# Fiori Modena, anyone?



## TheHeavy (Mar 28, 2009)

I bought this fiori modena tonight for 150 bucks. Anyone know anything about em'. I have a cross check frame on order coming this week so i bought this just to swap most the parts to get the surly rollin' asap. I must say this bike is lookin like a riot in itself! Its says on the head tube "3 tube chromoly" and then the chainstays have "chromoly" stamped in them. Is it all chromo? Its got this oval biopace crank set, weird? Any info or feedback would be much appreciated y'all.

is it a beater? I know it was made in japan, thats it.


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## shinsplints (Oct 24, 2007)

This was not a high end bike. I had the same one back in the late 80s and remember saving up for months to pay $300 Cdn for it. Personally, it's shocking how much these crappy bikes from the 80s are fetching, at least here in Toronto. As for swapping parts, I think you might have a problem with the wheels because I'm sure the rear spacing will be completely different (126mm on the Fiori vs. 130 or 132.5mm on the Surly).

Lastly, I think Fiori was just a Cdn. brand for CCM or Norco, but I could be wrong on that. I recall that I wanted a certain Miele because the tubing was much better than the generic straight gauge tubing of the Fiori but my 15-year old self just couldn't wait the extra 4 months to save up for the Miele.

Anyway, good luck with the swap. I had many fond memories of my Fiori and wish I kept it.


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## TheHeavy (Mar 28, 2009)

*all in good fun*

i'm pretty sure its a norco off shoot that was made to compete with miele. I took it on her maiden voyage and everything seems pretty decent. A creak or two, but we're rolling! It should be safe tho, right? 
I'll tell you, i lived in toronto for two years and damn, beater bikes go for huge and stupid money!
This fiora was made in japan, which I take comfort in.


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## shinsplints (Oct 24, 2007)

Oh yeah, the bike should be fine. I'd get a tune-up though.

And yeah, beater bikes are stupid pricey here... damn hipster kids. 

One last thing, you'll have an issue with swapping the fork over to the Surly, unless the Surly comes with a fork.


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## TheHeavy (Mar 28, 2009)

Yeah, I could certainly do without them toronto hipster dipsh%#s. I actually in the past thought of uhauling a bunch of decent beater bikes to the Dot. I could sell them for 3x what i'd pay here in the praries. Actually god bless the hipsters and there deep pockets.

The Fiora is fun, it was cheap and i'm hoping the most will think its italian.


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## takmanjapan (Mar 24, 2004)

*Ah, Fiori....*

My high school riding/racing friends all seemed to have one (circa 1988-1991). Fiori was definitely a Norco offshoot. The tubing was normally Tange Infinity for the main triangle and high tensile stays and fork. I recall the best one I saw had Columbus SL for the main tubes and 4130 for the stays and fork. Even came with Campy Victory and a metallic pink paintjob. Sounds like yours was an better model. I wanted one too but ended up with an older Raleigh that turned out to be a better quality steed (it was also made in Japan). But thats another thread. They were tough and good for the money. My friend Rusty crashed his, bent the stay, and then rode it for years. The last thing I can remember was that I think the models differed more by component groups rather than frames.

Biopace was standard equiptment in the late 80's and early 90's. Chainrings will have 130mm BCD so changing it for roudn ones will be no problem. 

Takmanjapan


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## benTHEbike (Aug 29, 2012)

I just wanted to say as a man who knows bikes...This is a good bike regardless of others have written. Many people just don't know the facts about materials and processes. I just left Japan after working for NJS for 4 years. Many of our builders who were fabricating the Fiori back in the late 70's to late 80's often mentioned the high quality of the those bikes when creating well made reasonably priced frames compared to now. The parts on those frames are all NJS certified. The threaded stems and drop bar are NITTO. Which is incredibly expensive now if you can find someone willing to part with it. Many of the Keirin riders in Japan that buy their nitto products usually use the vintage ones because they trust the product and history along with craftsmanship of the product. It was quite rare to see any keirin rider while in Japan on the track (velodrome) for competition using anything else than vintage parts or frames etc. Unless their frame was made by Nagasawa Yoshiaki-San (長澤義明) himself. But he's pretty busy running a business than building now. He has a couple fabricators who assist him.

