>Evening all. Looking at the photos it appears that the rear dropouts were crimped into the seat stays, and then chromed over. Perhaps a better trained eye can offer a >better insight, but it didn't impress me.
>Tom Harriman.
>San Francisco, Ca
-----Thanks, Tom. Right. That is how they rolled at Bottechia for quite awhile, even on the Giro d'Italia and Professional models, which differed only by crankset, I believe. It was not impressive, agreed, but was functional. Simply having the Campagnolo drop-out, even with cruder joinery, put you in the game. And then, yes, they placed a significant gloss over the surface--chromium. But we are not fooled.
It's historically interesting now, so far after the fact, to compare means to ends. Remember, we are not modern, we are post-modern. This history, where there are still examples to be seen, exists somehow outside of us. I am a shepherd, not a bicycle salesman per se, or even owner, beyond mere possession. And this is always the talking point about these frames: this slight crudity about the stays really bugs people. It's as if they want to love, but can't. I see now that this feature is perhaps what makes them interesting, aside from usual external considerations, like the lengthy survivorship of the marque, and the connection to old man Bottecchia himself (who did not live to be old--and there was mystery in that). People love that game of "that's cool, that's trash"--and here is an ugly-duckling spot with which to nail Bottecchia to the wall. Now, wide-set eyes or something needn't be a deal-breaker. Plenty of people bought these in the first place. They may have had their reasons, a calculation of some kind. Again, historically interesting--and still pertinent, unless we abandon old bikes entirely in favor of new keeper-of-the-flame mobiles. At that point, we could make critiques with the hope of influencing the present. But the past is fixed; it is our perception and understanding of it that may revolve and evolve.These crimped stays were perhaps a less-elegant solution to a design problem; but they answered it. Can we stand that? I hadn't been sure I could, but tonight I worked it out in my head. You and Joe helped me. Either that, or I drove myself over the edge. Read on. I wrote this paragraph last.
These were up against Peugeot PX-10s in the market. Both marques had scored team victories in the '60s, and got traction in the marketplace, along with Gitane for example. A Bottecchia like this one should probably be considered in that context. It had more chrome than a PX-10 for example, which may have attracted some--but as you note, it had that ungainly crimping. But both were made out of very respectable tubing. And forty percent of a century later, both are here for us to either exalt or continue to marginalize.
>
> I hate to be mean but this is a lot of hype for a mediocre rider. Commodity frame, useless repaint, crummy crankset.
>
> Joe Bender-Zanoni
----------Joe, I beg to differ about the crankset. It isn't crummy. Some will find the BCD inconvenient; others will soak up the chainrings that others are sloughing off. I find the crankarms an elegant design. The chainset is very lightweight and I haven't broken one. I'm loyal to several brands of vintage crankarms and rings, and Nervar is one of them. Where is the fun in only having the very best, at all times? Some bikes call for cottered steel. This one calls for Nervar alloy.
I forgot to mention that I have a perfect headbadge to include with this. But who will want the machine now? Or am I just shell-shocked? Let me try to defend it a little further before I start quoting Chief Joseph.
It will always be a lightweight set of tubing, it's not dinged up, and it tracks in a straight line. It does well. It is not quite my Colnago. But it's a goodly-enough percentage of one on the road, in motion. That was no doubt part of the original sales pitch, forty years ago. Even if implicit rather than explicit.
If I appeared to be hyping it, then my face is flushed with shame. It has been, tonight, for the perception, as I doubted myself after I read the words above. What I am, usually, is enthusiastic. But my listing was hasty, I forgot to mention the headbadge, I failed to contextualize the commodity frame thing, I didn't do well. And yes, that paint ain't so great.
This frame needs a rescuer.
If my price is too high, simply say: hey, your price is too high.
And if anyone is still willing to go slumming with Bottecchia, take $50 off my dang price! You'll be flying in the face of fashion, but you'll have a Classic Lightweight.
I no longer have an expectation of finding this frame's next home here, but it's not impossible. And I'm a bit down, but not out.
Peace and Love to all. I see now that Bottecchia is a flashpoint for Rashomon-like point-of-view entanglements, not all of them set in the present. It has been useful to undergo this experience. No one has been harmed, I trust.
Tom Ward Bonita, California, USA
P.S. If anyone needs me, I'm driving to San Francisco tomorrow and will be out of reach for awhile while doing so. I am playing bass on two gigs in the region over the weekend. I will check e-mail tomorrow night, or friday during the day at the latest. The band plays keeper-of-the-flame, period correct rhythm & blues, circa 1965. Ron Silva & the Monarchs, if you're in the region. Hemlock Tavern downtown, Saturday night. If you arrive on a bike and introduce yourself to me, I'll buy you a beer. If you don't arrive on a bike, maybe you'll buy me one.
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