1959-1961 Allegro Special
 

Some of you spotted this sale, so you already know what's coming.

I've bought this frame, which appears to be my size. I'm expecting it to be delivered on Friday.

Seller's photos:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...ccc6b0.jpg?830

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...2c6f04.jpg?460

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...d59fc3.jpg?403

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...9e87504.jpg?51

Some information about the Allegro brand is to be found here:
Allegro History 1960?s | Swiss Bicycles | A website about Swiss Bicycles

And some photos here:
Allegro, Main

And the Wayback Machine provides a glimpse at a defunct website:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030206....com/main.html

So... what I know so far is: the guy on the bike on the seat tube decal was Bobby Kemp, an American racer and the son of Jack Kemp, the importer; this dates the frame to 1959-61.

Subscribing. I think a repaint with a picture of you on the seat post would be key. :)

thanks for posting this interesting frameset. does it have the ingot on the side of the seat tube with the serial number?

iirc these came with a stronglight 57 or 63 chainset and a first generation record front mech with the steel pivot arms.

a friend won one of these bikes as a bike race prize about 1961.

eagerly awaiting more pictures/information. :thumb:

Yeah, I'm eagerly awaiting too! Alas, Campy Record, not Nuovo, is a bit rare and a bit expensive; and the same goes for Stronglight 57. I'm certainly not above slapping a Weinmann Weltmeister decal on some boring clincher rim and pretending it's period correct, but this bike will probably end up with anachronistic derailleurs and a less iconic crank. On the latter, it might be Lambert arms with Stronglight 49 rings... And I won't even have to buy a Stronglight puller!

I like your use of the word "ingot." I presume the answer is "yes." More on this later!

That is one of the few vintage frames that could take barcons or brifters (or even stem shifters :) ) without needing a clamp-on cable stop.

Very nice!

It's in good hands now, looking forward to see what you do with it, period correct or not.

Damn. Damn;damn, and damn. That thing is just oozing potential. I can't believe there's not a
"potential oozing overflow" bucket underneath that thing. I like it just the way it is, and with some spit polish a little more, and with a full restore probably even little more. Yeah, that's cool.

Hello rhm, the mottled green paint is outstanding, it reminds me of snakewood, especially on the fork.

thanks for the response. ;)

forgot to mention that license sticker is from contra costa county, ~30km east of san francisco, california.

have had several of these frames come through. make sure to apply an anti-rust treatment to the interior prior to assembly. shell will of course be ch threaded...

you will have a ball with this! :thumb:

unwiderstehlich find!

Interesting read on the company history. Was just watching this clip, curious if this is a later Allegro (start at 8:50 min).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5K...B658D848295588

one thing not seen in photos is the ch flag transfer. it is possible it was applied just below the "made in...." transfer and has been lost. or it may be beneath the license transfer. you could try gently heating the license transfer with a blow dryer to see if the adhesive could be softened enough to pull it off.

not visible in photos is the housing stop at the south end of the dt to accept the stainless cable casing for the first generation record front mech.

had one come through from right about this time which was fitted with a luxe finish set of weinmann vainquer 999 brakes. the calipers are polished and then anodised and lack the recess for the red foil label. instead of a label the name is screen printed on the caliper arm. ttbomk this is quite a rare set.

have seen specials from this era with berthet pedals and with tullio. not sure which is ex-works. perhaps both were employed at various times. pillar would have been a record with the old font size stamping. as recalled, stem & bar set was a first generation 3tttt grand prix.

wrt rims - "weltmeister" is a scheeren model. the machine's o.e.m. set would have been weinmann wood-filled. [iirc ;)]

I bought a NOS pair of those ano'd C-P calipers with the red ano lettering. Caught my eye at a recent swapmeet.

Would be great to find out that they might be correct for my 1966 Paramount, since someone fitted NR brakeset with drop bolts.

