While the small builders, did variable things, the crown looks investment cast due to the flat at the forward center, later bikes I have seen, '73 and early '74 did not have this, replacement or not, this one is one to shy away from, now if it had been uncrashed... and perhaps un-spread, I question the original 6 speed width too... no matter, just watch the less informed with fat wallets bid aggressively.

perhaps that's a special bike Ugo built for someone.

I own a slightly later one with that same fork - that bike on Mookie's site is one reason I found the chrome fork on the ebay bike possibly original. Also, one of the bulgier catalogs shows a chrome fork track bike - and the road bikes in that catalog lack the TT braze-ons, which helps date it. For '75-6, which is about where I place the ebay frame, I don't think 6-speed is out of the question. Mine is similar to this one on Mookie's site - same color scheme and braze-ons, but 1010B's, and sadly no hearts in the lugs (except the BB, which has two lovely ones). But I do know repechage generally knows his stuff, and there's the evident damage and weird (wrong) decals to boot.

As I mentioned earlier, De Rosa was still doing plenty of custom bikes and pro bikes in that time period - but the decals (at least the one on the HT) are just plain wrong.
Edit: By "wrong" - and this goes to Old Fat Guy's last post as well - the diamond shaped World Championship bands on the headtube decal don't appear before about 1978-9. The bike should have the red scroll decal as in Caterham's last post. They just wouldn't have been on a bike with the long Campagnolo dropouts, unless De Rosa did something really unusual in terms of the build. In other words, I don't think "custom" accounts for a decal style at least a couple of years in the future, in this case.

But the long Campy DO's contradict the post-75 dating - my bike is '76-7, and has both the short DO's and the older style red scroll headtube decal.
Edit: as to the lug detailing and labor involved, there are good De Rosas and, um, less good De Rosas, as with most handbuilt Italian bikes.

Yeah, De Rosas do generally become more intriguing the more you're around them. That's a great catch on the "''75" from ebay on Mookie's site. I'll bet the owner was mistaken - looking at the rear DO's on that bike, they appeared to be longs, but as I look again, they may well be short. I think that definitely puts the bike post-'75, and probably post-'76. I certainly don't think the presence or absence of the heart cutouts is a dating slam-dunk in and of itself. The ebay bike in the OP clearly has the long drops (unless I'm really off-base) and the diamond decal style, which still strikes me as odd.

When I first came across that bike on ebay I saw all the braze-ons and chromed fork and just gave it a quick glance, as both those features are immediate turn-offs to me.

But looking at it more closely now, maybe that fork was painted orginally? It does not look highly polished, so maybe it was stripped. But with the obvious front-end damage to frame maybe it's not original to the bike.

It's going to be a loss-leader but it sure could be made into something nice with a couple of tube replacements, braze-on removal, and a nice paint job. I would do it in a heartbeat if I could the frame for a couple of hundred bucks........

I am no expert, or a collector, just a rider who appreciates Ugo's work.

That being said, a repaint would ruin this bike.

BTW, a friend received an email back from the seller, he insists there is no damage. I've asked him to post the email here. I won't.

The sellers good close-up pics betray that completely to my eyes.

The auction has been ended.

Marco, the seller has sent me new pix; apparently he stripped the paint from the tubes at the areas in question and is going to re-list. Not what I would have recommended to be sure. I have asked his permission to post them here, but have not heard back.

The last one of those that I came across went to my friend Stefano. Too bad it had been repainted with the wrong decals. Stefano has promised me photos as soon as the restoration is completed. BTW, that bike had racing provenance too as it was used by a pro who verified that it was his bike. Ugo also confirmed it to have been one of the frames that he built.

Those are not original decals in my opinion. I am virtually certain the bike has been repainted at some time. It looks to me too that the frame has been damaged. I wouldn't touch it.

New pix from the seller
 

These arrived from Marco, the seller, this AM. I have no dog in this hunt, I simply emailed him because I thought he was not intentionally misrepresenting the condition, and wanted him to be aware of the expert opinions. He sent these pix, and following comments. Personally despite the condition of the paint, I find this a little painful to look at it.

And his comments
Hi,
the diameter of the top tube and down tube is constant, no alteration, I can hear the tapping fingers, are just scratches on paint, if you enlarge the image you can see too small and superficial, if it was a crasch you'll see waves.(THIS IS STEEL NO ALLOY O CARBON )

This frame was used for city bike without original component, when I bougth the bike I used the bike also goes without hands.
I am 51 years old, I have done thousands of km........

Hi Barry
I have delete offer and ended the auction for the many controversies of my onesty, these are the pics of crasch.
Best regards
Marco

Well,

glad he stripped the paint.

that will certainly make it easier to sell .................... :twitchy: :rolleyes:

Nothing too grievous in removing the paint as it wasn't original anyhow, and was in rough shape. The only difference is that now the new owner will need to look after paint right away. It will sell well.

Citoyen du Monde,

What do you know of the bike? If it is a repaint, is there any significance to the black heart? What are the tell tale marks of it being a repaint?

Well, for one thing, that decal style (with the WC stripes incorporated) is later than the frame details, in particular the long Campagnolo dropouts and full complement of heart cutouts in the lugs. (The black heart decal on the seattube also looks pretty cheesy to me, but that's just my sense.)
I'm interested to know if Citoyen du Monde thinks the chrome fork is likely original, or if it was chromed when the repaint was done.

Chromed forks were definitely possible in the mid-70's. The decals are wrong for the vintage and the way they are applied is also not in keeping with the normal decals. You can see from the photos that they are very thick decals and appear to be adhesive and not water slide or varnish fix.

Decals have obvious ridges - unlike my '76-77. How about the TT and shifter braze-ons - added with the repaint, or did they overlap the use of the 1010 longs?

It's back:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DE-ROSA-RACING-F...QQcmdZViewItem

This frame is wonderful

Just a few hours to go, and a reasonable $504 at the moment!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=200328120381

$1125 with three hours to go!

50$ for all