I just picked up the following De Rosa frame. It is labeled as a Chiorda, because it was built for the Salvarani pro team that was sponsored by Chiorda. I have received a letter from De Rosa confirming that it is an actual bike that they built for the team. They are not sure of the exact date or who the bike was built for, but there closest guess was some time between 1965 and 1967. Unfortunately the parts are not original and it would appear that the bottle bosses have been added later. Still a cool bike.

Very nice! Looks like it's in excellent shape for its age. Is it Columbus? I have a mid 90's Columbus DeRosa as my only bike now. I like it as well as, or better than anything else I've ever had, (and I've had a bunch of bikes).

The Cinelli bars & stem, Record der. etc. are all period pieces. I don't recognise the crank though. What is it?

Very nice! Looks like it's in excellent shape for its age. Is it Columbus? I have a mid 90's Columbus DeRosa as my only bike now. I like it as well as, or better than anything else I've ever had, (and I've had a bunch of bikes).

The Cinelli bars & stem, Record der. etc. are all period pieces. I don't recognise the crank though. What is it?

The Stem is definitely too new for the age of the bike. The bars could possibly be original. The Nuovo Record rear derailleur is too new, it would need to have been a Record rear derailleur for this period. The 3TTT saddle too is a bit newer than the age of the frame. The cranks are Stronglight which are period correct but not correct to a Salvarani team bike. The front derailleur is also at least 12 years too modern. The Weinmann brakes are almost correct for age but incorrect on a Salvarani bike.

That's a nice slice of history. What do you have in mind for it? Repaint as a De Rosa? Restore as is? As a rider or display bike?

brewster

That's a nice slice of history. What do you have in mind for it? Repaint as a De Rosa? Restore as is? As a rider or display bike?

brewster

My first priority is getting it home from Italy. I suppose that I will keep it as a Chiorda for the time being, but we will see. It is likely too small for me to ride comfortably so I'll decide later what to do with it.

The fork, chainstays....hmmmm.

I think that I can help you date your DeRosa/Chiorda a bit better. The Salvarani company sponsored a pro cycling team from 1963-1972. In 1963 to 1965, the bicycles were (or were marked) as Magni's, which was a "sottomarche" or house brand of Chiorda. In 1967, Salvarani used Bianchi Speciallisima's as the team bikes. That puts the date at 1966 for a team bike marked as a Chiorda. The bikes used in 1968-1972 were similar, but the graphics were slightly different, although they still were the "azzura" color. 1966 is consistent with the letter you received from DeRosa. You can see a photograph of a similar team bicycle (in the same graphics) in Pages 94 and 95 of the 2005 book, "Felice Gimondi" available from Bianchi. The only problem is that the Salvarani jersey and shorts shown with your bicycle is of a later style, from 1970 onward. In 1966, the jersey would not have had the black and white "gears" on the chest. I still think the bike is from 1966 though, as explained above. The bike's components would have been all Campagnolo Record and/or Nuovo Record (as available) with Universal side pull brakes (a change from center pull to side pull was made in 1966). The bars and stem would have been Ambrosio or Cinelli. The fact that your bike is a DeRosa is very interesting. What made you identify it as such? It is marked in any way? Pietro Piezzalunga, longtime mechanic for the Salvarani and Bianchi-Campagnolo teams explained to me that the Chiorda team bikes were, in fact, made in Bianchi's Reparto Corse. Chiorda was, at the time, owned by Angelo Trapletti, a prominant industrialist from Bergamo, who also owned Bianchi, Legnano and Frejus. Thus, Chiorda team bikes were actually Bianchi's. However, at the time, it was quite common for racing stars to have their machines made by their framebuilders of choice. For example, it is well known that Masi made the team bikes for the Faema and Faemino teams, and Colnago made the bikes for Molteni. However, Eddy Mercx also had frames made up by DeRosa during this time, and Ferdinand Bracke always rode a Masi, despite being in the Peugot-BP team. So, it is not inconsistent that the bike is actually a DeRosa, but painted to appear as a Chiorda. However, this may not have been the case for all of the Salvarani team bikes. This may truly be a "special". I hope the forgoing has been of some interest to you. BTW, do you still have the bike? I think it is a very interesting piece of pro cycling history.

Good info.Thanks for that.

You can see a photograph of a similar team bicycle (in the same graphics) in Pages 94 and 95 of the 2005 book, "Felice Gimondi" available from Bianchi.

Can you tell if teh bike had bottle braze-ons in the photo?

The only problem is that the Salvarani jersey and shorts shown with your bicycle is of a later style, from 1970 onward.

The bike came from a former Salvarani team mechanic, as did the jersey and shorts. He claimed them to be the same vintage, but they could conceivably be a few years apart. Thanks for the information.


The bike's components would have been all Campagnolo Record and/or Nuovo Record (as available) with Universal side pull brakes (a change from center pull to side pull was made in 1966). The bars and stem would have been Ambrosio or Cinelli.

