[CR]60's Tre-tubi; random blatherings about Italvegas

(Example: Framebuilders:Doug Fattic)

From: <PBridge130@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 01:23:30 EST
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]60's Tre-tubi; random blatherings about Italvegas

There's an Italvega on the Bay, apparently 60's, with an early tre-tubi sticker. I'd never seen that sticker before -- I always associated tre-tubi bikes with the late 70's and early 80's, when there were scads of bikes from the likes of Basso and Pinarello, which could be bought for a song, and which rode really wonderfully.

I've had a soft spot for Italvegas since giving one to a girlfriend in about 1977 -- one of the lovely dark brown ones, with gold highlights, GS crank with her name pantoed in the ring, the rest NR . She was Italian, too, but don't get me started. Back in those days, I'd been given to believe that Italvegas were a marketing creation of Ben Lawee (and a quick visit to CR told me that I'm not the only one who thinks that), but I would have thought that the bike on the Bay would be earlier than Lawee Imports.

Speaking of Ben Lawee, a quick google reveals that the City of Long Beach dedicated a memorial bench to a Ben Lawee, just about a year ago, so I gather that Ben has passed. I respected him a lot, he was kind to me and my business, and he made me laugh on a number of occasions. Thanks, Ben.

Anyway, I'd never seen that tre-tubi sticker before.

Blather <off>

Peter Bridge
Denver, CO