lenos

Life is a Magistroni....

What is the differences between a "Senior" and the same basic thing without the Senior label?

What is the timeframe for Senior cranks?

Velobase is a little light on Magistroni information.

Thanks,

lenos

Are those crickets that I hear?

iab

There is very little Magistroni information online.

I imagine they were around well prior to WW2. But prior to WW2, cranks, bottom brackets and spindles were stamped with the bike manufacturer's name or they were left blank. And while I have dozens of prewar Italian publications, none of them have a Magistroni ad. There is the occasional FB ad, but they are for the hubs and not the cranks. As a matter of fact, there is not a single ad for cranks, BBs or spindles. There are ads for everything else - chains, bars, saddles, tubing, etc., even bar end plugs. My prewar catalogs are French and British with nearly no Italian parts listed.

Post war is a different story. And unfortunately I have very little information from that era. But in the 1949 Doniselli catalog, there is a Magistroni BB and spindle listed, but no cranks. It is also listed as only "Magistroni" not "Magistroni Senior". Interestingly enough, the catalog has Gnutti, FB and Siamt cranks. And while I have only seen the illustration of the Siamt crank, I'd love to see a real one, totally cool.

So if I were to hazard a guess, I would say Magistroni Senior started post war, maybe as late as early 50s. I have seen fluted and un-fluted versions. I can't see much difference between Magistroni and Magistoni Senior. When aluminum cranks and square tapers started to get popular in the early 50s (Stronglight started the combination in 1933), it was the death knell of Magistroni. I believe they held out until about the mid to late 60s before folding.

Magistroni

lenos

Thanks for the info. I was hoping that somewhere there was a trail of catalogs but I guess it is not as easy as that. My guess is that if I bring a bike to a show, early '50s build with a Senior crank, someone will correct me on it.

iab

I wouldn't worry about the correction.

But if you are so inclined, velo-retro sells a 340 page 1950 Emilio Bozzi reproduction catalog for $45. There is also a 1955 Ron Kitching and the 1949 Donicelli.

I really should pony up for the Bozzi catalog.

juvela

Magistroni was a brand name for the firm Officine Mecchaniche Giostra. Giostra was the family name which is also the Italian word for Merry-go-Round/Carousel. Hence the logo one sees on the products, packaging and advertisements.

Top of the line range was the Super Zenith then the Zenith. The L. Senior was the next thing down afaik. They produced cranksets and headsets with the name of the bicycle on them as well as their own name. Not all of the cranksets were of the quality type with a forged/welded spider. They did ordinary swaged sets as well. Some of these were unmarked. In addition to the headsets and cranksets they made quality forged seat binder collars. These were often done with the name of the bicycle on them.

afaik play ceased in 1965. one story i received from a long time trade insider was that tullio and company had a policy of supporting teams if the teams used everything they made. if a team wanted to use one component which competed with a tullio one then tullio would not sponsor the team. this was given as the reason for the close of Giostra. such practices are nothing unique to cycling.

i speculated to Joel many years back that the OFMEGA brand may have been a successor name to Giostra/Magistroni as in OFficine MEcchaniche
GiostrA. he placed this information on his web site. the Italians seem to love acronyms even more than the U.S. military.

juvela

just ran across this blog post about Magistroni.

appears blogger simply copied information from Joel's blackbirds site without giving credit.

Magistroni Bicycle Components - La Bicycletta

there is now a Mexican Magistroni bicycle site which looks to have no connection to what is being discussed here...

BICICLETAS MAGISTRONI

juvela

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Recently found some additional information online. States original enterprise began in 1921.

Special Magistroni Crankset ? Velo Aficionado

This is the most thorough presentation yet encountered.

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Oldairhead 

I just purchased a Frejus branded crankset (from Italy) with some interesting similarities to the crank set shown in the link.

https://utahrandonneur.files.wordpre...jus-crank1.jpg

Oldairhead 

Also, I was under the impression that Magistroni morphed into Ofmega at some point. Officine Mecchaniche Giostra, Of-Me-Ga. Where did I hear that?

juvela

From Joel at Blackbirds who got it from me.

Road Fan

My first good road bike was a Cicli Rossignoli that I bought in 1970. It had an FB three-armed chromed cottered crank with 6-bolt aluminum chainrings, and a Magistroni BB, at least the cups.

Was there a Magistroni/FB connection? Whenever I've seen pics of a Magistroni three-arm, I think "that's the crank I had!"

When I bought this bike (from Turin on Clark Street in Chicago), they told me its origin was murky, but it had on it a lot of NOS racing gear. Tubing was unmarked, but it was a great ride. Other parts: Nitor seatpost, Brooks Pro, 3TTT Record stem, Ambrosio bars, Weinmann sidebulls, unmarked steel headset (Magistroni or ??), 32/28 Record LF hubs, Nisi tubular rims/D'allessandro tires, Record DT shift levers, Record front/rear mechs, and Sheffield pedals with Christophe clips. I wish I had it today!

Hudson308 

These two fluted steel cranks must be from right near the end, 1963-64, on a couple of Fiorelli "sport strada" bikes.

P1010881.jpg

P1011152.jpg

iab

I had the pleasure of perusing the 1927 Donistelli catalog this morning. What was interesting were the FMV headsets and bottom brackets but the Magistroni cranks. Interesting they would use the 2 different names. One of the Magistroni cranks had a really cool "M" built into the chainring 3 times. I wonder if any of those exist today.

The catalog also had some FB hubs with the typical large diameter barrels of the 1920s. I'd also like to get my hands on those someday.

Otis

I was just going to suggest the Bozzi catalog. There's at least 3-4 pages showing cranks and rings, maybe more.