cycleman4

On the advice of some members in the C&V forum I am posting here. I have a Tommasini Diamante I inherited from my dad and not sure what to do with it. I think it is from the early 90's but not sure. I know it has some value but not sure how much. I wont ride it so no sense in keeping it. Any info or advice on it is appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Kevindale

The decals are c/w with 1992 or later. T-Mar has said that the Diamonte was made from 1988 to the early '90s. Elsewhere I think I recall they were available to about 1992, but I'm not sure, so I think it's likely this is about a 1992 or 1993 model. It looks to be in good condition, though the photos are too small to be sure. I see Dura-Ace brifters. I recommend putting higher res photos in a Flickr or Imgur account, and linking here. Take a good photo of the entire bike from the drive side (side with the chain), as well as close ups of the cranks/front derailleur and rear derailleur, the wheel hubs, and whatever labels are on the rims, and the seatpost/seat lug. The condition and quality of the components has a lot to do with the value. Also highlight any areas with damaged paint/decals, dents, rust.

There's a Diamonte in the sold listings on eBay that apparently sold for $1000 recently (also with Dura Ace). Yours is a little on the small size, which might hold the value down a bit. I recommend taking the TT bars off for the new photos. What market are you in. Craigslist might be a viable option if you're in a reasonable market.

gioscinelli 

Need better photos and size to offer an evaluation!

cycleman4

I will take better pictures. Will the size of the frame be printed somewhere on it?

cycleman4

Here is a link to hopefully better pictures.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-bT4dq2h-L.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-xghFPvv-L.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-8R6ChRb-L.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-MgFsPHB-L.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-3NtHxs3-L.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-9TRVc6s-L.jpg

jiangshi

No. Measure from center of bottom bracket to top of top tube, along the seat tube. Tommasini measured c-t, as opposed to center-center.
https://www.google.com/search?q=meas...w=1478&bih=879

Kevindale

Those photos are much better. Go to eBay and search on 'De Rosa', 'Colnago', and 'Tommasini' in the cycling section. You'll see some good examples of the kinds of photos buyers will be looking for. Photos should not only show all the bike components, but also the lugs, areas that might have wear (like both brifters, which are prone to being scraped in minor falls), tubing decals, and so on. Before you take more photos, I recommend removing the TT bars (they should just unbolt), dust and wipe the whole bike clean, pump up the tires, and replace the bar tape with new tape (you might keep it simple and just get some inexpensive black bar tape).

It looks like it's a full Dura Ace 7400 group set. You can find date codes on some of those components. They use the Shimano code system of two letters, and I'm guessing you'll see some 'P's and 'Q's. Look on the inside of the cranks, the back side of the front derailleur cage, and so on. Google this to see examples. That will help pin down the vintage.

Let us know your general location if you're selling locally - that dramatically affects sales price. This bike would be lucky to get $600 in some markets (like mine), while it might go for $1000-1250 in strong markets. Some areas are good for Craigslist sales, some terrible. Those are my guesses, and I'm far from one of the valuation experts here, so hopefully you'll get more input. If you do eBay, are you willing to pack and ship? If not, you'll need to pass that cost along to the buyer, which means they may not be willing to pay as much for the bike itself. Bikeflights tends to ship for about $50 once a bike is packed. Bike shops will charge to partially disassemble and pack it for shipping. This looks like about a 54cm frame, depending on how it's measured. I'm guessing your father was a little shorter than average.

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Sometimes the best price is to sell the frame and fork by itself, the Dura Ace group, and the wheels separate. That's a lot more work for you, however.

Spaghetti Legs 

I think someone would be very lucky to get that bike for $600 in any market. If you make a list of steel bike manufacturers, Tommasini is going to be one of those near the top for quality, reputation and desirability. I think Diamanté might have been their flagship frame around 1990. The vintage bike market seems to be soft right now, but if any bike is going to command a good price it would be a Tommasini or a De Rosa.

