[CR]Ebay outing: Italvega Superlight frameset, 56cm

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

From: <FujiFish1@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 10:15:33 EDT
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Ebay outing: Italvega Superlight frameset, 56cm

No bids yet, so I'm posting it to the list. I've seen others express their desire to own one of these super light, Superlight framesets from the early-mid 1970s. I finally have one coming in my size, having traded a different frame for it with another beloved listmember. The one on Ebay looks fairly nice, and although the seller says that the rear derailleur threads might need chasing, I don't think that would pose any serious problem, and certainly would have no impact on finish. The size is stated as 56cm square, center to center, and the purchase year said to be 1974.

http://ebay.com/<blah temZ7245443231QQihZ015QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem>

Or, Ebay item number 7245443231

For those that do not know about these bikes, Italvegas were made in Padova Italy by the Torresini owned factory of Torpado, contracted specifically for import by California businessman Ben Lawee, probably beginning about 1970-71. Their original best model was the Super Special, which is OK for the time, but has a tell-tale ugly weld running the width of the underside of the bottom bracket shell. In about 1973, they introduced the new Superlight frameset, which had lighter tubing (I think), diamond shaped lug windows, a super relieved underside of the b.b. shell, very long scalloped seat stay tops, and drilled Campagnolo dropouts front and rear. This core frameset was also labeled, again as Super Speciale, with the differences between the two models lying only in the color of finish, and components applied. The Superlight bike came with a host of drilled out Campagnolo parts, while the Super Speciale came with a standard Nuovo Record gruppo.

No relation to the seller in anyway ... just a lover of all things Torpado!

To view a scanned 1972 article about the former Super Speciale that makes some notes about the upcoming Superlight, see here:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/Italvega_Bike_World_Article_1972 Be sure to click again on each selected image to see the large, readable version.

Ciao,
Mark Agree
Southfield MI USA