# De Rosa renovation / identification



## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

I am renovating an old steel frame de rosa and am having an issue with the unusual seat post.

I cannot verify the date (unless someone can help) - but I'm guessing it is late 80's or early 90's? It has oval tubing and chrome forks, with de rosa stamps on the forks and frame ends. Because of the oval tubing, the top of the seat tube is rounded to about 23mm (or 22.8mm?) diameter and has a hex grub screw at rear to fasten the seat post.

Does anyone have any provenance / date ideas for this frame or information about the seat-post?

I picked the frame up in Holland a few years back and it's decals and colour were pretty much as per the re-spray in photos.


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## MERAKMAN (Mar 6, 2008)

Hi

Lovely frame. Best thing you can do is contact De Rosa themselves regarding the seat post, on their info email address, found on their website, under 'contact us'.

The date of the frame will be determined by getting the serial number of the frame, located under the bottom bracket and sending it to De Rosa again. Good Luck!


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## sneyer (Jun 20, 2008)

Your best bet is to take it to a shop. Most shops have a tapered guage that can give you an exact diameter. As far as year...I've never seen a De Rosa like this one, but I'm not very familiar with frames prior to 1985. What tubing decal was on the frame when you bought it? That is a good way to at least period date the frame.


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## MERAKMAN (Mar 6, 2008)

Hi Absolutely guarantee if you send the serial number to De Rosa info e mail address, they will give you the type of tubing (if you ask) year of manufacture and the tube diametre.


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## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

Thanks.

I'll contact de rosa and see if they can enlighten me.


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## orbeamike (Nov 20, 2004)

This certainly one of the most peculiar DeRosa I have ever seen. Please post your findings from DeRosa. 

Thanks


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## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

I emailed de rosa before the weekend, but didn't hear back yet. Perhaps they are similarly bemused by the peculiar frame? It has de rosa stamped onto frame ends (where rear hub fits) and on forks too and the lugs look right, so I think it's authentic.

Will post any reply I get...

Regards


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2008)

sonofapup said:


> I emailed de rosa before the weekend, but didn't hear back yet. Perhaps they are similarly bemused by the peculiar frame? It has de rosa stamped onto frame ends (where rear hub fits) and on forks too and the lugs look right, so I think it's authentic.
> 
> Will post any reply I get...
> 
> Regards


You should join the Classic Rendezvous mailing list - here:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/

The link to join the list is about 2/3 rd's of the way down the page.

*Follow the rules of the list, the listmaster is strict about them.*

Classic Rendezvous will not allow you to post a picture, but you can post a link to apicture or email photos to list members.

It is an astounding knowledge base, well worth checking out.

You have a good chance of getting your info there.

Good luck, and nice looking bike.


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## slamy (Mar 15, 2004)

The seat-post makes this frame look like one of the early 1980's areo-phase type bikes. Are the tubes more oval in shape? I know Colnago made some called I think oval profix or something like that, and derosa also made one. They were a phase and only produced for a year or two. I know on the colnago that the seat post was some special shape. I can't tell from your pictures if the tubes in the bike or oval or not. The columbus decal should be a different make then the regular SL if it is those odd columbus tubes,


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## MERAKMAN (Mar 6, 2008)

sonofapup said:


> I emailed de rosa before the weekend, but didn't hear back yet. Perhaps they are similarly bemused by the peculiar frame? It has de rosa stamped onto frame ends (where rear hub fits) and on forks too and the lugs look right, so I think it's authentic.
> 
> Will post any reply I get...
> 
> Regards



Hi 

Try this e mail address : [email protected]. She should be able to help you determine the year of manufacture from the serial number, or whether it is indeed a genuine De Rosa.:thumbsup: Fingers crossed!


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## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

I heard back from De Rosa after a second email.
They say the frame is a De Rosa made around 1980. That's all the information contained in their email, apart from they also say that the seatpost is very hard to find. This is a start. Thanks for the advice to contact them directly.

The top / seat / down tubes are indeed oval in cross section, difficult to see in picture, though the rounding off of seat tube where the seatpost fits gives a clue. Originally the frame didn't have any columbus decals. The resprayer took the initiative to add the columbus decal when my back was turned!


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## MERAKMAN (Mar 6, 2008)

sonofapup said:


> I heard back from De Rosa after a second email.
> They say the frame is a De Rosa made around 1980. That's all the information contained in their email, apart from they also say that the seatpost is very hard to find. This is a start. Thanks for the advice to contact them directly.


Hi Did you use the second e mail address I gave you? 

I would suggest asking where to find a suitable seat post and exactly what type of post you need (size wise etc). You could search e bay for it when you have the facts. It can be abit of a battle getting info from them, but it's worth it if you get what you need...


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## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

*de rosa seatpost*

Yes I used the same email both times, [email protected]

I simplified the question in the second email. I'll keep on at them and see if I can get a bit more information. Cheers.


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## MERAKMAN (Mar 6, 2008)

sonofapup said:


> Yes I used the same email both times, [email protected]
> 
> I simplified the question in the second email. I'll keep on at them and see if I can get a bit more information. Cheers.



Ok. Have you sent them a picture of the frame, this may help? Also suggest you'd like to get it re- painted by them but you need to find a suitable seat post first, to make sure you'll be able to build it up after the re paint, this could prompt a response and abit more info...


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## sonofapup (Jul 9, 2007)

I sent them some photographs with my last email. 

They have replied again confirming that it was a custom built de rosa with columbus oval tubing from 1980. Because the frame was custom built, the seatpost is something which would probably have to be made again from scratch. I have asked them to keep their eyes open for any pictures / diagrams which might help. 

Meanwhile, I think the diameter of seat tube is about 22.4mm. (A 22.2mm handle bar stem has a little play). I might have to adapt something else. Some suitable seatpost head on top of a custom alloy tube? Suspension posts have a thinner tube which enters a regular diam seatpost, or perhaps an aero seatpopst head on top of a custom milled alloy tube??

Thanks for the help and advice.


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## slamy (Mar 15, 2004)

sonofapup said:


> I sent them some photographs with my last email.
> 
> They have replied again confirming that it was a custom built de rosa with columbus oval tubing from 1980. Because the frame was custom built, the seatpost is something which would probably have to be made again from scratch. I have asked them to keep their eyes open for any pictures / diagrams which might help.
> 
> ...



Most times you see a bike like this sold on ebay it comes with that funky post. The post as I recall is an oval shape. One thing you might want to watch out for is that these were reportedly very fragile bikes. The main complaint was that the tubes were thin and a lot of these bikes snapped. Again, it is a cool bike that you don't see around a lot. Good luck with it.


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