Charles, Duane, and esteemed members,
First I glanced at the auction page for the alleged Colnago bike in question, and passed over it with a minimum of concern. But after seeing Duane's post, I went back for a closer look. Being nuts for all things Torpado (which includes Italvega) I have a variety of photos of these bikes from that time period. However, I didn't have to look too far, as looking over the photos that Duane just happened to have sent me the other day, I see some distinct similarities. The drilled dropouts are nothing super unique to this marque, but the holes have seemingly the exact same pattern of location, and count. The fork crown has the same shape as the Superlight / Super Speciale bikes. And, if you look very closely at the faux Colnago PICs, you can almost clearly see the diamond window cutout in the top of it. Something that helps cinch it, is that the diamond is picked out in gold ... exactly like those on the comparison model Italvega (PIC) that Duane sent me. Less conclusive is the chromed dropout faces in the rear ... again exactly like Torpado / Italvegas of the time. This too I suspect is no exclusive feature of theirs, but it helps to not prove the theory false. Like others I'm sure, I have asked the seller to supply me with photos of the more important areas, and I'll report back what I see, if I receive them. But, at this time, I see nothing that shows Duane's premise to be incorrect. Any other theories or suspicions out there?
Ciao, Mark (Marko Torpado) Agree Southfield MI
-------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 4/9/2004 12:58:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes: Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 21:13:43 -0400 From: <d.kennard@adelphia.net> To: <chasds@mindspring.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: Re: [CR]ebay outing: amusing faux colnago Message-ID: <20040409011343.NMCD21898.mta11.adelphia.net@mail.adelphia.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 7
I believe it's a mid '70s Torpado, or (more likely) an ItalVega SuperLight or SuperSpeciale.
(I just learned that the later SuperSpeciale & SuperLight models used the same frame)
Someone wanted it to be a Colnago...
Duane Kennard
Los Angeles, USA
>
> From: chasds@mindspring.com
> Date: 2004/04/08 Thu PM 09:05:24 EDT
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]ebay outing: amusing faux colnago
>
> As I recall, about a year ago, this seller tried to sell
> some no-name british frame as a Colnago...and failed..
> I hope.
>
> He's at it again, this time with a frame that, as far as I can
> tell, is clearly not a Colnago (although the fork might be..hard
> to tell, and with no pics of the lug tangs I can't see the cutouts)..
>
> http://ebay.com/
>
> ok, maybe it's a Colnago, but certainly not from 1974, and
> not with the usual Prugnat lugs that Colnago used throughout
> the 70s..
>
> the aftermarket drilled out rear-drop-outs are a nice--if slightly
> alarming--touch.
>
> I hate it when people do this. Gives ebay a bad name...<g>
>
> Charles "morally upright...sometimes" Andrews
> soCal
>
> (I really should be working)