ID this bike (Frejus?)
02-18-09 | 07:55 PM
#1
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From: NW Burbs, Chicago
ID this bike (Frejus?)
Interesting frame on ebay, https://cgi.ebay.it/Sport-e-Attrezzat...1%7C240%3A1318
Bad pictures but the seat cluster, lugs and fork look like a Frejus to me. What about you?
I don't get the braze-on shift bosses with Cambio Corsa, it makes no sense.
Em!!2k~$(KGrHgoH-D0EjlLlvkV2BJnFGh!-pg~~_1.JPG)
Bad pictures but the seat cluster, lugs and fork look like a Frejus to me. What about you?
I don't get the braze-on shift bosses with Cambio Corsa, it makes no sense.
02-18-09 | 09:02 PM
#2
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Easy - those drops were fit onto the bike later on. Both the stay ends and the front fork tips were sprayed with a gold that doesn't match the original gold all that well to hide the fact.
No painter would be that silly to two-tone a frame like that, with exception to repairs such as this. I dare say whoever had this frame also had some Cambio Corsa that he wanted to try out...
-Kurt
No painter would be that silly to two-tone a frame like that, with exception to repairs such as this. I dare say whoever had this frame also had some Cambio Corsa that he wanted to try out...
-Kurt
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02-19-09 | 05:49 PM
#3
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,045
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From: Lancaster County, PA
Bikes: '39 Hobbs, '58 Marastoni, '73 Italian custom, '75 Wizard, '76 Wilier, '78 Tom Kellogg, '79 Colnago Super, '79 Sachs, '81 Masi Prestige, '82 Cuevas, '83 Picchio Special, '84 Murray-Serotta, '85 Trek 170, '89 Bianchi, '90 Bill Holland, '94 Grandis
I'm going to toss in my .02, though it may not be worth much on this topic, but then no one else has weighed in, so at least I'll pop the thread back to the first page, where someone else may see it.
As to the ID, it does look like it could be a Frejus. OTOH, I think it could be a bunch of other stuff - a number of builders used that seatcluster style in the 40's. The lugs also look like they could be the work of a number of builders - I don't recall Frejus having those points on the headlugs, but then I haven't seen Freji from that period. The crown is the part that looks most Frejus-like to me, with the pointless sides and the slot. But I think nailing down a definitive ID on a Cambio Corsa frame from this era may be nigh on impossble (and I don't use the word "nigh" in a sentence lightly).
As to the dropouts and the shifters, Kurt may be right. The dropout-seatstay junction looks pretty rough, like it might have been ex-post-factory. OTOH, it would have been much more common - and indeed fairly common, I believe - for a frame originally designed for a C-C set-up to be used with a derailleur set-up later in its life, i.e. a Simplex 5-speed and double chainwheel. (I can't tell from the pics if those look like Simplex bosses or not.) In this case, the bosses would have been added later and the frame repainted,and the original dropouts retained. Anyway, if I'm wrong, at least I gave the more knowledgeable a chance to spread their wisdom, so I'm off the hook.
As to the ID, it does look like it could be a Frejus. OTOH, I think it could be a bunch of other stuff - a number of builders used that seatcluster style in the 40's. The lugs also look like they could be the work of a number of builders - I don't recall Frejus having those points on the headlugs, but then I haven't seen Freji from that period. The crown is the part that looks most Frejus-like to me, with the pointless sides and the slot. But I think nailing down a definitive ID on a Cambio Corsa frame from this era may be nigh on impossble (and I don't use the word "nigh" in a sentence lightly).
As to the dropouts and the shifters, Kurt may be right. The dropout-seatstay junction looks pretty rough, like it might have been ex-post-factory. OTOH, it would have been much more common - and indeed fairly common, I believe - for a frame originally designed for a C-C set-up to be used with a derailleur set-up later in its life, i.e. a Simplex 5-speed and double chainwheel. (I can't tell from the pics if those look like Simplex bosses or not.) In this case, the bosses would have been added later and the frame repainted,and the original dropouts retained. Anyway, if I'm wrong, at least I gave the more knowledgeable a chance to spread their wisdom, so I'm off the hook.
02-19-09 | 05:54 PM
#4
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,045
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From: Lancaster County, PA
Bikes: '39 Hobbs, '58 Marastoni, '73 Italian custom, '75 Wizard, '76 Wilier, '78 Tom Kellogg, '79 Colnago Super, '79 Sachs, '81 Masi Prestige, '82 Cuevas, '83 Picchio Special, '84 Murray-Serotta, '85 Trek 170, '89 Bianchi, '90 Bill Holland, '94 Grandis
As an added bonus, I'll say I recently received the circa 1950 Emilio Bozzi catalog from velo-retro, and it covers a lot of gear (including framebuilding bits) from this period. Well worth the price (and it ain't cheap) to obtain if you're interested in bikes from this period (and I happen to have just bought one).
