Old Atala: guesses on age?
Kiira Triea
Here's a question for the folks who know more about 60s or possibly
even 50s bikes than I do. I have an Atala frame (with no tubing
sticker) with Campy 1010 dropouts w/ eyelets, good chrome on the fork,
rear triangle ends and front lugs. It has no braze-ons. All the rake
is in the lower part of the fork and it has 17" dimpled chainstays. I
measured the geometry as 72 degrees parallel. The one remaining decal
is on the TT and it says Competetzion. The build quality is
"pre-jewelry Italian" ... visible file marks IOW. Despite that it
could be retored into an attractive looking frame. I once had an old
Bianchi, with the odd double cup headset, that I built up w/ steel
record parts and wooden rims.
I dragged this frame out of a dumpster because I was thinking I would
use it for perverse and bizarre frame geometry and linkage fork
experiments, or possibly as a sacrificial frame to teach a friend who
wants to learn to braze and build frames, but it has sort of grown
attached to me and I'm thinking instead it might be fun to restore
with the original pukey lime Atala color and some reproduction
decals...maybe Nuevo Record or Record stuff instead as an example of
those thrilling days of yesteryear when bikes were built by humans,
often men, men who were possibly drunk given the evidence that I had
in my teenaged years as a bike assembler found empty beer bottles in
imported bike boxes.
ungrammatically,
Kiira
Sergio SERVADIO
> Here's a question for the folks who know ...
The only missing bit is the question mark.
Everything else seems to be pretty much under control.
Sergio
Pisa
Kiira Triea
+------
With a paragraph long run-on sentence? I really don't think so!
Kiira
A Muzi
news:UE0i8.10$hP6....@news.abs.net...
I'm not sure what your actual question is but these Atala 104 and 105 models
ride well and your cost basis is pretty low! If you want to know the
material, weigh the frame and fork. A full Columbus 11-tubes frameset will
weigh 5-1/2 to six pounds. The setapost for Columbus will be 27.0. Lesser
material (still nice frames!) will weigh more and the post will be smaller.
Amazing the stuff found in European bike cartons! I also enjoy the colorful
scrap paper found in Indian bike boxes, although I can't read it.
--
Andrew Muzi, who found a bag lunch in a Motobecane box.
http://www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April 1971
Kiira Triea
+------| newsUE0i8.10$hP6....@news.abs.net...
| >
| > Here's a question for the folks who know more about 60s or possibly
| > even 50s bikes than I do. I have an Atala frame (with no tubing
| > sticker) with Campy 1010 dropouts w/ eyelets, good chrome on the fork,
| > rear triangle ends and front lugs. It has no braze-ons. All the rake
| > is in the lower part of the fork and it has 17" dimpled chainstays. I
| > measured the geometry as 72 degrees parallel. The one remaining decal
| > is on the TT and it says Competetzion. The build quality is
| > "pre-jewelry Italian" ... visible file marks IOW. Despite that it
| > could be retored into an attractive looking frame. I once had an old
| > Bianchi, with the odd double cup headset, that I built up w/ steel
| > record parts and wooden rims.
| >
| > I dragged this frame out of a dumpster because I was thinking I would
| > use it for perverse and bizarre frame geometry and linkage fork
| > experiments, or possibly as a sacrificial frame to teach a friend who
| > wants to learn to braze and build frames, but it has sort of grown
| > attached to me and I'm thinking instead it might be fun to restore
| > with the original pukey lime Atala color and some reproduction
| > decals...maybe Nuevo Record or Record stuff instead as an example of
| > those thrilling days of yesteryear when bikes were built by humans,
| > often men, men who were possibly drunk given the evidence that I had
| > in my teenaged years as a bike assembler found empty beer bottles in
| > imported bike boxes.
|
| I'm not sure what your actual question is but these Atala 104 and 105 models
| ride well and your cost basis is pretty low!
Yes I rambled on so that it would be easy to forget the article title,
which asked "guesses on age?".
+------
| If you want to know the
| material, weigh the frame and fork. A full Columbus 11-tubes frameset will
| weigh 5-1/2 to six pounds. The setapost for Columbus will be 27.0. Lesser
| material (still nice frames!) will weigh more and the post will be smaller.
+------
Well I found a nifty web site called classicrendezvous which has a link
to Atala info and, Lo!, pictures and a spec sheet from 1973. Since
mine has the "Competetzione" sticker on it, chrome HT lugs and Campy
dropouts it is apparently a #109 w/ db'ed Columbus tubing. Pretty cool
for a dumpster diven (doven?, doved? ) frameset.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/Atala_advert.htm
My frame does not have a chromed seat lug, however it has the Campy
dropouts and it came with an Italian threaded Stronglight BB in it -
and the #109 came with a Stronglight No. 93.
Now all I need to do is find a Stronglight 93, some Weinmann 999s, a
Nuevo Tipo and Gran Turismo derailler set and some Atala Pukey Green
paint.
thanks,
Kiira