Retro Spud":gktw0al1 said:
Might find a starry eyed Italian who owned on back in the day and fancies a trip down memory lane.
Incorrigible (forum member on here) is probably the biggest collector of all things estay and might be able to shed some light on it.
Cheers, Nick! I'd be happy to oblige.
First of all, although I am indeed starry-eyed, I'm only half-Italian and I never owned one back in the day. Secondly, it's too tall for me, otherwise I'd be scheming how to obtain it without leaving witnesses.
My e-stay collection is a distant second when it comes to my vast library of e-stay pics. Although I was able to find many similar designs, I can't seem to find a match, which only goes to prove my theory that for a few years in the early 1990's, everyone and their brother was jumping on the e-stay bandwagon as quickly as possible in the hopes of capitalizing on the wave (fad? hype?) and riding it until it died, which it eventually did right around 1994, with few exceptions.
It never seems to end that folks are pulling e-stays out of the woodwork and posting them on the internet. Naturally, there are many that are recognizeable and will always be collectible, but it's these unusual finds like this Carraro that, to me, are the real gems; they're very unique. I see that Carraro is a current brand of bike, but I wonder how many e-stays they made BITD? Panasonic is also a big name manufacturer of electronics, tires, and bicycles, but how many e-stays did they make? I even have a couple of pics that some here have posted of Trek e-stays, although I've never seen another.
To the OP, I'd say you have something that is somewhat rare, and of course it's your prerogative to do with it what you please. The paint may well be original, in which case you might want to leave it that way and maybe build it up with some pink and/or green bits to accent the decals. On the other hand, it would also look sweet if it were stripped and painted (or sandblasted and powdercoated) some unique color to accent its unique shape, and then built up with some tasty NOS parts, or even new modern parts.
OK, enough yammering. Here's the closest I could find. The Yokota, the Nashbar, and the Genesis are similar in design and look almost identical to one another, as if all 3 companies outsourced to the same frame-builder, but they all have those little chainstay-to-seatstay tubes. The Heavy Tools Equipe bike most closely resembles the Carraro with the exception of the larger diameter tubing for the seat tube, top tube, head tube, and down tube. I don't know if the Equipe is steel or aluminum; larger tubes make me think aluminum, but skinny little chainstays and seatstays make me think steel.
Wow! All that (^) to say "I don't know".
A lot of good I am, huh?
Does it have a serial number or other identifying marks stamped on the bottom bracket or on the dropouts?
Funkme":gktw0al1 said:
legrandefromage":gktw0al1 said:
Lokks interesting. Is it having a catscan?
Ha ha... You can never get a pic without a catscan around here.
Might want to wait for the lab report. :facepalm:
Sorry - couldn't resist.