I have already fitted Record derailleurs, cranks (with 151 BCD), pedals and am building up wheels. It would be odd to fit Universal side-pulls in 1966 as the only models they then had were the mod.51. It seems that the mod.61 would favored over the mod.51 at that time. The Super 68 only came out in 1968. Upon what do you base the claim that they were using side pulls? I would prefer the sidepulls if they are correct, so I am interested in finding out.

The fact that your bike is a DeRosa is very interesting. What made you identify it as such? It is marked in any way?

The frame has the typical heart cut-outs and under the Chiorda decals, you can see a De Rosa decal.

Pietro Piezzalunga, longtime mechanic for the Salvarani and Bianchi-Campagnolo teams explained to me that the Chiorda team bikes were, in fact, made in Bianchi's Reparto Corse.

I actually know two former Salvarani mechanics and they both say that not a single team bike was made by Chiorda. The riders were apparently given reasonable freedom in choosing their framebuilder of choice and often went to a builder local to where they lived.

Lastly, yes, I do still have the bike.

As regards to the brakes, the same photograph (on Pages 94-95 of the Gimondi book) shows sidepull brakes with characteristic Universal levers. A later photo showing Gimondi winning the 1966 Giro di Lombardia also shows sidepull brakes. However, earlier in the book, photos taken during the 1966 Giro d' Italia show Gimondi using a bike with centerpull brakes, obviously Universals. So fitting a set of Universal center-pulls would also be correct, I suppose. Could Universal have made the "68" brakes available to the pro-teams in late 1966?

There were no bottle bosses on the 1966 bikes from what I can tell from the photos in the book. Is there evidence then of repainting near the bottle mounts? Could the entire frame have been re-painted? Or are they otherwise attached (not brazed) bosses?

The statements by the former Salvarani team mechanics are interesting. I suppose this could agree with Mr. Piazzalunga's comments (I would take anything this gentleman says as absolute fact, BTW) assuming the frames were actually fabricated at various framebuilders (including DeRosa) and then painted and assembled at the Bianchi Reparto Corse. They most likely were not assembled at the Chiorda factory, for sure. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, please enjoy the bike! And thanks for posting it here. It's a great piece of cycling history. Unfortunately, it looks a bit too big for me (I need a 50 or 51 c-c), or otherwise I would be trying to get you to sell it! (My first real racing bike was a Chiorda "Magni" that was in the same "Azzura" blue) Salvarani riders wrote much of the history of pro-cycle racing in the sixties and seventies, with "corriedore" like Gimondi, Adorni, Altig, Motta Goodefroot, Panizza and others. Truly one of the "big" teams of pro cycling!

As regards to the brakes, the same photograph (on Pages 94-95 of the Gimondi book) shows sidepull brakes with characteristic Universal levers. A later photo showing Gimondi winning the 1966 Giro di Lombardia also shows sidepull brakes. However, earlier in the book, photos taken during the 1966 Giro d' Italia show Gimondi using a bike with centerpull brakes, obviously Universals. So fitting a set of Universal center-pulls would also be correct, I suppose. Could Universal have made the "68" brakes available to the pro-teams in late 1966?

The Super 68 brakes were in many ways little more than a reissue of the Mod.51 brakes that continued to be sold. They could easily have used Mod.51 brakes, however these tended to have a longer reach rear (the primary difference between the mod.51 and Super 68).

There were no bottle bosses on the 1966 bikes from what I can tell from the photos in the book. Is there evidence then of repainting near the bottle mounts? Could the entire frame have been re-painted? Or are they otherwise attached (not brazed) bosses?

The paint on the down tube is not perfectly identical to the rest of the frame, so it might have been locally repainted around the braze-ons.

The statements by the former Salvarani team mechanics are interesting. I suppose this could agree with Mr. Piazzalunga's comments (I would take anything this gentleman says as absolute fact, BTW) assuming the frames were actually fabricated at various framebuilders (including DeRosa) and then painted and assembled at the Bianchi Reparto Corse. They most likely were not assembled at the Chiorda factory, for sure. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, please enjoy the bike! And thanks for posting it here. It's a great piece of cycling history. Unfortunately, it looks a bit too big for me (I need a 50 or 51 c-c), or otherwise I would be trying to get you to sell it! (My first real racing bike was a Chiorda "Magni" that was in the same "Azzura" blue) Salvarani riders wrote much of the history of pro-cycle racing in the sixties and seventies, with "corriedore" like Gimondi, Adorni, Altig, Motta Goodefroot, Panizza and others. Truly one of the "big" teams of pro cycling!

I formerly owned one of Panizza's bikes (built by Marnati, who confirmed as much, but funnily enough labeled as a Masi following a repaint by Alberto). I also own a 1974 Colnago that belonged to Franco Bitossi, then of the SCIC team. This bike has been confirmed by Ernesto to be authentic and still has the personalized stem.