# old de rosa?



## roboprof (May 22, 2006)

I was recently given this De Rosa and have been looking for information about it. I have not been able to find anything similar looking on the internet. It came with a complete mish mash of parts... campy 980 front and rear derailleurs, modolo corsa brakes and levers, ofmega headset, pantographed de rosa cranks, a very old looking olimpic stem and handlebars, shimano hubs and cassette, a sr seatpost, and a silver colored cinelli fork. the decals and lugs are different from any other de rosa i have seen. any information would be helpful. attached are some pictures.


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## caterham (Nov 7, 2005)

Sorry to say but it definately isn't a DeRosa. The lugs,bottom bracket,seat cluster, cable guides and stays are all wrong, the decalling & pantographings incorrect and the gaps, file marks and general indifferent quality of the stamped/welded lugwork typical of a high-volume, mass production japanese/taiwanese frameset of the late 70's/early 80's.I would bet that the tubeset isn't SL either as the seatstay profile doesn't match that of any Columbus manufactured tubesets that I am familar with. You might want to check to see if the B-Bkt threading is Italian or not .English threading would positively confirm a fake.


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## roboprof (May 22, 2006)

Thank you for your information! My first thoughts about this bike were that it was fake. Everything about it does seem somewhat shoddy. It's good to know that I was most likely right. I just figured that maybe there was something i didn't know (as it never hurts to ask)

The whole idea of a fake bike like this seems so bizarre. Who would purchase such a thing? At least it's interesting.


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## caterham (Nov 7, 2005)

roboprof said:


> The whole idea of a fake bike like this seems so bizarre. Who would purchase such a thing? At least it's interesting.


At least the price was right 
I think it's pretty weird myself but I'll bet the builder sold a lot more of them labelled as a DeRosa than they would have as a no-name brand.As they say,'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'.Not so sure about the 'sincerity' part but it is a kinda kewl historical artifact in a sleazy sorta way tho.
I'm still trying to get my head around the engraved bottom bracket shell,chainrings and the toptube "signature" just cracks me up.

best,
k


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## slamy (Mar 15, 2004)

Actually it is a real Derosa, just not a Ugo DeRosa. There was another frame builder in Italy named derosa and that is one of his. I've seen a couple more like these before. Again, this is not someone trying to disguise a bike, just another frame builder.


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## dnalsaam (Dec 6, 2004)

This is indeed a bike built by De Rosa of Naples, not of Milan. It is a true De Rosa, however as Slamy writes not from the Ugo De Rosa family or factory.


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## caterham (Nov 7, 2005)

dnalsaam said:


> This is indeed a bike built by De Rosa of Naples, not of Milan. It is a true De Rosa, however as Slamy writes not from the Ugo De Rosa family or factory.


If I were this "De Rosa of Naples", I'd be embarrassed.


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## dnalsaam (Dec 6, 2004)

caterham said:


> If I were this "De Rosa of Naples", I'd be embarrassed.


Why would you be ashamed as builder? Apart from the way that the frame has been handled by the former owner, there does not appear to be anything wrong with the build of the bike. I've seen a few of these bikes and given their comparative cut-rate price, they make for exceptional values. I would much rather see somebody ride one of these bikes than all the "poseurs" with their De Rosa bikes at Starbucks.


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