I have a friend who swears that Rolls bikes sold some models that were Colnago frames. In fact, he looked at the parts I have to a Merckx edition Colnago (the fancy drilled outer chainring and the milled stem and seatpost) and he said he saw those on Rolls bikes years ago and remembered a special Merkx edition Rolls that was simply a relabled Colnago.
The frame in the images has many Colnago style elements (expecially the forkcrown which is close but not quite Colnago) but frankly the workmanship on the seatlug looks plain stinky - my guess is perhaps Rolls bought Colnago frames and perhaps Colnago simply spent less time on the frames - or maybe they were apprentice material. In any case, I hope these hunches are helpful but in no way am I claiming anything with certainly - I'm pretty far away from my area of expertise (if I even have one) on this....Mike Kone in Boulder CO - the land of many Colnagos
At 10:25 PM 4/12/02 -0700, Jim Cunningham wrote:
>Dear Listmembers,
>
>I'd appreciate any recollections,opinions or hyperbole regarding the
>builder and or marketers of the Rolls bike in the photos link below.
>I'm reasearcing on behalf of a much enamored owner of several of these.
>He has his theories about the origins of the breed. I've hoping to
>hoping confirm, deny or further confuse him with your help.
>
>http://www.cyclart.com/photos/In%20Progress/Rolls%20w7198.jpg
>
>Thanks!
>
>Jim Cunningham
>CyclArtist
>Vista, CA
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org
>[mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Fred Rafael
>Rednor
>Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 7:37 AM
>To: TonyFNitro@aol.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Cc: tonyfnitro@aol.xom
>Subject: Re: [CR]magistroni steel crank
>
>
> > can anyone give me some info on this crank,it has
> > alloy chain rings and blue dots on crank arm bolts.
> > did magistroni ever make full alloy crank.
>Robbie,
> As far as I know, Magistroni only made steel cranks,
>although many of these were of very high quality. In
>fact, they are the actual manufacturer of the steel
>Campagnolo cranksets. What's not clear to me is whether
>or not Magistroni were the actual manufacturer of the
>aluminum alloy chainrings that were used with their
>cranksets. Based on other responses on this list, I
>suspect not. In fact, the ones on my Atala actually
>had a Stronglight insignia.
> As for your question about the "open C/G" Campagnolo
>shift levers... in the Talmud, such questions are left
>to be resolved upon the arrival of the Messiah. Anyway,
>the real answer simply depends on how many levers made
>before the early 60s were sold and how many survived.
> Best regards,
> Fred Rednor - not waiting for the messiah in
> Arlington, Virginia