to be safe, *and* I need to swap out the stock negative rise stem for something with a 0 or postive rise (I'm keeping the pull-back bars on it).

So how about those serial numbers?

int19

My wife's Chiorda mixte that I built up:


Probably gaspipe, but the chrome lugs are sweet. I'll get the serial for you later as the bike isn't at home at the moment.

More photos here:
https://gallery.agamemnon.unixboxen.n...hotos/Chiorda/

Sangetsu

I had a 60's era Chiorda, I don't recall the serial number. It metallic blue, with chrome lugs, and Columbus tubes. The parts were a mix, Nervar sport cranks with alloy rings, Campy plunger front derailleur and an added-on nuovo record rear derailleur. Brakes were Weinmanns, with Universal levers, Fiamme sew-up rims, and unknown aluminum high-flange hubs.

Consularrider

I bought my Chiorda in 1970 from Sears. Color was gold, had cottered cranks. Don't remember much else about it since it was stolen in 1972.

Citoyen du Monde

I have a Salvarani team bike from the 60's, it is marked as a Chiorda, however it has been confirmed to have been built by Ugo De Rosa. Ugo confirmed it himself. I picked it up from one of the team mechanics. He said that none of the pro bikes were built by Chiorda, all, without exception, were built by the builder chosen by the rider. Mine has no serial number that I recall and it certainly doesn't look like the Chiorda's that you might find elsewhere.

Picchio Special

To correct a statement in the initial posting, despite a common misconception, Gimondi's (and Salvarani's) bike sponsor when he won the Tour in '65 was Magni, not Chiorda. There was apparently some connection, as Magni was a model produced and marketed by Chiorda (or was a sub-brand), but the bikes were marked "Magni." Who actually built Gimondi's bike that year is an interesting question - in at least one photo, one of his bikes clearly had a Cinelli-esque seatbinder arrangement. The bike also had a flat (not Cinelli-esque sloping) crown, but this doesn't rule out Cinelli having made the bike, as Gimondi apparently preferred flat fork crowns and speced them on his personal race bikes.

velomateo

I had a Chiorda city bike that I brought home about 18 years ago, after it had been abandonded in the bike rack on the base...I waited three years before liberating it. It had really cool bar-stem-lever set up that I had never seen before. Rootbeer colored, lugged frame with brase-ons for pump and fenders and also a light mount on the right fork leg, no light though. It only had one down tube shifter that was operating an old Huret rear derailluer. The free wheel was a four speed. I was younger and new into the road scene then and didn't have a ton of experience, so I don't know what the rear spacing was, but I remember having a hard time finding the correct size hub for the rear wheel. It was cracked and I was building up my first set of wheels to replace the rusted steels it came with. It must have been less than 126mm.
I have pictures in an album somewhere, I will try to scan them in later. I did find an example of the bars though. Other details, cottered cranks and a nice, chrome rear rack. All in all a very stylish ride.

2fast4u

Gimondi's Salvarani team was sponsored by Chiorda for 1968-1972, resulting in the boom era Chiorda Gimondi model. He did win a couple a Italian Championships, a Giro d'Italia and a Tour de Suisse on these bicycles but no Tour de France.

horsepowered

My first "10spd" was a white Chiorda. Bought at JC Penny in 1974 for around $89.99. ( I really wanted a Flandria with QR hubs, but it was too much $$) The Chiorda had flesh colored Pirelli tires (27x11/4 of course). Balilla brakes and a weird cottered crank. It only had a cotter on the left crank arm. Drive side crank arm was attached to the BB spindle. The right side cup was pressed in to the BB shell, even though it was threaded! I know this because I upgraded to Stronglight alloy cranks and the LBS had never seen a crankset like that. I rode it alot. Then I got a job picking apples the next fall and saved enough to buy a used Raleigh International frame made out of Reynolds 531 tubing... I was in heaven. Sorry to ramble.
Ed

74speedster

hi. here's a 5 speed chiorda that i picked up from a garage sale. simplex deraileur. balilla brakes. maccari rims. frshly detailed, rides great. rides great. it appears all to be all original except tires. should it have blackwalls on it? thanks