02-19-09 | 06:10 PM
#5
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From: NW Burbs, Chicago
I'm going to toss in my .02, though it may not be worth much on this topic, but then no one else has weighed in, so at least I'll pop the thread back to the first page, where someone else may see it.
As to the ID, it does look like it could be a Frejus. OTOH, I think it could be a bunch of other stuff - a number of builders used that seatcluster style in the 40's. The lugs also look like they could be the work of a number of builders - I don't recall Frejus having those points on the headlugs, but then I haven't seen Freji from that period. The crown is the part that looks most Frejus-like to me, with the pointless sides and the slot. But I think nailing down a definitive ID on a Cambio Corsa frame from this era may be nigh on impossble (and I don't use the word "nigh" in a sentence lightly).
As to the dropouts and the shifters, Kurt may be right. The dropout-seatstay junction looks pretty rough, like it might have been ex-post-factory. OTOH, it would have been much more common - and indeed fairly common, I believe - for a frame originally designed for a C-C set-up to be used with a derailleur set-up later in its life, i.e. a Simplex 5-speed and double chainwheel. (I can't tell from the pics if those look like Simplex bosses or not.) In this case, the bosses would have been added later and the frame repainted,and the original dropouts retained. Anyway, if I'm wrong, at least I gave the more knowledgeable a chance to spread their wisdom, so I'm off the hook.
As to the ID, it does look like it could be a Frejus. OTOH, I think it could be a bunch of other stuff - a number of builders used that seatcluster style in the 40's. The lugs also look like they could be the work of a number of builders - I don't recall Frejus having those points on the headlugs, but then I haven't seen Freji from that period. The crown is the part that looks most Frejus-like to me, with the pointless sides and the slot. But I think nailing down a definitive ID on a Cambio Corsa frame from this era may be nigh on impossble (and I don't use the word "nigh" in a sentence lightly).
As to the dropouts and the shifters, Kurt may be right. The dropout-seatstay junction looks pretty rough, like it might have been ex-post-factory. OTOH, it would have been much more common - and indeed fairly common, I believe - for a frame originally designed for a C-C set-up to be used with a derailleur set-up later in its life, i.e. a Simplex 5-speed and double chainwheel. (I can't tell from the pics if those look like Simplex bosses or not.) In this case, the bosses would have been added later and the frame repainted,and the original dropouts retained. Anyway, if I'm wrong, at least I gave the more knowledgeable a chance to spread their wisdom, so I'm off the hook.
I agree the headlug points are odd, but I was just reminded by another member to never say never. It's too bad you could get the frame "cheap" but I don't think the remaider of the restoration would be worth the expence.
02-19-09 | 07:08 PM
#6
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,045
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From: Lancaster County, PA
Bikes: '39 Hobbs, '58 Marastoni, '73 Italian custom, '75 Wizard, '76 Wilier, '78 Tom Kellogg, '79 Colnago Super, '79 Sachs, '81 Masi Prestige, '82 Cuevas, '83 Picchio Special, '84 Murray-Serotta, '85 Trek 170, '89 Bianchi, '90 Bill Holland, '94 Grandis
To be honest, Cambio Corsa frames are not all that tremendously rare (Paris Roubaix frames are more rare). With a little patience, they can be obtained pretty economically - but then you have to do the build, or have your dogbones already in hand (as Ben Franklin famously wrote ... or was that birds?)
02-19-09 | 08:59 PM
#8
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,045
Likes: 15
From: Lancaster County, PA
Bikes: '39 Hobbs, '58 Marastoni, '73 Italian custom, '75 Wizard, '76 Wilier, '78 Tom Kellogg, '79 Colnago Super, '79 Sachs, '81 Masi Prestige, '82 Cuevas, '83 Picchio Special, '84 Murray-Serotta, '85 Trek 170, '89 Bianchi, '90 Bill Holland, '94 Grandis
02-19-09 | 10:09 PM
#9
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Bikes: Cinelli, Paramount, Raleigh, Carlton, Zeus, Gemniani, Frejus, Legnano, Pinarello, Falcon
02-20-09 | 05:44 PM
#10
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From: NW Burbs, Chicago
Yep, plenty of CC bikes on ebay. This is a Bianchi CC city bike with a crappy repaint. He won't ship to the US.
https://cgi.ebay.it/bici-depoca-bianc...1%7C240%3A1318
https://cgi.ebay.it/bici-depoca-bianc...1%7C240%3A1318