Juvela,
Thanks, that is all very helpful! One of the bikes shown in photos on the Classic Rendezvouz site has the Weinmann Luxe brakes you describe (how appropriate for a Swiss bike to have Weinmann components). The seat post in those photos appears to be an aluminum pin with a dome top. Fortunately, the seller graciously agreed to include all he had of the components that were on the bike, including Weinmann brakes and levers, Stronglight headset and button bracket, Philippe stem, Lyotard pedals. But he admonished me, "don't get too excited!" So I'm trying not to speculate too much, what will be in the box. The original derailleurs are long gone, and I'm not getting the wheels or crank, but I'm optimistic.

I should start a search for first generation Record derailleurs... but I think I should see the condition of the frame first!

I agree, and glad you're documenting it so we can all have vicarious fun.
I made some of those Swiss flag stickers (rather drew the art and Velocals made them) and if you want one say the word, I'll mail it gratis...but be warned these are vinyl stickers and the artwork probably NOT the correct vintage for your frame (the Allegro I was re-decalling is about a mid-70s).

given your dating the bike is slightly too early for a record rear mech. at this date the rear mech would have been a gs.

is hs a p3 or a v4? have never known an exact launch date for v4; am thinking bike somewhat early for one so would expect and early type p3.

wrt stronglight bb - wait til you see the spindle. its finish and durability is much better than those of the boom era. the heads of the fixing bolts will be domed rather than the flat or recessed ones of later years. the spindle will probably have a number such as 64 tamped near one end. one easy to find thing you could do for a chainset that would not be too costly would be to fit a 49d with hex head c/w bolts. they went from hex to allen ~'73. is the 49d c/w set you plan to use with the lambert arms hex or allen c/w bolt?

have lots of fun! :)

thanks very much for this information. will sure to be of help for a number of ch fahrrad owners... ;)

Hello juvela, in another thread, not to long ago, you mentioned something about a first generation stronglight 93. Was there a first and second stronglight 93, and if so, how do they differ? Sorry for interrupting your thread rhm.

it has to do with the area around the pedal hole. at launch the arms had a heavy chamfer around the pedal hole. this led to failures at the hole. they added more metal there for a "second generation." all parts interchange between early and late type.

an example can be seen in this sample photo from velobase. a set is pictured, yet it is mixed; the rh arm is early and the lh one is late:

VeloBase.com - Component: Stronglight 93
with apologies to rhm for this minor diversion. :rolleyes:

Thanks, now back to your regular scheduled program.

To continue this safety-related diversion, Sugino had precisely the same problem. I snapped a 1970 Sugino Mighty Compe crank across the pedal eye, then noted that the 1973 model with which I replaced it had at least 15% more metal on each side of the pedal eye (7mm vs. 6mm).

I need to try that on my 1960 Capo, since some clown put a San Diego Bike License sticker over the Reynolds 531 decal.

Swiss frame, Swiss brakes and rims

Special finishes aside, I have always thought it was cool that Weinmann Vainqueur 999 brakes appeared across such a wide spectrum of frames, e.g. from Schwinn Continentals to Paramounts.

This is going to be so cool. Excited for you. One of your saddles on top, perhaps?

Yep, definitely a leather saddle refurbished by me, because I have to keep up with product testing! :lol: But... what model? @juvela, any idea what the original saddle might have been?

I am going to be pretty cautious about the paint, want to try some solvents on the patch of red on the top tube and hope for the best. If the Swiss emblem is indeed preserved, under the license, the paint there will be in bar mint condition, a contrast so sharp that I'm going to consider leaving the license sticker alone. Tough call.

one interesting fitting i hope the seller is able to send you rhm is the seat binder. it bears an elongated hexagonal acorn nut designed so that one need not risk scratching up the finish when adjusting the saddle height.

have alas, forgotten the maker's name for these. they appear in the 1970 edition of the ron kitching catalogue/handbook.

ah, found an image:

http://tinyurl.com/l34sjvw

I have this old pic of some of my over-run of decals. I gave away a few of them already but PM me, anybody who has interest.