2 issues I see on yours in the pics provided - there looks to be a frozen link on the chain, and the big chain ring looks worn. You will want to advertise it with pics of all the parts, a pic of the Columbus sticker (with the dove), and with measurements of the top tube and seat tube. Unless you live in a big city, you will get a better price on eBay - remembering that they will take 10% of the final value.

If you're not good with packing and shipping, find a decent local bike shop and ask how much they will charge to pack up the bike (they can also tell you what size it is). I would put it on eBay and ask $950 - 1000 for it + shipping and let it stay there for a month or so.

Another option is sell frame fork and headset for about $500, wheels for about $100-150, rest of the parts for about $200. Cool bike, good luck!

Kevindale

I totally agree with this. $600 would be a steal for someone. I was just stating the price I think it would have to be set at to sell in my neck of the woods on CL. And I'd probably be the one picking it up, even though it's not close to my size! There are a lot of CL markets where valuable vintage bikes just don't move if they're appropriately priced.

One thing I'd be leery of is looking at asking prices. I do national searches every so often for Tommasinis on CL, and also check eBay, and I regularly see vintage Tommasinis priced at $2000-3000 that sit and sit. This is a very high quality bike, but the market for older quality steel bikes that aren't ultra rare isn't that big, I fear.

T-Mar

Another potential issue for buyers, other than the stiff link and worn chainrings, is the presence of 8 speed brifters with only 7 cogs. Consequently, it is not going to shift cleanly across the entire range. On top of that, it appears to be a far less desirable UG freewheel, as opposed to an HG cassette.

The mixed drivetrain suggests it has been upgraded. As a result, there will probably be a fair range of component date codes to complicate the age determination. Also, I suspect it was built from a frameset. A Tommasini has a very high probability of a custom build.

Regarding the logo style, this is what was used on the 1988 Diamante or at least one version of it. The paint scheme is called Colonia. The Diamante was offered in red and blue versions of Colonia in 1990, via Colorado Cyclist. Colonia was not offered in 1991. Unfortunately, I don't have any literature showing all the variations for 1988 & 1989. I'm wondering if the serial number may provide some more clues? I can't get a good view from the picture but it is certainly the longest Tommasini format I've seen and it looks like it may include an MS as the tubeset identifier. Speaking of which, it looks like it has two different Columbus decals, the standard MS decal on the seat tube and another on the down tube?

Regarding price, I'd say $750-$1000 domestically. However, if this were my bicycle, to maximize profit, I'd consider removing the components and selling it on Ebay with worldwide shipping. This will open up the market to Asian buyers who are a big market for smaller, vintage, Italian frames but tend to favour Campagnolo groups.

Kevindale

A lot of good catches there regarding details on the components. Regarding the logo style, I've never seen the 'sideways' downtube decal before around 1992. Did you see this in a magazine ad for 1988?

Here's the Diamante from what I believe is the 1992 catalog, which as best I can tell shows the 1991 decal scheme. Next are two photos Rory Mason took on a visit to Tommasini in early 1992. His photos from that trip show almost all of the frames with the new sideways seattube decal. Also, it seems from those photos that there were a lot more paint schemes available than were shown in the catalog.

Kevindale

@cycleman4, what is the serial number stamped under the BB? I see a digit or two, then "US119" I believe. To the extent I've been able to discern a pattern, the leading "1" might indicate a 1991 frame build. I wonder if the leading digit or digits are a paint code. On the Tommasini serial numbers I've seen that are 5-7 digits, there are usually 1-2 that seem to be paint codes.

cycleman4

WOW! That's a lot of info to digest. I thought it was probably from 1990-92. I may try to sell it as is and if it does not sell then go the frame set route. Thanks for all the info and advice. I did measure the frame as suggested and it was about 20.5 in.

T-Mar

Actually, it was a 1988 road test. I wasn't referring to the orientation but the lack of banding on either side of the name.

TakingMyTime

Please take the Aero Bars off of it.

iawolfeman

Serial number

malcala622

@iawolfeman This section is for value and appraisals only. You gotta be patient and wait for replies in your other posts inquiring about your Tommasini.

Bringing up a 2 year old thread isn't any help to the section.