# older serotta atlanta, anyone heard of it?



## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

I picked this bike up from my girlfriend yesterday for anniversary. She wants to road bike with me, and i figured a nice older bike would be better than a low-end new one. It's all ultegra and rides smooth as silk. If she doesn't like it, I could always resell it and get something different for her. I really can't find any information on it. 

Paid $600

How did i do?


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

You did well, IMO.
I had variety of Serottas (about 8, I think) from 80's to now.
If I recell correctly, the Atlanta came out when the announcement was made that Olympic will take place in Atlanta. I think it had either same or similar geometry as Colorado series but much less expensive....


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

Don't know if the price is a bargain, but the bike is a real score.


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## fasteddy07 (Jun 4, 2007)

You did great.

Great bike

Great price


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## jeffreyg (Nov 23, 2005)

Pascal Richard won '96 the Olympic Road Race in Atlanta on a Serotta Legend rebadged as a Fausto Coppi.


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## Fivethumbs (Jul 26, 2005)

You did great...but the stem's gotta go.


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## Chaz (Sep 24, 2005)

600 bucks is a "steal" (pun intended) for that bike. I'd say you did real good.
Hope she enjoys it.


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## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

Fivethumbs said:


> You did great...but the stem's gotta go.


It needs a new stems and wider bars. I was thinking about getting a Nitto stem, recommendation on bars? The stem i actually a look adjustable, which are actually really expensive.

I'm starting to really like the bike and may just give her my specialized allez. I think she's like the geometry of the specialized better anyways.


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

Last of the lugged steel serottas. Highly regarded. You dun good.


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

nothing wrong with the stem, just change the angles to look more normal. Bar very much a personal choice but I like short drop bars. Check out the Salsa range of short n shallow


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## fux (Apr 25, 2008)

My wife has one of those.

I have been waiting for a roadbike all season and ended up racing the Atlanta on 3 occasions. All 220km+ races, and all super comfortable! It realy soaks up road vibes.


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## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

I'm thinking about upgrading the bike to 2008 Ultegra 10-speed. Is there any reason not to do this? The 2008 stuff matches the older 8-speed that's already on there, so i could keep my brakes and fd.


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## lousylegs (Jul 15, 2005)

blantonator said:


> I'm thinking about upgrading the bike to 2008 Ultegra 10-speed. Is there any reason not to do this? The 2008 stuff matches the older 8-speed that's already on there, so i could keep my brakes and fd.


No reason not too, though if the stuff on the bike works fine, just let her ride it till that stuff wears out and then up-grade (as if any of us ever really follow that advice  )


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

blantonator said:


> I'm thinking about upgrading the bike to 2008 Ultegra 10-speed. Is there any reason not to do this? The 2008 stuff matches the older 8-speed that's already on there, so i could keep my brakes and fd.




is the 10s fd cage narrower than that 8s?


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## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

im pretty sure the 10sp stuff will work on the 8sp, but may need a spacer.


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## OldSkoolFatGuy (Sep 6, 2007)

The Serotta Atlanta was the answer to the question of affordability. The CSI was the top of the line steel frame up to I believe 2000? The Atlanta had the same stock lugs and geometry as the CSI. The cost difference was picked up in the Atlanta's tubing. It had the Colorado 3 steel vs the colorado 4 triple butted 853 set that the CSI had. You could also choose the tour de france lug set on the CSI to "drop some weight".

Atlanta f/f retailed for about $1299 in 1996. I owned one...


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## David Kirk (Mar 6, 2005)

The Atlanta and the CSI shared geometry but little else.

The tubeset, lugset, fork crown and dropouts were all different. The idea behind the Atlanta was to build a bike that rode as well as the CSI but sold at a lower price due to the lower cost of materials and less time being spent on aesthetic metal work like dropout shaping.

The Atlanta was not offered, at least at first, with any custom options to help keep costs in check. Unfortunately the company slowly slipped on it's "no custom" pledge over time and one could get a custom Atlanta with all the bells and whistles of a CSI. This effectively was the end of the Atlanta as it was basically a CSI being sold at a considerably lower cost while taking the same amount of time to build.

We built lots of Atlantas over the years and it was the real performance bargain of the time. I never owned one of my own but spent a good deal of time building and testing prototypes and in many ways I preferred it over the CSI. IMO you got a very good deal on your Atlanta. If it fits your girlfriend I'll bet she loves it.

Dave


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

DK, I was hoping you'd be able to give a hands on account of the frame, glad to see you dropped in.


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## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

David Kirk said:


> The Atlanta and the CSI shared geometry but little else.
> 
> The tubeset, lugset, fork crown and dropouts were all different. The idea behind the Atlanta was to build a bike that rode as well as the CSI but sold at a lower price due to the lower cost of materials and less time being spent on aesthetic metal work like dropout shaping.
> 
> ...


Great information, thanks! The bike rides so nice, I'm actually thinking of keeping it for myself, and giving my gf my specialized allez.


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## David Kirk (Mar 6, 2005)

Cool.

One thing you should check. The bike has a Serotta F1 fork. I designed this fork way back when and I must say it rides very nicely and is overly strong and durable. One thing about it though - on a very few of the earliest F1 forks a few of the dropouts came loose in the blades so they could rotate. They DID NOT come out of the blades but they did rotate and make an awful noise. So it's worth checking the fork and it's uber easy to do. Just remove the wheel and grab the dropout with your fingers and give it a firm twist. If you can move it at all then you should remove the fork and make a lamp out of it. If they don't spin then you should ride the fork in confidence and have fun.

Like I said this issue was limited to a very small number of forks built early on and a design change eliminated the problem. For what it's worth I know of no outright failures on these early forks - just a few annoyed riders who could find the source of the nasty noise.

Have fun with your cool bike.

dave


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## blantonator (Apr 25, 2007)

Do you know where I can find the geometry specs for a 52cm atlanta?


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