Any of us who worked in a bike shop at the height of the Bike Boom craze (or fad) can testify, you could sell anything as long as it was a "10 speed racing bike".
Bergamo was the "brand" that most comes to mind. We labeled any Italian clunker a "Bergamo" and tended to turn away repairs on them because nothing worked right. It took more time than we could bill to get them working safe.
The biggest service problem was the poor quality of cables and housing that they came with. Besides that nothing was ever adjusted.
I recall at least half a dozen similar Italian marques. They were all painted the same ugly yellow color with minimal brand name decals. I think a few even had a cheap metal head badge. They looked like they all came out of the same factory.
We saw some Atala badged bikes in the same yellow too but the as you say they had 1/2 chrome forks and stays and maybe lugs too. Oh and don't forget Chiorda bikes.
Some of those bikes had Italian made Simplex derailleurs plus many came with the ubiquitous Balilla center pull brakes. It was always surprising to see a clunker with Nuovo Tipo hubs and sometimes even sewups.
We were located near a University and at the beginning of every semester we'd get deluged by students bringing in their boxed up bikes from home wanting to have them assembled (which we did for a nominal fee on a selective basis).
During the Bike Boom there were a number folks in the US who jumped into the bike business to make a fast buck on the burgeoning craze. There were just as many in France and Italy (Germany, Austria and Japan too) who were more than willing to oblige them and cash in on it too.
For example most of the well known Japanese brands were created for the US importers: Nishiki is a river in South Central Japan, Takara means plum and Azuki is a small dark red bean used in deserts.
By 1973 the Japanese entry level bikes were catching on in the US. While they were still clunkers their paint and cosmetics were nicer than their European counterparts.
There was a Japanese made bike with a name similar to Chiorda. For many years I thought that they were made in Japan too.
By 1975 most of the importers/distributors who were out to make a fast buck were gone leaving a legacy of "raw material" for future Datsuns and Toyotas!
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
billydavid13@comcast.net wrote:
> Hi Don, all. The bike is undoubtedly Italian. Back in the late '60s, early '70s there must have been dozens of such brands. Mostly gas pipe models w/ cottered steel cranks [and the Italians sure made some clunky ones; i'm not talking about Magistronis here]. Universal or Balilla centerpulls, Simplex or Campy Valentino gears. Low end leather or plastic saddles. Gnutti 3 piece hubs were common but occasionally you'd see Normandys or their Italian clones or even Campy Tipos. Steel rims or Fiamme yellow label clinchers or even tubulars. A lot of them had chromed stays and forks, even fork crowns and head lugs. Some were a bit nicer. But they were all a bit exotic seeming, named after obscure Italian racers w/ interesting graphics and decals. And the chrome! To the eager young eye they seemed more akin to Paramounts and Internationals than to the ubiquitous Varsitys and Continentals. In general they were similar to the low end of marques like Atala or Bottechia. Sportif, here i
n Chicago, seemed to carry a fair number. Perhaps the frames were generic, built by one of the big names [the way Giant and Panasonic built for so many of the Japanese marques and Schwinn] and then equipped and decalled locally. Someone on the list must know. Personally i think they're way cool. There weren't as many of these and most of them were probably trashed by teenage boys, so a fairly pristine one or even one w/ a fair amount of patina has some cachet - you're not too likely to see it's twin. Billy Ketchum; Chicago, IL; USA.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Don Wilson" <dcwilson3@yahoo.com>
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 3:34:28 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
> Subject: [CR] Regina on Portland CL
>
> Searched archives and got deluged with Regina freewheel references, but found nothing about Regina brand bikes. Can anyone comment on a Regina bicycle? Country of origin? One on CL has interesting lugs.
> http://portland.craigslist.org/
> Don Wilson
> Bandon, OR/Los Olivos, CA USA
> D.C. Wilson dcwilson3@yahoo.com