Am I the only one who is surprised that ANY bikes were produced in Italy in 1943? I do recall reading about some armies of various nationalities moving through the country then... I believe that bicycle production was rather curtailed as the manufacturers in most "participating" countries began producing more urgently needed products. Hence, if indeed a 1943, might it be rather a rare specimen?
If it is a 1943, I think a lot of us would be interested in learning more about the circumstances: a swaged crank represents a serious commitment of specialized equipment for forging the arm, stamping the ring, and pressing it all together. Equipment that has many other uses during a war.
Harvey (not very interested in city bikes of any vintage) sachs mcLean va
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Kim asked whether this was from a city bike:
http://ebay.com/
To which Aldo pointed out: Judging by the distance between chainring and crank arm (14mm) I'd say this is for a bike with a chain guard, so probably for a city bike.
Just as important are the fact that the the chainring is suaged and non-replaceable and has only 40 teeth. It cannot be anything beyond a city bike.
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