This pristine 1967 Roma Olimpiade arrived this week from its original owner Peter Rossbaum, who was only 14 years old when he walked through the doors of Bloor Cycle in Toronto and purchased this Italian thoroughbred. It’s a rare find to come across a 50 year old Roma in this condition and beyond the financial […]
I am also a fan of motorsport, particularly the racing cars of the 60’s and 70’s. The Ferrari 330P4 and the Ferrari 250GTO always come to mind with a passion and I never tire of looking at these masterpieces. I have heard tell of well-healed collectors bringing former Ferrari employees out of retirement to build replacement parts […]
I just returned from Italy a few weeks ago and this wonderful 1962 Legnano Mod.02 ‘Condorino’ followed me home, arriving today at my door in an old cardboard box, wrapped in bubble, zip ties and masking tape. I could tell that this was a first time experience for the sender but most importantly it looks like […]
With so many projects on the go, I thought I would leave the ’59 Roma in the shipping box until the winter. Well for those of you that are in to this ‘old bike’ thing, you say this to yourself wishfully knowing that the bike will be out of the box and on the stand […]
My preference in building ‘The Legnano Collection’ has been to focus on acquiring complete and original bikes, and from the original owner if possible. This 1978-79 Legnano Competizione frame set has been one of the few exceptions. There is nothing particularly special about this frame, however I must admit that the colour caught my eye and it […]
First of all, a very special word of thanks to Eric Hoyer of Downey, California for this most recent addition to the Legnano Collection. Eric first contacted me about a year ago with some pictures of his late father’s Roma Olimpiade. I told Eric what I knew of the bike and mentioned in closing that should […]
Inspired by the world famous L’Eroica event which graces the rural strade bianche (white roads) of Tuscany, La Bicicletta in Toronto announced the Giro Epoca d’Oro retro cycling event this spring. The format: only pre’87 steel frame bikes with down tube shifters and no modern ‘clip’ pedals. The ‘buzz’ was great however a few days before the […]
The frame is now with Noah Rosen at Velocolour so the only fun left for me at this point in time is to begin cleaning, checking and repairing (where necessary) all of the bits and pieces that make up this ’58 Roma. It will be an enjoyably slow process and with no particular sequence to the cleanup other […]
I had better catch up on the ’58 Roma project as the frame is now ‘in the queue’ as they say at Velocolour waiting to be brought back to life by Noah Rosen. Given the age and value of this Roma Olimpiade it was a bit of a tough decision to have it repainted however the finish was very, very poor. […]
Short of the bottom bracket, you will recall from Part 1 that this Roma came into my possession as a bare frame. The BB cups were a modern Shimano variety and went to the parts bin however the axle was a period correct Campagnolo Record part so it may remain with the build. In my way […]
condorino 