RE: http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/
Marcus Writes:
>>I do know the bike had mid-70's Gran Criterium decals, but it is not a
mid-70's Gran Criterium. I guess that is all I know. Could it have been
a Gran Corsa or a Nuovo Strada?
Marcus;
I'm not sure the Gran Corsa ever had those lugs, it's almost certainly a Nuova Strada. The date is probably from about '85-89. At least some of these bikes had fork crowns with "MASI" or a large "M" on the top shoulders so it might be possible to narrow the date a bit more from the plain crown on this one, assuming the fork is original.
Probably the best thing for the owner to do if he's reading this (and is interested in finding the production date of his bike) is to contact Jim Allen at Cyclesmiths... he was the bike's original painter and could proabably date it quite accurately from the serial number (unlike Gran Criteriums from this period, the Strada and Corsa usually did not have the date embedded in the serial number so you need someone with the actual records to date the bike).
Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA
http://bhovey.com/