I'm kind of new to the list so will add a short introduction as well as asking a few questions pertaining to bikes in my posession.
Orginally in Australia and now in London via the Czech republic - I'm primarily a mountain biker but have a very soft spot in my heart for classic road bikes. On topic bikes which I've got are:
A 1976 Raleigh Super Course Mk II - not restored but revived in reasonably consistent if not completely faithful style - currently being ridden by my Dad in Australia
A mid-80's Billato with nothing original except for the frame. Unfortunately the fork steerer snapped some time ago and the most suitable replacement I could find was a chrome Tange bladed fork. The unusual seeming thing about this frame is that it is actually badged Billato - I was under the impression Billato only built frames for other marques until recently. I believe it's made from Columbus tubing and it rides pretty nicely. It's my day to day road bike which I'm currently running fixed but will get some gears back on it once the next project (below) comes to fruition
I picked up a Benotto frame which I am unsure of in age. It appears to be late 70s / early 80s, but I really don't know. I'd like to get some help identifying its provenance more clearly, so if anyone thinks they might be able to help I'd appreciate it and can send some photos. It's not too dissimilar from the champagne coloured one pictured on the CR site titled "Model 3000 Campione d'Italia" but it has a sticker on the seat tube which says Paris Roubaix. I plan to make this my regular fixed gear commuter and again I'm afraid it's not going to be a faithful restoration. It's a nice metallic red, but has currently got some surface rust on the top tube and rear stays, so I plan to take off the unnecessary braze ons, and mask off the decalled areas as red panels and re-spray the rest in a metallic/pearl cream colour.
I won an ebay auction yesterday on behalf of a friend for a Paganini frame. It was a bit of a gamble as I'd not heard of the brand, but from now having done a search on this list it seems like it might have been a good buy. While this particular frame is probably a bit off topic (perhaps slightly too new? it's described as having Columbus TSX tubing which I think was late 80s early 90s), I thought some people might be interested in seeing it, an possibly give me a bit more on the likely background of this frame. This is also going to be built up with modern componentry as a daily use road bike.
Best regards,
Sam Alison
London, England
http://i19.ebayimg.com/
http://i23.ebayimg.com/
http://i22.ebayimg.com/
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