dstark55

For the life of me I can not figure out how to get images to load on this darn webpage. I made an imgur account specifically for this. In abscence of posted pictures though, here is a link to the imgur album.

My bicycle - Album on Imgur

I bought this bike in Germany a few years ago, the previous owner being the only owner of the bike since he bought it brand new in Italy (is what he told me.)
I don't know a ton about bicycles. I posted a few years ago about this bike, but I was in the Army, and fairly busy, so I didn't pursue my questions. I'm hoping someone (or multiple someones) might be able to help me learn some more about this bike now, as well as give me a ballpark idea of what it might sell for.

A little bit of extra information. From what the gentleman I bought it from told me, all the parts are still original. As far as I can tell, everything is Campagnolo (except the handlebars maybe?)
The handlebars have had the grooves in the middle worn down, so it has a difficult time holding in place (you can see in one of the pictures where we used the can of an Austin-local hefeweizen to try and make a shim.) On top of that, the female portion of the stem bolt is stripped, so the handlebars can only be tightened down so far. The last bike shop I visited, which specialized in vintage bicycles, said that if I replaced that stem bolt, it will tighten up just fine, but I've been having the hardest time finding a replacement stem bolt. No local bike shop carries anything that finely threaded.

If anyone can help me out, give their opinions, tell me I'm stupid for buying it, or whatever else, it would be greatly appreciated!

Drillium Dude 

Without being able to tell you anything about De Pieri cycles, I can at least say that this appears to be fairly high-end as far as the frame goes. Shaped tubing, interesting cut-outs in the lugs, Cinelli fittings, internal rear brake cable routing. Pretty nice. Components are Victory. Brazed-on front derailleur tab suggests age is no younger than 1983.

Too bad about the handlebar issue, tho - the leather covering looks in nice shape and those suckers are rare. Either made by Almarc or Cinelli (most often matched with their saddle in what was called a VIP set), bars with the stitched leather covering are sought after and command some big bux if in new or barely used condition.

I don't see how you can replace the female wedge that the bolt goes into without removing the bar. And I don't know how you can do that with the leather in place. Hmmm....

DD

dstark55

Thanks for the info!

It's actually just the bolt itself that needs to be replaced. The female portion of the bolt itself is stripped. The Alan key will tighten it to a certain point, but once there's some tension the Alan key starts slipping.

3alarmer 

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...I don't know where you live, but here in Sacramento, a bike shop is the last place I would look for that stem bolt. Google search "specialty fasteners" in your locale, and you can usually find an industrial supply warehouse operation with a large selection of socket headed machine screws that will work. Take your old one along with you so the guy can match the threads and size.

Home Depot here has a good selection of metric socket heads, but they're a little light in the fine thread versions. There are only a couple of common metric threadings in that size anyway.

cb400bill

Pic Assist

cb400bill

T-Mar

FYI, the Victory components are from 1985 based on the crankset date code. Profiled tubing would normally have me pushing it into the very late 1980s or 1990s but lack of 2nd set of bottle bosses and pup peg does suggest earlier, as these features started being popular on high end models circa 1985. Definitely no older than 1982 based on the Campagnolo front derailleur boss. Sorry, I'm not familiar with this brand.

StarBiker

Postimage.org ? free image hosting / image upload ? Postimage.org

Easiest site to use, and you don't have to have an account. When you use the pic icon above just clear out the box (https://) and paste you image from the copied section on the site provided. Play with it, you will figure it out.

Chombi1 

Although the very ineresting details on the bike frame might suggest a high value, you have to consider that the bike had been well used, and it looks quite tired and will need a lot of clean up and worn out coponents repaired or replaced.
As-is I would think it's worth maybe around $600, max. Maybe a little bit more if more information about the tubing can be provided showing it is top class tubing. If it could be just cleaned and touched up very well and serviced maybe the value could creep up to $700 max. What also does not help is the non-familiar brand of the bike (unless the builder might be famous himsef). De Rosas, Colnagos and Masis in the same condition for much more money in a second.
The value of the bike can easily be double if it is in close to mint condition. As-is, it will be bought as a project.....a big, expensive project.

dstark55

Thank you all for the information! And thank you cb400bill and StarBiker for the help with the images.

The gentleman I bought it from was a bit older, maybe he got his dates wrong, or maybe he replaced some parts in the past.

As for the bolt, I visited a nut/bolt/screw distributer here in Salt Lake City, and he wasn't able to find anything . He said it was 7mm, which they don't carry, and that the threading was finer than his little cheat-sheet-thing even went to. He suggested having one machined.

Lastly, as for the condition of the bike, reiterating the fact I am very much a noob in the biking world, I did take it into a shop to get an in-depth cleaning and maintenance done. They replaced the cables (and informed me of the stripped bolt) but otherwise said everything was in great working order. A few days later when I took it to the vintage-specialty shop they told me the same. As far as I know the components are all working perfectly. (The handlebar and stem bolt being the exception of course)
That being said, is the aesthetic quality of the bike itself where value would drop? Meaning the fading paint, or scratched metal? And if so, is that something that can be fixed to increase value? I know it can be re-painted, but is there something that can be done to make the components look nicer, without replacing them? Or is the situation just the fact that things age, and nothing can be done about it?

Thanks again for everyone's help, I appreciate it immensely! I've tried researching on my own a little bit, but the amount of specialized information on vintage bicycles is extremely intimidating, especially approaching it with no base knowledge.

Kevindale

I'm a relative noob myself on valuations, but I think you're looking at a lower value (relative to the apparent quality of the tubing and components) mostly because of the obscurity of the De Pieri brand, and much less from the damage to the frame finish (which, frankly, looks minor to me).

I'm not sure I'm seeing the components being so worn out. I think maybe your photos are grainy, and that's working against you. The chain ring teeth don't look particularly worn as far as I can see, and the pedals and cranks (normally a heavily abused part of the bike) look to be in good shape.

Make sure the bike is spotless. Gently clean the white rubber hoods and white leather bar wrap (do a search here from good products, put I'd start with mild dish soap and gentle rubbing, but I know others here have posted on how to get white rubber hoods looking great again). And carefully get any residual grime and schmutz off the frame and components, taking care not to damage the decals. If the photos are deceptive, and the bike is as clean and polished as it can be, then skip to the next step.

Take some new photos of the components and whole bike in good light. You can see plenty of examples of good bike photos here and elsewhere. Crisp, high res, and plenty of them.

You're right that it's hard to find info about De Pieri. I found one eBay sale from 2014, and a thread on BF from the same year, in which you also posted asking for info about this bike. You might also join the Classic Rendezvous google group and ask there. The cutouts on the head tube lugs look rather distinct to my inexperienced eyes. If you get some really good photos of all the lugs, and the bottom bracket, someone may recognize the builder's style.

EDIT: Here's an example of the kinds of photos that will be helpful.

EDIT 2: I didn't realize there were more photos to load at your link. I still think you could get a few more photos, and better photos, of some frame details and lugs. Also, there's some spots of superficial rust and crud that should be relatively easy to clean off, that will help in the presentation. I think the thorough cleaning you paid for wasn't super recent, so you can give the whole bike a good polish and wax after you take care of the hints of rust and old grease/adhesive here and there.

Slybry

your current stem is a cinelli R1 model, so you could always look for one on ebay to salvage the binder bolt from, Vintage Cinelli 1R Stem 100mm with Aluminum Quill Bolt minus wedge

otherwise a very cool bike and hope that helps.

dstark55

Yoooo!! You are awesome!! Thank you!

johndf

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Any help identifying the maker of this frame?

CountMeOut

You really should make your own post and not derail someone else's.