miamibeachcg

A friend of mine who owns a bike shop sold me this frame today for $100. He had painted it & was going to build it but the people who dropped it off never came back to specify what kind of groupset, etc.. they wanted. He said he thought - or was told - that it was a Tommaso time trial frame. Is it?
Any idea of the year?
It has the most unusual - sharply upswept but with a curve - back frame tubes, that I've ever seen! Even the bottom of the bike where the pedals go - where I looked for a serial number (not there) - a place where no one hardly ever looks; has a T carved into the frame! (last photo)
What are these bikes worth?
PS - Where the bike's paint is blurry is where he showed me how to get rid of the extra paint with mineral spirits; I still need to do that & remove last pieces of masking tape where he covered chrome.
Thanks for any info!

[IMG]AA BICYCLE TOMMASO 1AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr[/IMG]

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 1AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr


AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 3AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 3AAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 4AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 2AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 5AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE TOMMOSA 6AA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

xiaoman1 

Whatever it is it is a very nice looking frame....it would have been nice to have prepped the frame better for paint (last photo).
Others will give you an evaluation.
Ben

Bianchigirll 

Did the guy at the shop paint it or touch it up? Tommaso was one of the brands imported by 10 Speed Drive back in the '80s and early '90s.

It most certainly looks like a time trial or funny bike as they were called. The front wheel is very likely a 650c size and the rear 700c.

The clamp on housing stop on the chai stay seems odd but I don't see any cable guides on the bottom bracket (BB) shell, where the pedals go, are they run internally?

exxongraftek

Judging by the chip in the head lug I think this was not a full repaint.
Odd that the front changer tab and the aero shifter mounts are the only gear-related braze-ons. For $100 you did well. The odd size front rim may be an issue. A budget fix I've heard of but never used is a narrow 26 inch rim, but ymmv.

Spaghetti Legs 

Interesting - I associate the time trial "funny bikes" with the mid and late 80's , so agree that the clamp on chainstay cable guide is unusual, especially as it looks to route the cable on top of the chainstay. Cool frame, you got close to half of what you paid in value in that Campy headset.

T-Mar

The subject frame is for time trials. The model name is Crono and they were offered throughout the late 1980s, in two versions - SLX and Cromor. Consequently, I'd suggest you look inside the shell and check the ends of the tubes to see if they have the helical ridges indicative of SLX. The apparent lack of braze-ons is due to the fact that rear brake cable and gear cables are routed internally. The cable guide on the chain stay is puzzling. There should be a cable port at the end of the chain stay. You can just see the brake cable ports on the top tube. There is a set of bottle bosses.

The frame is designed for a 700C rear wheel, paired with 24" on the front. You could buy them as a frame or a choice of a wide range of Campagnolo or Shimano groups. Typically, the complete bicycle was sold with a Ambrosio disc wheel on the rear.

howsteepisit

This type of frame was banished from competition some years ago so the market is primarily collectors, and the bike shop guy really screwed up the attempted retouch paint job. Still for $100 it a cool deal, but the beat thing you can do is to sell it for a little more and be rid of it.

miamibeachcg

The cables are routed internally; you can see opening in this photo. The Tommaso Facebook page said this was a Crono Cromar - and they posted an old ad for it - that's a Hell of a unusual rear tire!!
So this was used for racing down a track like a drag race to get best times?

howsteepisit

It was used to race on a time trial course - they had hills, turns, curves and sometimes a turn around. The main difference was that the riders left the start one at a time, with a minute or two between starts. Think the qualifying runs on a road course for cars.

miamibeachcg

Thanks for the info. I meant to add photo 7 above again - it shows the front hole for the cables to be routed inside the bike.
Complete Tommaso time trial bikes sold (not asking price) for over $1,000 - and higher; is this frame really only worth "a bit more than I paid for it & be rid of it?" - I'm thinking of listing it for $500obo, but staying close to the $500 - is that way off?

Drillium Dude 

Value is tough to say since it's a specialty frame. You might find a funny-bike/TT fanatic that would pay more, but you are going to have to find the right person.

Also, there has to be an exit for the rear derailleur cable at the rear of the drive side chainstay. I'd imagine it's hidden under that tape.

While nicely built, these frames really only had one purpose: to go as fast as possible for a fairly short (not normally over 25 miles) distance. They're certainly not built for comfort over the long haul

DD

xiaoman1 

Yes, I mentioned the paint in my post, I am sure you can find a better spray paint match....for 100 you got a great.
I would have bought it even if it is not my size, out some components on it a half a handlebar and made it a wall hanger...good score
Ben