I know a few have been posted individually here over the years - I thought maybe we could put those bikes that most of us would normally not see because of extreme rarity or the many local market makers - most notably Europe - that were built but never sold in North America. I always enjoy seeing something different apart from the mainstream marques most of us know of. I would start with my Sabatini, but I want to post some new images in the near future.

The list of bikes below are represented in order of appearance here with an image included.



REPRESENTED MARQUES:

CORNELO ( NETHERLANDS )

GANNA

M. PELOSO ( ITALY )

GEOFFREY BUTLER ( U.K. )

ZULLO

YOHOTA

GRANDIS

PATELLI ( ITALY )

FOCUS

SPINELLA ( OLYMPIA )

FAVORIT ( CZECHOSLOVAKIA )

BONANNO ( ITALY )

CID ( U.S. )

PRIVITERA ( ARGENTINA )

HECTOR ( U.K. )

OLYMPIA ( ITALY )

KOGA

CYCLOPS

MONTAGNER

MARNATI

NON PAREIL ( U.S. )

SPARROW ( U.S. )

WALTER CROLL ( U.S. )

HOLLANDS ( U.S. )

RICARDO ( AUSTRALIA )

MACLEAN

CERA

FOTHERGILL ( U.K. )

SW COTTEN

APPEL ( U.S. )

RAULERS

GIANNA MOTTA ( ITALY )

DICK POWER ( U.S. )

REUS

FONDRIEST

CASATI ( ITALY )

BATAGLIN ( ITALY )

U.SCANNINI ( ITALY )

CILO ( SWITZERLAND )

NATALINI ( ITALY )

PETER JOHNSON ( U.S. )

RON KIT ( SPEEDWELL )

FAGGIN ( ITALY )

ZUNOW ( JAPAN )

RAVANELLO ( JAPAN )

CHERUBIM ( JAPAN )

KAMRA ( NISHIKI BUILT - JAPAN )

WEROS

CAPOS ( AUSTRIA )

BONTEKOE

VON TUYL

BRANDS

COLMO

COLNERO

HERMAN BRAUN

HOOGLAND

SPREY

STELVIO

VITTORIO POPULAIR

May I start with my Cornelo? If I actually state that to my knowledge there are only two or three in the state, someone will shoow a pic of a club riding them so I won't say it. It is an unusual brand as it was made for one of the big bicycle shops in the Netherlands.

Cornelo Triomphe built with Campagnolo Triomphe

Mazza are really rare too, that's going to be my next one if i can get the dough for it.

U.Scanini, thats another one pretty rare that makes beautiful racing worth frames.

Nice bike bianchi girl... I envy you

Late 60's Ganna.

afilado may chime in. He's been into low-volume, high-quality frames lately.

I have a early-mid 60's Peloso that would qualify. A little known Italian builder whose bikes were popular in France and the UK in the 60's. One of my favorite old bikes as I bought it as a badly repainted "mystery" frame and rode it for about a year without knowing what it was. I always thought it was one of the best riding old bikes I'd ever ridden from the first spin around the block on it. So it was truly a blind test with no sway of "builder's aura" influencing my judgement. This frame is just "right".

After finding out it was a Peloso, I was able to track down some decals, and decided to rebuild it with more period correct parts. Unfortunately I took on a lot of projects at the same time and still have not got her back on the road. But it's next in line.






For a good Peloso story check out Mike Barry's tale of picking up his:

https://bicyclespecialties.blogspot.c...06/peloso.html

Pretty rare. A "house brand" built by a variety of UK builders for the Geoffrey Butler bike shop. This one was likely built by Cliff Shrubb.



I think Zullos are pretty rarely seen.

its not valuble, but ive got one rarely seen on a road frame:

Grandis. A really fine machine.


6 017 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr


6 020 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr

Stunning bikes shared along with great and interesting stories!.........thanks

Patelli (not to be confused with Paletti) is another pretty obscure (at least in the States) builder, who put out some neat stuff. This is a mid-late 60's racer:

I've really enjoyed looking at all the bikes shown here so far, they are all very nice - Otis, beautiful Peloso and story- never heard of it until now.

