Frame identification help needed
 

Hi all,

I recently bought a frame from a friend at my local bike co-op. It has Brodie decals, but had a Fiori fork installed. I emailed Brodie with some photos and the serial number and they say it is not one of their frames. From what I understand, Fiori is an alternate brand of Norco. Unfortunately, Norco only seems to allow me to contact them by snail mail.

The serial number appears to be GCL 35, though I think the frame has been repainted so it's a bit difficult to make out. I've attached some photos.

Any ideas on how to ID this frame would be appreciated. I've cobbled together parts to get it rideable, and it seems to ride well. Ideally I'd like to figure out what the original fork geometry is, as the fork that came with it has a theaded-threadless adapter frozen in the steerer tube.

Moved from General Cycling to Classic & Vintage.

judging from the overall condition I would say the fork is likely a replacement. can you post some closeups of the seat cluster and dropouts? is there anything stamped on the dropouts? any idea what the BB threading is?

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...9&d=1314129678

Thanks Bianchigirll, I will get those other detail shots. I still fairly new to this, wasn't sure exactly what would be helpful.

I didn't see anything stamped on the dropouts, but the frame seems to have been repainted, so fine details like that are a bit obscured. I'll take another look.

It has a sealed BB, I assume that means standard threading. Is that a reasonable assumption?

For what it's worth, the original owner claimed it was new in the early 2000's (which is why I posted in General at first). Then again, he also told the guy I bought it from that it was a Brodie, so who knows?

Okay, here are some more shots of the frame. Looks like the rear dropouts are forged and say "??EV CAMPAGNOLO".

As for the poorly done Sprite can seatpost shim, it's a temporary fix so that I could take a little ride and see if it was worth spending time on this frame.

BREV. CAMPAGNOLO. So you have Campagnolo dropouts. Where's a good fork crown pic?

Details of fork. Again, not sure if original fork or not.

Too bad it's so rusty. That's a cool fork. Frame's pretty neat, too.

Bit of a project, but from where I'm sitting it looks like a well-made frame. Frame number syntax suggests a (very) small scale production. Worth saving if there's no major damage.

I'm thinking I'll try to clean it up a bit and ride it for a while. If I really like it I might try to do a proper repaint to match the fork, assuming I can get the fork usable again. Right now there's a chunck of stem stuck in there that's shorn off in such a way that I can't get a grip to try to wiggle it out.

It would be nice to ID the frame, but maybe I'll just have to learn to enjoy the mystery.

How wide is the bottom bracket shell? If it is 70 mm instead of 68 mm, It's an Italian frame (or at least, has Italian spec.). It looks like a circa 1975-1980 Italian frame to me, a Basso-built Pogliaghi perhaps, for example, but it could be British or American (even if it has a 70 mm BB shell, as some builders in the US did Italian threads, but not many did). Sure as heck not from 2002, by a longshot. It appears that the second set of eyelets were added to the rear dropouts when the double-eyelet fork was added. What is going on where the down tube meets the BB shell? Is that just weird gunk, or a welded repair/patch?

The gunk is from some tape that was on the frame. I think the intention was to plug the holes in the bottom of the BB shell. It was duct tape covered by electrical tape. I'm not looking forward to trying to get all the adhesive off.