EddyR

Anyone have any information on Corbetta bikes? I can't find anything
EddyR

dookie

hey...i saw that first!

naw, you can have it. too far from me and too uncertain. hope it's a real kill for you!

corbetta

EddyR

Hi dookie I sent him a email. It looks to tall for me but it might have good components on it. Last week I went to look at a Lotus and there sat a mint Nishiki also and got it cheap.I thought the Nishini looked way to big but I ride it every day. Tall bike but short wheel base.
Ed

EddyR

I went and bought this bike and it has a mixture of parts Campagnolo. CLB,Mavic 700 rims,and Tubi-Acciano Special frame. I lifted it and new it was light for a big bike. Just under 23 pounds for a 35 inch stand over height bike. Pictures tomarrow.It is a French bike. Handlebars say Franco Italia--Guidon,Philippe.
Ed

dookie

nice!

unworthy1

really, French? Cause the tubing description sounds very much Italiano for Columbus. But every once in a while there was a French builder who used Columbus tubing, this could be one of those rarities. Handlebars, rims and brakes certainly are French...the Corbetta name sounds like it could be either.

EddyR

unworthy1 I believe you are correct it is Italian. I just took pictures and they will be up around 6 tonight.
Ed

vpiuva

The one set of Phillippe bars I had were 25.4, not the french 25.0 I had assumed as I found out while trying to jam them in a french stem Now I measure everything

EddyR

Here is what I have figured out so far about this bike. Italian built with many French parts. Brakes are CLB super professional compact.Chainwheel says made in France on crank?Wheels Mavic 700. Helico Matic 5 speed . Handlebars and stem and seat post are aluminum , Franco/Italia. Front derailer is Campagnolo,rear is Simplex I think? It has #5064 on it WHAT MODEL IS THIS? Tubing Assiano Special Corsa. Many questions on this bike. This bike is very dirty and what looks like rust is brown crud. The paint is very odd. At first I thought it had been touched up but that is not the case. It is silver with gold color on top that is fading or it's just plain grungy. Most of you have a great deal more knowledge than I do do so correct me were necessarily . I don't take it personal.Bike weights less than 23 pounds and is a 35 inch stand over height Also notice the open Bottom Bracket ,it full of grease but open to the weather. Have you ever seen that before?
EddyR

T-Mar

It could also be Spanish or Portugese. As for the tubing, it's definitely not Columbus.

EddyR

Would not the two Red White & Green flags on it make you think it is Italian? I fond one picture on the internet of one converted to a single speed and the owner is in Spain. I will try and contact him.
Ed

unworthy1

That's a weird bike for sure.I've never seen a faked Columbus tubing sticker like that (maybe "homage" is more correct) nor heard of a tubing called "Corsa". It's a hodgepodge of French and Italian parts( the cranks seem to be Stronglight-ish), and I'm more used to seeing Spanish components hung on Spanish frames (have yet to see a Portuguese bike), but this could be from the Iberian penn, in spite of the Italian flag decal references. Showing my French ignorance here: there was a 5-speed Helicomatic?

luker

not Assiano, acciaio. means "special steel tubing". Clever marketing for the era, I suppose. I have also never seen a columbus knock off, not at least from Europe. There are some late 70's, early 80's knock offs from Japan...

T-Mar

I was think Spain or Portugal on the basis of the French components. Due to their proximity ot France, they often used French components and even use French threading. Their language is also close to Italian.

The Italian striping does not necessarilty mean anything. There are many cases of bicycles applying colors representative of a country to indicate heritage or just mislead the consumer to grab a bigger market share. Given the obvious attempt to produce a tubing decal that is similar to Columbus, I put little value in the Italian striping.


However, there is one other piece of information that supports an Italian origin. There is a town called Corbetta in northern Italy, just outside Milan.

EddyR

A search on the net reveled that this Italian tubing company has been in business since the forties and they did supply tubing for bicycles. I measured 5 of my bikes and they all including the Corbetta have the same size handlebar post .875". Seat post are different on all of them Giant 1.045" Centurion 1.065" Lotus 1.045" Nishiki 1.035" Corbetta is 1.010" I also found the town of Corbetta and I will pursue that link. I found a picture on Velospace but I can't get them to send me a password so I can contact this person. Here is the link to the picture. Maybe someone can contact him for me
https://velospace.org/node/2308
Ed

unworthy1

a 1.010" seatpost translates to 25.6mm...and that's an unusual and unusually small size. I'd guess it's straight-gauge, at least the seat tube is, and possibly a metric spec tubing (such as used in France). What's the Outside Diameter of the 3 main tubes?
BTW, I did a Google search and find a lot of references to BIKES named "Corsa" (Eddy Merckx, Torelli, Cinelli, Masi, many more) but nothing concerning a bicycle TUBING called Corsa (except as used in Corsa auto exhaust systems). Please share that info concerning the Italian Co. in business since the '40s with us...it's bound to come up again in the future.

EddyR

Corebetta top tube1.040" ,down tube1.115" ,seat tube 1.10"
Giant 1.105 1.135" 1.130
Centurion 1.010" 1.140" 1.140

Tubi,acciano,special-- means 3 tubes,steel, special.-----Corsa?