My ears itch.

I've a couple of new bikes in mind but am unprepared with photos. I usually wait until the rebuild is finished but I'll post some works-in-progress. No harm in mentioning them by name until pics arrive.

Just today I acquired what appears to be a 1956 or 1957 Ideor Asso. It's a Columbus frame/fork only partially outfitted with some interesting, well-preserved, original Italian and French components. Including a 1st generation Campagnolo Record headset and some very early Gran Sport bits.

The Ideor is your size Robbie - a 54 cm - much too small for me. I took it because it is such a smart and novel little relic. Maybe my son will like it..........if not it will probably be on the block.

The second is a mid '80s American hand built w/Columbus tubing from (Skip) Hujsak. Skip is a Texan recently retired and is distinguished as the designer/builder of the bicycle John Howard rode to a world speed record (152+ mph) back in 1985. He had a signature fastback seatstay to seat tube lug joint. Look it up. This one is clearly American but Italian-ish, organic, crisp,soft lines. On the low side of a fit for me

Pics soon.

J

Appel. One of Americas greatest builders seems to be pretty obscure unfortunately.

I've had the experience of standing inbetween two Appels of the same size (tiny) with identical paint jobs when a pair of Hetchinseseses (when do you stop spelling that, anyway?) came into the shop. Hanging in the back were a customers' Hatcher, the other mechanic's Capricorn, two Kvales and my own VeloSoleX.

the VSX is tolerably rare; I believe KonAaronSnake is the only other BFer to have had one.

My 1984 Focus. I have never seen another, and googling leads right back to a thread here on BF.

likin this thread

Great thread!

I'm hoping that something will show up that is identical to my Raleigh thats not a Raleigh. Pictured in this thread :
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t-this-Raleigh!


I actually feel like I might be getting close I have seen both Geoffrey Buttlers and Charles Roberts with similar features. Most notably is the seat stay cluster. Trying to find Registries for them to see if my SN looks right for one of them.

I think aixaix and I may be the only ones here with Olympias

It's already an established fact that they were rarely exported out of Italy (back in the day, that is).

Re-badged as a Spinella (rare enough in its own right), but it's an Olympia:







DD

It looks better than it rides. I quickly assembled it to see if I liked it before investing time and money. I'm still undecided in what I'm going to do with it. Just about all the parts are branded "Favorit."

bikemanbob - Your Favorit reminds me of having a pair of tubulars rims made by them on my Sabatini when I bought it- they were extremely light too. That and the Barum tires made sense when the shop owner was Czechoslovakian.

I see you are from Canada. From what I understand, my bike likely began its life in Canada.

The bike originally had tubular wheels. I still have them, but the spokes need replacing. The rims and hubs are also Favorit.

Here's a pair. Oddly, both of these were local finds, and neither one came to me through CL or a classified ad. They just kind of happened.

First is the most recent, an Alfio Bonanno. Virtually unknown Italian builder with very high craft skills from Catania, Sicily. Rare enough that an Italian builder is from the south of Italy. This bike is a bit of a stunner (I think).



Dig the stay treatment:



The second is a CID. This was one of the shop brands from Georgetown Cycle in DC, the other being Alpine. What make this one unique is it is one of a very limited number of frames made by Albert Eisentraut-- about thirty in total-- for the shop. In discussions with a former employee, I've found most of the Eisentrauts produced for the shop were apparently badged Alpine. You can find occasional CID frames in this area-- I've seen two others-- but the Alpines are far more common and I've never seen another one of these.



I never looked for either one of these marques because I didn't know either one existed until I found them. I had the CID for quite a while before I figured out its' roots, and information on the Bonanno required a lot of digging. I believe it may be the only one in the states, though I'm sure another will pop up eventually. And if they do a web search on him, they'll find mine, there's little else out there unless you search in Italian.

Both bikes are brilliant riders, BTW. Both gentlemen knew how to put together a bike.

This thread is a nice pile of eye candy so far, keep them coming.

My early 90s Privitera, made in Argentina with Columbus tubing, 105 7sp. Almost a Pinarello clone.

Hector 3 speed? Looks a whole lot like a '59 Phillips;