Beautiful Chiorda...
 

Hi All. I am new here and am looking for some info on an Chiorda frame I just purchased. It was a rusty heap, but has beautiful lugs. Greeny-Yellow in color before I painted it. I need a fork for this bike. Could any of you help me? Here are some pics:

http://s1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc444/Dagbach618/

This is a first time paint project for me...sorta wish I hadn't!

Thanks.

Dagbach

Facebook links mean you have to sign in to see your pics. Not all of us are on Facebook.

Please post your pics to a photo sharing sight like Flickr or Photobucket.

I've seen others link to public Facebook albums, but I have no idea how to create one. Probably just a few simple property edits.

You painted that? Oh man, it looks nice the way it is.

That, sadly, is what most of us say after our first paint project.

Those of us who are slow learners (:innocent:) also say it after subsequent paint projects.

that's hardly a rusty mess. I like(d) the original paint.

Yea. I completely wish I hadn't painted it. I needed a project...this fit the bill! On to my next mistake...
Peace.

Hi! Thanks...I just put some up on Photobucket: http://s1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc444/Dagbach618/

I may build it up as a fixie. Old Campi stuff? What other components would work on this bike? Suggestions...

Peace, all...

I used to sell Chiorda duing the boom, at the LBS I managed. IIRC, this model was their club racer with a hi-tensile frame, a steel cottered crankset, Campagnolo Valentino derailleurs, Ballila brakes, Gnutti large flange QR hubs laced to tubular rims. Bars and stem were aluminum though I don't recall the make. The bicycles were real eye candy but they were a nuisance, as the parts didn't not mesh well together or stay in adjustment. However, most of all, people were aghast at the frequency of flat tires on what they considered to be a very expensive bicycle.

Wow, T-Mar...this is the best and clearest info I that I have been able to get about this specific bicycle. I found a pic online of a very similar back. Actually, identical, except the downtube was labled "Chiorda" and my downtube was labled "Giomondi." I know who Giomondi is, and I understand his relationship to Chiorda. What I don't know is why it was on THIS bike. Was there a difference in the bikes? Or were they just cashing in on his name? I assume this is Italian threading...is that right? Could I use a Campi BB from this era? Could I use a track BB? Or not? This was very helpful. Thanks alot.

Had one just like it, and a few of different colors, a while back. I don't think I have any at the moment, though...

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=190412 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=190413

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=190414

It was probably a licensing deal to use Gimondi's name. Typically, these deals are for relatively short periods of 1-5 years, so the other bicycle you saw may simply have been outside the licensing period. The other possibility is that what you actually saw was not the Gimondi predecessor or successor. There was another model that was virtually identical, except that it used clincher wheels, as opposed to the tubulars on the Gimondi.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "why it was on this bike"? If you are referring to why it wasn't on a higher end model, then I suppose it was all marketing. If they put the name on the top model, how many more would they have sold? Not very many, I suspect. Most people who buy a top end bicycle, aren't swayed by a name. They know enough about a bicycle that they will make their decision on the actual merits of the bicycle itself.

There's more money to be made by swaying the large masses of relatively ignorant newbies who buy the entry level models. These are the people who know just enough to be dangerous. They may recognize Gimondi's name and they probably knew Campagnolo made the best components, though they didn't know that low end Campagnolo had a poor reputation.

However, you don't want to put it on your bottom of the line model either. There's a real stigma to owning a bottom of the line bicycle. The best sellers of a brand were typically second from the bottom of the line (i.e. Peugeot UO8, Raleigh Grand Prix, etc.). While the Gimondi wasn't bottom of the line, it was the base racing model. As such, it was direct competition for bicycles like the Bianchi Rekord 71, Peugeot PA10, Gitane Interclub and Raleigh Super Course TT.

The shell should be Italian threaded. Though I don't specifically recall, I can't imagine it being anything else. Measure the actual shell width, which is typically 70mm for Italian threading. A Campagnolo BB is probably overkill, though it could be used. A Campagnolo track BB will throw the chainline off about 3mm compared to the Campagnolo road BB when used with the corresponding crankset.

BTW, I forgot to mention that the original price was $200, circa 1973. However, the Chiorda models were always heavily discounted and we sold this model for as low as $150, which was more in line with the competition.

T-mar is quite right about marketing - my first "drop bar" (or 10-speed) was a Chiorda sourced through a major department store chain. I wanted it because it was Italian but other than that I hardly knew much about bikes when I got it. Mine was white, and if memory serves I got it in 1971 or 72. It came equipped with Simplex and Ballila, and I wished it had come with Valentino Extra like some I saw at the time. I believe the price was somewhere close to $100 CAD, since I was also looking at a "cheaper" model at $89 and my parents convinced me to get what I wanted and be happy rather than get what I could afford and be unhappy.

Funny enough - it too was my first attempt at a repaint (but this was when I was 13 or 14), and I picked the same colour as the OP.