Hello List and Emanuel:
Nice to hear about Torpado and Gianni Biagio's "Biagio's Cycles" Montreal bike shop. Also good to know that someone else on the list has some Torpado history.
Biagio's was around in the late 40's and early 50's. Gianni used to babysit for me in 53 / 54 at the shop while my dad rode the wooden track or on the road with the "Biaggio / Torpado" club.
Ciao.
Brian Frank Toronto - Ontario
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
I had a long talk with the seller this weekend -- he lives not far from me. Not much English, he's a French speaker.
He bought this NOS vintage Torpado from what was Montreal's first and legendary bike shop, Cycles Baggio, now closed. Baggio started up in the late 50s-early 60s in Montreal's Little Italy. They were Torpado dealers but this frame stayed there unsold for decades, in original wrapping (now removed).
The seller acquired a vintage Torpado dealer's sign at the same time.
Too bad this frame isn't my size! I used to train with the Baggio gang back in the late 70s and I can recall how common Torpados were around here in my youth.
Emanuel Lowi Montreal, Quebec
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