Last week I sent an e-mail to Lou D. when I saw he was the high bidder on this bike. I mentioned that I had seen this shifter set up before, but like my youth, my memory is fading and I dont recall if I actually saw a bike with this set up or a picture of it in Bicycling magazine or some other publication of the day. It seems to me that this was close to the same time frame when many of the builders and manufacturers were putting shifters in the middle of the downtube, a position I found clumsy to shift from, and so anything other than shifters on the side of the downtube had no interest to meat that time.
From the time in my youth when I started riding and racing Italian bikes until now I have found something mysterious and sexy in Italian frames. From the way the fork blades were beefier, to the bend in those blades, to the double taper seat stays ..oh my .to the bona fide international racing heritage of so many builders, in my mind is what sets Italian bikes apart from the rest.
Mark, in rainy WV, Poore pass the red wine please