A Rossin Question
 

Just wondering. Was Rossin unique in making the "beefy" bottom bracket back in the 80s? Never saw one on another bike of the period except Rossin.

Like yourself, I've never seen this kind of bottom bracket on any other brand bike - and I think that bottom bracket dates the bike to the mid/late 80's

I'll have to check my "new to me" Rossin and see what it has. I do think I have seen them on other nicer Italian frames. I guess the idea is to stiffen the stays without a bridge and thus make them shorter?

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...2&d=1318208011

The answer to the question is NO. Somec i believe had a BB shell that is similar. That beefy BB shell came only in that model I believe. Nice bike been looking for one of those for a while now. Or de wrong size or I dont have money for it hahaha :D

Pretty sure it was with all their SLX frames of that time period. Record, Pro and Ghibli all used that same BB AFAIK. The bike in question is a Record, I believe? Here's my Ghibli's BB.

http://bygonebicyclist.com/images/my...e/IMG_9129.jpg

what is with the teasing? I never saw, not that I saw alot of Ghiblis, a fully chromed one.



my '88 RL with SL tubes has a standard looking BB shell except the cables are routed through it, so it is built up just a bit on the bottom.

Ultraman just what size are you looking for?

OH UH :twitchy: WOW this is dreamy!

http://bygonebicyclist.com/images/my...e/IMG_9112.jpg

I don't know about that BB arrangement. Looks like it would be nice and strong.

That chrome Ghibli almost made my heart stop. :love:

Rossin used this BB shell into the early 90's:

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...n/DSC02443.jpg

Rossin Prestige

A Rossin lug set:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/ima...n/RosslugL.jpg

Dammit. I never saw a Rossin in the flesh, now I think I NEED one. Thanks.. Thanks alot... More of that sexy Italian steel.. With my initials on it.. Sheeshh..

Tell me, do you have rust problems from other people drooling over the bike?

Here is mine just to torment you a bit more LOL

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...4&d=1318266506

but as you can see the lowly SL tubed frame uses a more common arangement

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...5&d=1318266509

I meant SL+ frames :).

Electrical tape?

adds strength/stiffness to the bb area. What's the problem?

LOL.. Beautiful! It's working. ;) I'd trade 20 or so (pretty nice) bikes for one of these. Of course, I never see 'em.

BTW, I dig the tape.

The "chunkeh" BB shell must add a bit of weight to the frame, does it?:rolleyes:
Vitus did something similar to ther later 992 frames but they did it in a smoother, "sexier", more rounded shape, as you might expect from French designers.

Chombi

Dont really notice much weight increase over my other slx frame bikes. It does ride great...not sure if that has anything to do with that bb or not. I think that ghibli may be just the bare frame. Werent they chromed underneath? I want a Ghibli. I want a Ghibli

Hey bianchigirl....do you have the original fork for you Rossin? I have a friend who does have a nice steal Rossin fork. It might work for you.

Ride one sometime when you get the chance. Then you'll KNOW that you need one.

A Rossin Ghibli is on my short list...Wasn't the 80's an awesome time for Italian road racing bikes? Why can't someone invent a time machine?

Well the reason is that too much work for them to build like that. IMO italian bikes are good, italian frame building is rough compared with other builders. The only reason i say that is because the idea for italian manufacturing was just get the bike ready to b sold asap, so basically no lug work, quick and good paint job and ready to go.

IMO now a days the best "custom building" is made here in the US.

that is just to hold the padding in place to keep the heater from scratching it. or getting grease on the carpet ;)

Yeah, that BB shell looks stylish in a paperweight sense, but creates a "plug-and-play" lack of flow to the frame overall - or at least to the BB-stay junction. It does say "this junction won't fail," which I'm sure was reassuring to some riders.

These are stunning bicycles. Just freakin' beautiful.

Personally, I think this is when Italian racing bikes left their artisan roots in ways that were mostly negative - much less hand work went into the frames. They became much more stylistically similar overall - everybody had the same Microfusione lugs with cast-in names and logos. So as a whole, they hang together more aesthetically, with the main difference being paint and graphics and branding - which accordingly began to receive much more attention from builders with fewer ways to stand out from the crowd. This means much less reason to choose one Italian brand over another, aside from occasional departures from the standard stage race geometry that might suit a particular rider. That's why "name chasing" makes so little sense when it comes to 80's Italian racing bikes.
On the other hand, another way to stand out from the crowd was to do something dramatic design-wise - Colnago led the way in many respects in this regard with its shaped tubing. I give Rossin credit here, as they managed to create frames that are aesthetically dramatic in ways that sometimes allow them to stand out from the crowd.

As an owner of a "American" custom bike or two, I mostly agree.

But we have to be careful with generalizations.

Have you looked at Marnatis?

How about Baum cycles?

How about Llewellyn?

"Best" is a tough statement, while "among the best" would work a little better for me.