I recently found a blue Gios Torino "Course Special" Despite considerable cosmetic wear and tear the bike seems in good shape. I even rode it out of the store!!!

It has the numbers "1374" engraved on the bottom bracket shell. The internet says that 1000 of these were made - of which 300 were exported to USA - Not much more info is available

When I bought it, it came with:
Whitewall Pirelli 27x1 1/4 tires (if you can find me replacement Pirelli's I would pay good $$... or is this just wishful thinking???)
Nisi Toro Front wheel
Ambrosio Rear Wheel
Balilla Brakes front/rear
Campognolo Front Derailleur
Sun Tour GT Rear Derailleur
ttt handlebars

I've since taken the whole thing apart and am slowly polishing up everything with the intend to restore as much as I can.

So here is my problem: there is virtually no info (let alone photos) out there. Aside from a "1969 Course Special" Registry entry, the website makes no mention of this model bike and there's one blurry photo in their vintage section.


I even scoured their Facebook site but cannot find any mention of it there.

What gives?? Why so little info on this bike? Can anyone shed more light on the "Course Special" or is this one doomed and to be forgotten forever?

Either way - I will soldier on and breathe new life into this bike and enjoy riding the heck out of it when it's all said and done! and maybe I'll be the only one sporting a blue Gios Torino "Course Special" in America

Try Marco Gios @ www.giostorino.it . Ed

Thanks. Will do.

Budget bike. Foray into mass market bikes, people and sometimes companies are not proud of their entire past.

one u.s. importer for gios was fama sales co. of nyc. i know they were an agent in the 1980's but do not know what their years of representation are/were.

FAMA | Espresso Machines & Coffee

(their main business is coffee equipment but they were also a gios agent)

btw ceelonium, all of your links are generating an "invalid" message.

Repechage, you hit the nail on the head. Despite having emailed me back right away, their very brief response: "... hard to find info cause it's not a top level frame.... it's a middle range from the beginning of the seventies"

I'm wondering if they'll even let me enter the bike into their official pre-1988 Registry.

Juvela I'll have a looksee at why the pics don't work -

images coming through fine now ceelonium.

thanks very much.

founder at fama sales co. was mr. ugo quazzo. i have the impression he had a personal connection with the folks at gios. he was born in italy.

your machine's frame is constructed of all agrati bits:

lugset is "ROMA" ART.000.8020/E/U

crown is "AM" series N. 000.6048

headset and crankset look to be agrati as well.

wonder if it represents an actual gios build or if it was done on a contract basis.

thank you for sharing it with the forum.

Juvela, thanks a million for the info. How you can tell all the bits from the few measly pics I posted is beyond me - but thanks. I hope to have up some post-restoration pics in coming weeks. Only question left: do I want to paint her Orange or keep her the original Blue.

I assumed that with the Brooklyn Chewing gum story, Gios had the backing to try and break out into the mass market with Budget bikes as Repechage mentioned above. Although, the Course Special was definitely built before this period - as the Gios Registry contains a 1969 model "Course Special"

I'm wondering how much these budget bikes were going for in the 70's...

hello ceelonium,

dunno how useful the information will prove but you are most certainly welcome.

italian road machines looking nearly identical to yours were sold in the mid-1960's at u.s. chainstores for about $65.00. they had all sorts of badges; some just made up for distribution purposes. a similar raleigh grand prix or peugeot uo8 from a bike shop at the time was around $80.00. by the time the boom hit the raleigh and peugeot were about $90.

best wishes with your restoration.

look forward to seeing how it progresses.