Umberto Dei?
 

I just discovered these bikes recently and just saw this one on eBay--being sold out in CO, sans rear lamp, saddle, one brake pad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Umberto-Dei-Vint...item35ac83722d

Still out of my league price-wise at the moment but they look like such exquisite bikes. The Pashleys of Italy? What does anyone know about them?

I have one, a male city bike from the early 70's. I don't have a recent photo, but it is essentially an earlier version of this model:

http://www.umbertodei.it/index.php?o...mid=99&lang=en

They've made this bike continuously since the 30's with many features still the same (flared fenders, rod brakes).

Mine is original except for tires, a broken rear light, and I had to find a pump (which I did off ebay.it). I'll post some pictures soon.

Umberto Dei is an old, established Italian marque. If you visit small towns in central and northern Italy you will see many of them in use as primary transportation. They cater to the high-end market now, but are built to truly old-school specifications, e.g. rod brakes, all steel frame and racks, mudguards, etc. The $595 price on the eBay auction seems reasonable compared to the price a new Umberto Dei would cost in Europe.

He lists it as new, I doubt it would be new, but missing parts, maybe slightly used.

There was a company in Colorado that began importing these bikes last year. It would not surprise me if the venture did not work out and they ended up with a few of these and are now attempting to recover a bit of their investment quickly, before the end of the season. More problematic is setting up the brakes if you have never seen a rod brake bike in person.

It sounds as if it was actually a demo bike for a bike store, or yes--maybe that importer. Colorado seems like a very, very odd place to import this type of bike. NYC maybe...anywhere that people read The Sartorialist and don't have to deal with a lot of hills. I can't imagine how a demo bike ended up losing its saddle, rear light and brake pad--again, maybe this explains why a stately Italian bike and mountains don't mix.