alexander55

I posted a few pictures of this bike a couple years back trying to find information about it. I cannot find that previous thread. The bike is now in my possession and I am trying to learn more about it and eventually determine it's value. It will be sold to benefit an organization called Handlebars of Hope. Any thoughts or information about the year it was made, the bikes originals, value...literally ANY information will be appreciated. THANKS.

trailangel

How about a pic of the whole bike... drive side

katsup

Here is your previous thread
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ntinental.html

No whole bike photo there either.

bikemig 

Agreed about a full drive side shot.

This is such a cool Italian bike. Someone like @juvela will come along shortly who can give you more detail but there were a lot of smaller manufacturers and bike shops that sold bikes under their own label so there may not be a lot of info on this particular make.

Is there a tubing sticker? Even lower end Italian bikes had really nice chrome and paint and nice parts (this bike has universal brakes, campy derailleurs). I like the cottered crank. It looks as if the shifters have been changed.

I've never seen Michelin hubs but there is some great info on them here,

ttps://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/446386-did-michelin-make-hubs-many-photos.html

This company later became Miche and Ciclo Piave; the latter was a regional builder.

As to value, the bike is worth more on eBay than the local CL but then you have to deal with eBay which is an added expense and can be a pain. I don't live too far from Kansas City (Des Moines) and I know the local midwest market pretty well.

I reckon this bike is worth right around $300-$350 in a local sale and should be worth more in a national sale. I'm assuming in this valuation that the frame tubing is something lower end (perhaps Falck) in spite of the forged drop outs.

T-Mar

I'm not sure if they are a proprietary or standard pattern but those head lugs were common on 1960s ad boom era Torpado bicycles. Consequently, my prime candidate would be a Torresini product, either a contract manufactured marketing brand or a secondary Torresini brand.

The Nuovo Record rear derailleur seems out of place, as are the shift levers. However, the Valentino front derailleur appears OEM and would place it very late 1960s to boom era. The presence of a rear dropout with derailleur hanger, in conjunction with the apparent era, suggests the frame is at least mid-range. The Universal brakeset goes back tot the very early 1950s but was available though the 1970s and a common spec on Italian Condorino style bicycles such as this.

The serial number may aid in identifying the source, while the seat post diameter may aid in determining the grade of the frame tubing.

alexander55

Thanks for the useful thoughts and information. Can't believe I forgot a full bike photo. Duh. Here it is.

efrain

beautiful bike

bikemig 

It's a cool bike. Does it have a tubing sticker?

juvela

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Frame -

lugset Agrati "BRIANZA" pattern nr. 000.8030/U

crown Agrati "ROMA" pattern nr. 005.8028

dropouts and fork ends Agrati nr. 000.8010

shell Agrati nr. 000.8507

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Headset OFMEGA

chainset likely OMG

pedals appear they may be Union 40U

stem/bar set likely Varese. other possibilities Italmanubri (ITM) & Schierano.

mudguards and chainguard may be from Mazzzucchelli.

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date -

likely early '70's

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me earlier post on the machine here -

https://www.bikeforums.net/19610099-post7.html

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alexander55

Thanks for the great detail and reminder of the link.
Amazing knowledge. My word. You guys on here are walking encyclopedias. Thanks so much!

Any thoughts on value?

dweenk

Post #4 gave you an evaluation for a local sale, but it sounds as if it may be sold in a charity auction. My experience with charity auctions is that people are willing to pay more than they would normally consider reasonable. Good luck.

alexander55

Thanks. Was just seeing if there was another opinion or two in value. Thanks again.

juvela

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Still no progress toward an identification.

Names on transfers may have meaning for member @MauriceMoss.

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zukahn1 

Great looking bike here on the US forums we almost never see nicer 60's Italian none road bikes, utility light weights like this on a unseen so not much value info. I would guess it is in line with a mid level chrome lugged bike from a lesser maker like Bottechia or Torrisina built bike as said so $275-300 I'm going high on this one since it has such great cosmetics and appear to be true OEM bike.

MauriceMoss

I don't know if the bike here already sold or not, so this will be just a reference note.

I've never seen this specific marque before. I have seen Cicli Continental but the badge is completely different and I doubt there is a connection.




Also, the head badge above is the only image of this marque I've seen; never seen any actual bikes.


Pinning down the manufacturer of this Continental will be nearly impossible because the use of lugs you see here was so widespread on Italian da passeggio/sport/condorino/city type bikes during this time, that it really could have been made by anyone.


A couple of things that caught my eye (and I'm not making any claims or attributions here) are the fork crown and the cable stop on the chainstay. The crown, in my experience, seems to have been used by Olympia more often than other manufacturers. Again, I have no match and this is merely a gut feeling.







The head badge on this Continental is very similar to (you might even say the same as) that for a marque named Sincer. There's basically no info on this brand online either, which obviously doesn't help, but at least you will run across more examples of their bikes (there are 3 for sale on subito.it in all of Italy at the moment). Even in Italy, they tend to fall into more-less two categories: misspelled as Singer or advertised as English bikes (I guess it's the "The Cycle" bit on the badge).

I don't have a lot of clear, hi-res examples of the badge but here they are:







Luckily, a few years ago, while the Italian state archives were still searchable/accessible online, I managed to save a few bike related patent/trademark applications. One of those was for Sincer. According to this 1953 document, it was a sub-brand of Industria Cicli Carlo Galetti:





Galetti has a long history, starting in Milan and then moving to Rossano Veneto/Cittadella. I'm not sure if they made all of their own frames around the time this Continental was made. Looking at Galetti bikes online, they do vary in style/construction so it's not impossible they had some bikes made under contract (by a company like Olympia, for example). Of both Galetti and Sincer city type bikes I've seen, none had the fork crown that the Continental has though. The Continental also seems of a little higher quality, too.


Of course, the badge on our mystery bike could have been a Sincer knockoff done by a company other than Galetti (it's not like that kind of thing was unheard of back in the day), but I would be more inclined to think that The Cycle Continental was another Galetti sub-brand, perhaps designed for export?


Galetti are still in business although but, I wouldn't expect to get much info on frames from decades ago, unfortunately.



BTW, the whole time I kept typing 'the Continental', I kept thinking Champagne...

juvela

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