doctor-bond
Feature Bike
Righty ho: sadly, this is back up for sale. I built it up, and it's fantastic; but the sad truth is that I need a lesser bike for my riding habits. See bottom of thread for more details.
I picked it up a year or two ago with the intention of doing a nice Italian build that would help galvanise me into entering L'Eroica. What caught my eye was that:
a: it's Italian
b: it's built by the excellent Rossin
c: it's made of one of my favourite steels - Tange Prestige - and also has unusual hexagonal profiling, and
d: it has the hallmarks of being an ex team or race bike.
If you are not familliar with Rossin, he was a lead builder for Colnago in until he branched out on his own in 1974. Rossin went on to build bikes for the likes of Roger de Vlaeminck, and by the late 1980's -- the era when I believe this one was made -- Rossin bikes were used by the Belgian Hitachi team led by Claude Criquielion.
Although I've nothing to link this frame to the Hitachi team, I do like the fact that with the springy Prestige tubing; hex profiles and a superbly built bottom bracket, it seems designed to tackle the sort of Spring Classics that Criquielion and Hitachi made their own.
There are a few interweb references to Rossin Prestige frames, and it looks like they were available in the early 1990s. However, I can only find one pic of another frame which has the race-required frame number boss brazed under the top tube.
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/attach ... 1276102926
Reading the thread, the owner of that one thinks it's a 1994 model from the time that Rossin made bikes for the Festina Lotus team. I don't buy that. By 1993 when Rossin started for Festina, I think that the professional world had moved on from lugged frames. Here's what they were riding (well, selling: check out the watch) in '93:
I think a late 80's, date is more likely, with the publicly-available versions out in the early 90s. But I'm just going on available references and instinct - let me know if you have more solid info.
Anyhoo -- back to the sale. Dimensions are TT CC 57 cm; ST CC 57 with CT coming in a shade under 59. This matches the 59 stamp on the BB shell.
(The size mark is the only stamp there - the lack of serial number, while not uncommon, is another reason why I think this was a competition frame.)
1" headset, 130mm across the rear dropouts and a 27.2mm seatpost. Italian BB.
Condition is unrestored & in need of new paint. There are many paint imperfections and some chain rash. Nothing serious though. Worst bit is a ding in the chain stay (shown below). It hasn't broken the paint and I'm not sure I would have even bothered sorting it when getting the paint done. But I like a bit of patina me.
I'm not going to let this beauty go for less than £250 posted. Will ship worldwide at cost.
Once painted and detailed, even non-race Prestiges are going for serious money:
http://cgi.ebay.ch/Rare-Italian-Rossin-Prestige-Road-Frame-/110627390368
http://bricklanebikes.co.uk/bikes2/
(NB Bricklane bikes say the yellow one is Columbus Gilco tubing, but I think that's an error. As far as I can tell Gilco is fluted not hex.)
Thanks for looking
I picked it up a year or two ago with the intention of doing a nice Italian build that would help galvanise me into entering L'Eroica. What caught my eye was that:
a: it's Italian
b: it's built by the excellent Rossin
c: it's made of one of my favourite steels - Tange Prestige - and also has unusual hexagonal profiling, and
d: it has the hallmarks of being an ex team or race bike.
If you are not familliar with Rossin, he was a lead builder for Colnago in until he branched out on his own in 1974. Rossin went on to build bikes for the likes of Roger de Vlaeminck, and by the late 1980's -- the era when I believe this one was made -- Rossin bikes were used by the Belgian Hitachi team led by Claude Criquielion.
Although I've nothing to link this frame to the Hitachi team, I do like the fact that with the springy Prestige tubing; hex profiles and a superbly built bottom bracket, it seems designed to tackle the sort of Spring Classics that Criquielion and Hitachi made their own.
There are a few interweb references to Rossin Prestige frames, and it looks like they were available in the early 1990s. However, I can only find one pic of another frame which has the race-required frame number boss brazed under the top tube.
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/attach ... 1276102926
Reading the thread, the owner of that one thinks it's a 1994 model from the time that Rossin made bikes for the Festina Lotus team. I don't buy that. By 1993 when Rossin started for Festina, I think that the professional world had moved on from lugged frames. Here's what they were riding (well, selling: check out the watch) in '93:
I think a late 80's, date is more likely, with the publicly-available versions out in the early 90s. But I'm just going on available references and instinct - let me know if you have more solid info.
Anyhoo -- back to the sale. Dimensions are TT CC 57 cm; ST CC 57 with CT coming in a shade under 59. This matches the 59 stamp on the BB shell.
(The size mark is the only stamp there - the lack of serial number, while not uncommon, is another reason why I think this was a competition frame.)
1" headset, 130mm across the rear dropouts and a 27.2mm seatpost. Italian BB.
Condition is unrestored & in need of new paint. There are many paint imperfections and some chain rash. Nothing serious though. Worst bit is a ding in the chain stay (shown below). It hasn't broken the paint and I'm not sure I would have even bothered sorting it when getting the paint done. But I like a bit of patina me.
I'm not going to let this beauty go for less than £250 posted. Will ship worldwide at cost.
Once painted and detailed, even non-race Prestiges are going for serious money:
http://cgi.ebay.ch/Rare-Italian-Rossin-Prestige-Road-Frame-/110627390368
http://bricklanebikes.co.uk/bikes2/
(NB Bricklane bikes say the yellow one is Columbus Gilco tubing, but I think that's an error. As far as I can tell Gilco is fluted not hex.)
Thanks for looking
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