I know this bike was marketed in Canada as an Italian bicycle concept. That was why it didn't do very well. Many people didn't understand the concept. 

The tubing is CR-MO Tapered Double Butted Tubing by TANGE. The caliper brakes were fabricated by Dia-Compe in Japan. The crank on the bike is a Sugino VS vintage part. The smaller chainring can be removed for a single chainring to exist.

The dropouts are Horizontal without a Hanger which is also useful if you want to convert it. 


I personally think its a good bike. If you get $300 for it, I think thats good. Remember however, if you sell those nitto parts separately, you may probably get as much just for those two parts.

If they are mint condition only though. If they look like crap, don't expect to get anything high. Restoring them to new is almost impossible. 

So there you go... Someone speaking from real experience and knowledge.


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## blakcloud (Apr 13, 2006)

From my understanding Fiori Canada had nothing in common with the Fiori you are talking about. Norco Canada, was making/importing their own bikes and wanted an Italian name to compete with the Miele and Bianchi at the time. They bought the rights to the name and had them built but the bikes themselves were mediocre at best. They were essentially rebadged Norco's. Also remember at this time Norco was the owner of Nishiki here in Canada and that slowly dissipated. 

I worked in a bike shop that sold Fiori's, Norco's Miele's and Bianchi's and the Fiori's couldn't compete. Value wise they just couldn't beat any of Jim Miele's bikes. Even when Jim Miele moved his production to Canada rather than the far east his bike were just better valued. 

Just wondering why you dredged up a three year old thread for your first post?


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## MXL (Jun 26, 2012)

Don't knock the Japanese lugged steel frames, they're bullet proof. I have an 85 Nishiki that rivals many Italian frames for fit and finish. Many are converting them to fixies.


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## benTHEbike (Aug 29, 2012)

@blackcloud : What you have to understand here is that today we have bicycle frames that are sold for much more than Fiori Modena frame for example today, which by the standards back then were considered a lower quality bike then...Now, the best riders in the world are still using those frames and producing the best results. It just goes to show that if we compare these bikes for their craftsmanship on basic level, they are in many cases equal or better than some frames built today. God for bid, they are over 25years old. Their parts sold today were considered standard iso. Yet today, here are selling off those precious parts and recycling those frames because they are still built to last as @MXL pointed above. 

Why did I dig up a 3 year old post. Because Im a designer. I design for people but try to understand what makes people do what they do so I can make their lives better. I designed for a company that made new things and here we are in North America a place where the bicycle market is booming every year more than the last, is remixing old to new. 

What is not interesting for others, is interesting to some, and is opportunity for few.


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## Shanemacgowan (Jul 12, 2021)

benTHEbike said:


> I just wanted to say as a man who knows bikes...This is a good bike regardless of others have written. Many people just don't know the facts about materials and processes. I just left Japan after working for NJS for 4 years. Many of our builders who were fabricating the Fiori back in the late 70's to late 80's often mentioned the high quality of the those bikes when creating well made reasonably priced frames compared to now. The parts on those frames are all NJS certified. The threaded stems and drop bar are NITTO. Which is incredibly expensive now if you can find someone willing to part with it. Many of the Keirin riders in Japan that buy their nitto products usually use the vintage ones because they trust the product and history along with craftsmanship of the product. It was quite rare to see any keirin rider while in Japan on the track (velodrome) for competition using anything else than vintage parts or frames etc. Unless their frame was made by Nagasawa Yoshiaki-San (長澤義明) himself. But he's pretty busy running a business than building now. He has a couple fabricators who assist him.
> 
> I know this bike was marketed in Canada as an Italian bicycle concept. That was why it didn't do very well. Many people didn't understand the concept.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the informative post. I have a Modena Fiori I bought new in 1984 in Oregon, I think I paid $250.00. It probably has 1000 miles on it total and I believe even the chain is original. Love it and will never sell it.


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## BCSaltchucker (Jul 20, 2011)

heck I remember one of my clubmates had a Fiori Modena he used for racing in cat 3 and 4 in the late 80s. IIRC he put a Suntour Sante groupset on it too, with tubular rims. That takes me back . But yeah this is quite the thread dredge lol (all the dredging - seems to be the death knell of this forum?)


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