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Old 08-11-20, 02:49 PM
  #1379  
666 Biking
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
The 1949 team bicycles used Simplex derailleurs and matching rear dropouts, as a result of a contract that Lucien Juy orchestrated with Fausto Coppi. There was no consumer version of these bicycles, so I'd be reluctant to call them Folgorissima. However, Coppi's actual bicycles from the 1949 Giro d'Italia and Tour de France have survived (verified from serial number recorded in diaries kept by the team mechanic). These bicycles have Universal Model 39 calipers and extant photos from 1949 (easily verified by the presence of Simplex derailleurs) corroborate the brake caliper model. Given that the Folgorissima was the closest consumer equivalent, there is no reason to expect the early Folgorissima that started appearing in mid-1949 would not have used these brakes prior to availability of the Model 50 calipers.


I went back and checked the Ebay photos and the claimed Folgorissima does have Model 39 calipers but the frame serial number is actually higher than the one with Model 50 calipers that appears on the Classic Lightweights website. I don't know which bicycle has the correct calipers or whether it's a case both being correct and Bianchi not rotating their stock.


About a decade ago, Italian bicycle expert Paolo Tullini published a booklet dedicated solely to the Folgorissima and Paris-Roubbaix models. It may contain the definitive evidence for which you are searching.
Absolutely amazing advice and thank you for taking the time. Now have somewhere to start looking and suspect you are right the bike actually had both brakes given when it was first produced the Mod 50 did not exist. Cant thank you enough.
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