Old Fat Guy

I recently picked up a bike for my wife, I mentioned it in another thread.

I finally got around to taking a few pictures, and was hoping someone may be able to shed a little light on the builder.

Here's what I know. The bike is branded Tomas. It appears to be a decent bike, a mix of high to mid level Japanese components. The frame is SLX, verified. It has a full chrome rear triangle and a chrome fork. The paint is quite stunning in person., pink to pearl white fade, with pink undertones in the white.

It has Suntour Superbe cranks, rings, pedals and derailleur, Sprint indexed shifters and hubs, New Winner Pro 7 speed freewheel, Rino Chrono tubular rims, 105 brake levers and calipers, and Cinelli bars & stem. No serial number, just the frame size on the BB. Four slotted cutouts on the BB.

I think the bike is a 1986-87 build. I bought the bike off the Detroit CL, but it was located in Windsor, Ontario, GWN.

Pictures here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/zmudshark/Tomas#

A few pictures to get you guys started, any info is greatly appreciated. I've checked the usual sources (CR, Yellow Jersey, etc), and have only gotten anecdotal references.

Wino Ryder

I've heard of 'Tomas' before, but like you Dont know much more. Doesn't make any difference though. That bike is gorgeous and the componentry and Columbus tubes really makes it nice.

Your wife should be very happy.

andy e

ooo-wee that bike is nice! good luck with your quest for info.. afraid i can't help though

cb400bill

Isn't there a Tomas scooter company?

Old Fat Guy

Yes, there is. But as far as I have been able to tell, they never made bicycles.

gomango

You really know how to find 'em. I sent the link to my wife's niece in Bolzano. I'm hoping their team manager knows what this is, cause it rocks. Quite impressive frame details.

Old Fat Guy

Thanks. It would be nice to have an idea.

I took it for a quick ride Thursday, and though it's way small for me, it cornered well, and seem pretty lively.

I must say, though I have some nice bikes in the stable, but this one is really stunning in person. I need to get a white Regal for it, the Rolls was in the parts bin, and will do for now.

This bike was on the Detroit CL, poorly described, and reasonably priced.

I owe a debt of gratitude to redxj, who went to Canada and picked it up for me, so let me publicly thank him. Thanks Big Matt!

mkeller234

It looks very nice. The previous owner must have hand hands down to his/her knees, that stem is so long.

dbakl

Looks really nice, but I know nothin...

Old Fat Guy

It's only a 120 stem. Long for that sized frame, yes, but pretty normal for an average frame.

It will be replaced with a shorter stem for my wife, and I ride a 120, so all is good. The 66-40 bars will go to 64-38's as well.

LesterOfPuppets

That is a beauty. That is one huge stem, alright. Deep drops look kinda funny on tiny frames. Those brake levers are up a little high for use from the drops, as well.

But, wow. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for the Tomas marque from now on, for sure!

unworthy1

pretty sure this is an example of a Tommasini that they marketed for a short spell with an "Anglicized" contraction that they thought would make it more palatable in the US. At least it's a story I heard from somebody, somewhere, at some time.

Otis

There were some early (70's) Tommasini's branded as Tomas. That bike is obviously way later than those but maybe they used the name in the 80's again for a certain country of distributor? It looks like it could have been built by them.

Old Fat Guy

I moved the levers up for the time being. Believe me, my wife does not ride in the drops.

I just ordered a 64-38 set of bars. I think I have a 70-80 stem in AZ. There is a good chance that this may get a set of 8 speed Chorus I have before it's all done with.

Otis and Unworthy1, I have heard of the Tommasini angle, but sort of doubt it. I intend to send them an email with a link to the pictures. I think by 1986-87 Tommasini was selling bikes under their own name. There is no mention of Tomas on their site. I saw that conjecture on the CR list, but given the age of this bike I find it doubtful. I would love to find that it is a Tommasini, for sure. Maybe they marketed them in Canada under that name.

I also heard from another source, that there may have been a US distributor of Tomas bikes in this time frame.

A poster on RBR found an Italian link to a Tomas track frame on the Italian fixed gear gallery. That's the only other picture I have found so far of a Tomas frame.

I will send Tommasini an email.

redneckwes

Nice find!

I have noting of use to add. But it's one sharp little bike!

BengeBoy 

I had heard the Tomas / Tommasini connection before.

Note the similarity to a late 80's Tommasini Air fork:

EjustE

+2

Tomas was indeed a Tommasini made bike brand in the 80s marketed to children/teens. Most of their road bikes were made with SLX steel (no weight issues with that group), it is an extremely obscure brand that did not make it in droves this side of the Atlantic (Few people would buy their teen a $2000 bike when a entry level Schwinn was $200). Great bargains for shorter adults today (if you can locate one) and can stand the (panto)graphics overload. Originally several of these bikes had even the down-tube shifters pantographed with multi-color stripes in the boys' versions.

A great example!

(edit: I am 99.9% sure that this frame had a recent paintjob - look at the Columbus sticker - and I suspect that the downtube shifters are not original. The original ones would have been wildly Pantographed - I cannot image in what kind of a set up with this motif)

Old Fat Guy

EjustE,

I'd like to know where you get your info from?

I would just about guarantee that this bike has not had a repaint, and that it was bought as a frameset, not a complete bike. The Columbus decal and the Tomas decals are not under clear coat, and entirely consistent with what would be original. I bought it from the original owner, and they indicated that it was rarely ridden but completely original. Everything on the bike bears that out.

Here is a link to a Tomas from the Italian Fixed Gear Forum, not a child/woman's bike at all:

https://www.fixedforum.it/forum/viewt...t=1464&p=22479

junkfoodjunkie

What if it were a really large child or a WNBA player? Maybe that was the Tomas market...

Citoyen du Monde

The Tommasini story is not correct, as Irio used the name Thomas not Tomas. See here: https://www.eroica.it/documenti/0406%...-%20Bottai.pdf

Were it not for the colors of the Italian I would guess a Spanish bike.

Old Fat Guy

You got me there.

Makes as much sense as EjustE's observation.

Citoyen du Monde

You have found your reply. In the link it says: Telaio Tomas (telaista artigiano di Padova, che lavorņ per Vetta) x Cicli Alberti Ferrara

which translates to: Tomas frame (framebuilder from Padova, who worked for Vetta) built for the shop Cicli Alberti of Ferrara.

BengeBoy 

Thanks for the correction; I had remembered a Tomas/Thomas story but now that you mention it I remember now thinking it was odd they used "Thomas" as the spelling.

Thomas was a lower-end bike, wasn't it? With less expensive tubing?

Old Fat Guy

Thank You CdM.

I was going to have a friend translate that for me.

Can you shed any light on that shop?

Citoyen du Monde

the Vetta framebuilding enterprise is run by Antonio Taverna and has a reputation of offering frames and bikes for price-sensitive customers. Some of them are very nice, others are quite disappointing, so you are basically taking a roll of the dice. Their website is: https://www.vetta.it/index_altra.htm

Because of the popular prices, there are many shops that have their "custom" shop frames built for their customers by Taverna and his team. I believe that I have once been in the shop Alberti shop in Ferrara but am not absolutely sure, so I can be rather sure that it was not a super interesting one (I always take note of the impressive shops that I have been to )

BTW, the headtube is so shallow that the stem is actually going noticeably uphill, this means that it must be about 68° or 69°. My guess is that the front wheel will have wheel flop when you turn it from right to left and left to right. It will be a great descending bike but perhaps not what you would want in tight confines.