Another new year, another new project...
Go back in time to 1987: otherself was 9 years old and suffered a near-fatal asthma attack, Rick Astley was topping the charts with 'Never Gonna Give You Up', Timothy Dalton made his debut as James Bond in the Living Daylights and in Padova, Italy, Atala made a frame from a lump of iron ore that would find its way into to my hands 25 years later.
I scored this sorry frame off ebay for £40 from a Slovenian seller. Shipping was an extra £30 from Slovenia. It was my size and is made of strong plain gauge --but not that heavy-- Columbus Aelle tubes - what I was looking for to lace to my lovely period-correct 1987 Suntour Sprint groupset. I've identified the model as an Atala Corsa GS. I will build it into a Time Trial bike as i don't have one in my fleet. It was clear it needs a new respray; there's a good 9 inches of surface rust under the top tube and the decals are peeling in places, so its off to be sand blasted and powdercoated this week or next. I'm thinking of having it done in a mint green / pastel green (RAL 6019) with replica period-correct Atala decals in black.
I have had this nice Suntour Sprint group for a while now. It's light, nicely finished, looks great and was only 1 step below the top of the range 'Superbe Pro' of the time. I'm only missing the headset (rare) and the pedals, which have popped up on ebay but at prices I can't justify/afford. I won't bother with the Sprint hubs or period-correct wheels & cassette. The photos I took of this group appear on the Suntour Wikipedia page - I was kindly asked to supply them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suntour
Similar models from the 1987 Atala brochure found on the web:
Go back in time to 1987: otherself was 9 years old and suffered a near-fatal asthma attack, Rick Astley was topping the charts with 'Never Gonna Give You Up', Timothy Dalton made his debut as James Bond in the Living Daylights and in Padova, Italy, Atala made a frame from a lump of iron ore that would find its way into to my hands 25 years later.
I scored this sorry frame off ebay for £40 from a Slovenian seller. Shipping was an extra £30 from Slovenia. It was my size and is made of strong plain gauge --but not that heavy-- Columbus Aelle tubes - what I was looking for to lace to my lovely period-correct 1987 Suntour Sprint groupset. I've identified the model as an Atala Corsa GS. I will build it into a Time Trial bike as i don't have one in my fleet. It was clear it needs a new respray; there's a good 9 inches of surface rust under the top tube and the decals are peeling in places, so its off to be sand blasted and powdercoated this week or next. I'm thinking of having it done in a mint green / pastel green (RAL 6019) with replica period-correct Atala decals in black.
I have had this nice Suntour Sprint group for a while now. It's light, nicely finished, looks great and was only 1 step below the top of the range 'Superbe Pro' of the time. I'm only missing the headset (rare) and the pedals, which have popped up on ebay but at prices I can't justify/afford. I won't bother with the Sprint hubs or period-correct wheels & cassette. The photos I took of this group appear on the Suntour Wikipedia page - I was kindly asked to supply them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suntour
Similar models from the 1987 Atala brochure found on the web:
I'm sure either would look good.