Also notice the decal shows the little red bird that is used by Columbus steel
I did not save the link for the Italian steel maker. It will take some time to find it as I forgot the search word I used. I have looked at hundreds of Italian bikes on the net. Here is what I have noticed. There were about a dozen companies that copied the Cinelli Corsa bike from 1974.My bike frame looks just like some of them right down to the smallest detail. One thing they all have in common is the same Italian flag decal on them.Since this is a large bike and still quite light it must have been built for something above the entry level market. My only lighter bike is my Centurion Lemans that is built on the Dave Scott frame. I would do more looking on the frame for names or number but I am in the middle of helping put on a model airplane contest this week.
EddyR

luker

acciacio is steel. Tubi is tubing, and special is, um, special. Tretubi would be three tubes, but no...when you have special steel, it can all be special.

I don't think that the grade of the steel will tell us much, here...

unworthy1

though it's not definitive, seems like your inch measurements point toward this frame to be made from "metric" dimensioned tubing, so it's more likely to be something not from Italy. Since it's all speculation, I'd give T-Mar the nod (he's got the best track record of anybody on this forum) and say it's probably Spanish or Portu. The decal shows an "attempted" Columbus Dove, but that bird is not the same (one of those of a different feather we've heard about). To sum up: it may well be a good riding bike; it's rare but that doesn't make it collectible. Construction details seem to be mid-grade and workmanlike in craftsmanship: not bad but nothing exciting. It's certainly worth spending a little time/effort to make it roadworthy...then RIDE it and let us know what you think.

T-Mar

I concur with the above two posts. It's steel, but that's about all you can say. Special could mean anything. Those tube diameters translate to 26.4mm, 28.3mm and 27.9mm. Those measurements are closer to the metric diameters used in France, Spain and Portugal (26, 28 & 28mm respectively) than the imperial tubing used in Italy (25.4, 28.6 and 28.6mm respectively).

Measuring the diameter of the seat post would give a good indication of the grade of steel. Assuming metric tubing anything 26mm or less is typicallyy hi-tensile steel. 26.4mm and above is generally a butted CrMO steel or equivalent. In between is typically, plain gauge CrMO or equivalent. Ir appears to have an aluminum, micro-adjust seat post, so you should be able to remove it and find a size.

The workmanship is functional, but nowhere near the level found on Cinelli or comparable models. It's mid-range at best.

I've seen many Italian manufacturers of tubesets over the years, but this one is new to me too. I'd be very interested in the website, if it can be found again.

EddyR

Thanks for all the replies. My conclusion has not changed,is it was a knock-off. It is lighter than any of my other tall bikes by a lot.The company who built it made a good attempt to keep it light. Everything that can be made of aluminum is even the brake cables. I have not had any time to spend on this since I got it one week ago and I am going on vacation now so I will not be able to spend any time on it soon. I also have two other bikes I have had for only three weeks and they will be taking up some time also.This one will get flipped as it is to big for me. NO ONE GAVE ME A GUESS AS TO THE REAR DERAILER. SIMPLEX????
It has # 5064 on it but no name.
EddyR

T-Mar

Yes, it is a Simplex though I believe the "5" is actually an "S", making it n S064 model. Simplex's entry level models typically started with an "S".

I have been giving your bicycle further thought and perhaps the founder was an Italian who moved to France, Spain or Portugal. This would explain the metic tubing and French components, while allowing for the Italian piping and pseudo-Columbus decal. Corbetta could be his surname or birthplace.

A similar case exist with Miele, a bicycle brand made in Canada by an ex-Italian and which display Italian piping in the logo and headbadge.

EddyR

Thanks T-Mar It seems like a odd combination of derailers, Campagnolo and Simplex. I guess one of them has been changed. I won't worry about it unless one doesn't work and I have others I can install if I keep the bike or I may build a single speed for time trials at Lowes Motor Speedway. ALSO T-Mar did you notice my out of sequence # 3105691 for my Centurion Lemans thread I ran on my mid to late 1980's LeMans. I measured the bike up and it is on a Dave Scott frame. It is all 105 equipment. Thanks again for all the input.
EddyR

T-Mar

No, but I went back and took a look. What makes you think iti s a Dave Scott frame? It's circa 1987-1989. I was thinking that maybe the 3 was a poorly stamped 8, but that looks like a good impression in the picture.

EddyR

I do not ride with groups very often but there was a get together not to far from my house and I went. As I was putting my front wheel on a guy comes up to me and starts asking me a lot of questions about my bike. He had a Mid 80's LeMans and it was the typical three color paint job. He wanted to know if I had painted mine. It is factory paint. We put the bikes next to each other and it was very apparent my bike was different. Shorter wheelbase and seat tube was at a different angle. I later measured mine and it was the same as the Scott bike. You would not notice it unless you saw the two bikes next to each other.It is possible that they changed the LeMans in the late 80's. I have never seen one as late as mine.The 70's Centurion models are very common around here.
Ed