I remember, clear as a bell (?), seeing the Freschi frames premiered (for the USA at least) at the New York Bike Show circa 1980. Road racing and touring (yes, odd for an Italian marque).
Interstingly and in contrast, in that same booth, the importer also had a "new" version of the Paris Galibier, rather like that by Condor this year, said to have been made by Tom Board. (I have a photo in slide form of that booth somewhere...) Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 USA 336.274.5959 http://www.cyclesdeoro.com http://www.classicrendezvous.com -----Original Message----- From: chasds@mindspring.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 9:49 PM Subject: [CR]freschi
Ray wrote:
The 1980 Bikecology (Santa Monica) catalogue lists frames by Emiliano Freschi of Milan so clearly he was on his own before the mid-eighties. The frame pictured has fastback seat stays and interestingly double mudguard eyes front and rear. ray green brighton england
*******
I getting everything wrong today. I should quit while I'm behind.
My educated guess (which, by this point, is probably worth less than nothing), is that Freschi was making his own frames and also making the last of the Pogliaghis at the same time.
I was told Freschi's atelier was operating by the early 1980s, so that's what I went with. Clearly he was doing his own thing before that.
Chuck's post excerpting an italian article saying Pogliaghi died in 1983 I've seen before..but I wonder if he really died then, or just closed the shop then. The Basso brochure I have *seems* to post-date 1983, and implies that Pogliaghi is still alive at that time..so, I'm on the fence. I'd sure like to see corroboration of Sante's life-span.
Freschi was, I am told, famous for his high-quality touring frames at a time when italian makers didn't really *do* touring. I have seen only one, still for sale at CycleArt. I would love to have one of those in my size. I had a Freschi road bike for awhile, now with another CR member, and it was very tidy; a typical racing frame though. A Freschi touring bike would be an interesting novelty item.
Charles "half-right" Andrews
SoCal