Take a look at these and tell me what you think. I picked up these Giro D'Italias at a bike swap this fall because they were cheap and I had never seen anything like them. They are an aluminum bar but they don't have the classic Cinelli "sleeve" around the clamp area: Instead they are enlarged in that area like the early Cinelli steel bars (Mod. 17D?) The clamp area measurements vary from 25.7mm to 26mm. They are very worn. I can find no numbering or lettering on the ends of the bars.

I have three theories but am just grasping at straws.
1. They were a transition bar made at the same time as the steel bars or soon thereafter before Cinelli went to the "sleeve."
2. Cinelli made these bars to fit the 26.0 TTT stems at a time when the regular Cinelli bars were 26.4mm.
3. They're very clever fakes.

Anyone care to educate me on these?

Brent

Aluminum you say ? Sure look like chromed steel to me...isn't that a patch of chrome flaked off I see ?

Please confirm with certainty and maybe a few more photos.....


Thanks,

Joe

looks like left over sticky tape to me but could be i suppose

It is aluminum, or at least it's very light (322g) and not magnetic.
Here are two more pictures:





The item that you took for flaked off chrome was a bit of dirty tape adhesive that rubbed off. There is also a large dark area of light corrosion in the area where the bar was clamped.
Brent

As you say, they match the one's Michael Angelo was looking to buy (in this link), but with a smooth transition to the clamp area. When did Cinelli introduce that smooth transition? Yours look sort of old meets new. The engraving doesn't appear as deep either. Did Cinelli ever reissue newer bars with the older logos?

Ah yes, much clearer for me now, thanks. I should have looked at the photos on my desktop and not my iPad...

I have not seen the aluminum without the sleeve either. Bet they will still clean up and polish nicely though!
Unless someone has experience with these, theory number 1 sounds quite plausable... Im curious too, and will do a little digging and see if I can find anything.....

Cheers,
Joe

I have not seen those before. I think option one also. The sleeve type handle is many times more durable than the bulge center type made at the time. Very cool score.

Just a guess but I'd say those are quite old. Maybe 50's?

My guess is older pista bars. I have a set of pista bars that look just like those except they are not Cinelli. The bends look more like pista to me than strada.

Cinelli showed prototype aluminum stem/bars at the 1960 Milan bicycle show. Production began in 1963.

And unfortunately, 43bikes website is down.

Those are intriguing bars. the Giro name visible indicates to me they are road bars, now are these the missing link between the steel bars which were also made in road bends and the sleeved design that started out with a polished finish then went anodized?
CdM may have some insight.
I have no idea where I would use them, but they would be fun on a project.

Thanks to all of you for your input!

Pardon the bump but I'm still really curious about these. I agree that the "missing link" hypothesis is probably the best one, but I'd love to see it confirmed, if for no other reason than to know the time period to which this bar is appropriate. Here's another picture showing the flat top, definitely not pista.



repechage, what is CdM?

Brent

Citoyen du Monde is the screen name of one of the many knowledgeable collectors who will share what he knows.

Giro D'Italia is the model and is indicative of the bend and the drop. Giros had more of a curve to the shoulder the Campione Del Mondo has a more square shoulder and the Criterium as an even great curve than the Giro and looks closer to the pista bar (in fact it would even be used in place of pista if one wanted a shallower drop. The curve starts earlier thus opening up the drop position. Criteriums are short and fast so rider spend more time in the drops and thus the reason for the early curve thus more or less eliminating the "rest position" on the curve.

Explanation 1 seems the simplest and most likely. That the stamp is not as deep is not surprising. There is less material there than when the sleeve was added. Steel stamped bars also had very shallow stampings.

That's a good point, and consistent with this being an authentic Cinelli product.

I wonder if there are any reports of these early bars being unreliable, such that the sleeved version came so early in the aluminum bars' production?

The only bar I've broken was a bulged bar that broke under racing use, right where the bulge starts increasing in diameter. But it was a generic handlebar iir.
Some of the bulged bars sold as "butted" have actually been shown to be thinner where the bulge is (unlike true butting).