ddeand 

I ran across this bike today, and it sorta intrigued me. Looks to be from the 1970s, but the components are a real mish-mash. Decals and head badge say A. Camera - Verona, and there are some Campy parts, Superbe parts, Phil Woods hubs - lots of variety. Front dropouts are unmarked, and there is no indication of tube type. Anybody ever heard of this brand?

rustystrings61 

The only place I ever saw these new and for sale was The Blue Wheel, a bike shop in Charlottesville, Virginia. The ones I remember had Gnutti high-flange hubs with Q/R, Campagnolo Velox derailleur ensemble, alloy bars and stem, Ballila centerpulls. I think the saddles were some sort of Unica Nitor knock-off, but we're talking about memories c.1974-76. In hindsight, I suspect they're of better than average quality, just for having the forged ends. Maybe Falck tubing or something similar? What's the seatpost diameter?

The Blue Wheel still exists, but I don't know if they can tell you anything about them. There are threads here and in the appraisal forum about Ghisallo bikes, which are very similar, perhaps even by the same builder. I strongly suspect they only came into the country during the great Bike Boom, when distributors scoured the European countryside looking for any kind of 10-speed to sell in the U.S.

BillHarb

I spent many hours assembling these at the Blue Wheel, from around 1972 to 76. The owner, Bill Gray, bought them from Italy in containers with the owner of Tumbleweed Cyclery in Chapel Hill (actually Carrboro at the time). Tumbleweed was owned by Pete ?. He was married to a lovely Italian woman, the rumor was her father owned the factory.

The ones we sold were pretty basic - some sort of soft metallic paint and iffy brazing. Pretty sure they were seamed tubes. Price was $125 if I remember right. They were made in Vicenza or Verona - and I saw one on the street in Verona around 2008, in rough shape but being ridden. I think the Ghisallo had 3 piece hubs and steel bars, and was cheaper. $116?

Assembly took a long time. They came with everything except pedals attached to the frame, but nothing adjusted or tightened. They came with Valentino derailleurs and a close-ratio Regina freewheel. We usually replaced these with a Velox and a 14-28 Regina. No spoke protector unless the customer insisted, even after we mocked them. We also tossed the Balilla "pencil eraser" brake blocks and put in Weinmanns. We reused the holders even though the sizes were different, just crimped them in the vise. We also had to true the wheels, straighten the chainrings, and adjust the gears, to the extent those old campy's could be adjusted. If I forgot to use the VAR cotter pin press the customer would be back in a week to ask why the cranks were flopping around, and then I'd have to file new cotter pins because we couldn't buy ones that fit. The seat was a nylon "Freccia D'Oro" or as Seth W called it, "The Arrow of Pain". The seat clamp was impossible to adjust.

When the students came back to UVa in the fall we'd sell a hundred or so of these in a month. I'd work til 10PM after middle school, and all day weekends putting them together, for $2.50 or so an hour plus sew-ups at wholesale.

Thanks for the memories!

SJX426 

@BillHarb - Got one of these on the Bottecchia acquisition. 1971ish Bottechi Giro d'Itallia.
P1020428 on Flickr

SJX426 

P1020428 on Flickr

rustystrings61 

Tumbleweed! I remember them! I don't remember what I bought at their shop, but I DO remember they had the first vintage rod-brake 28-in wheel Raleigh I had ever seen. They were in a funky old house converted to a bike shop, like Dixon's in Athens was for many years, and I vaguely remember the floors looking a little dodgy - but this would have been c. June 1976.

What I remember of The Blue Wheel was that the concrete stairs were very worn, like it was a very old building. They were almost as worn as the stairs down from the street to the Rathskeller in Chapel Hill.

The Frecchia d'Oro came stock on a lot of Gitanes, too. I had a similar saddle on my first 10-speed, a West German "Brownie" that was probably built by Kalkhoff, and it was everything you would expect of a bike bought from Franklin's Five and Dime for $50 new in the box, unassembled ... a true a$$-hatchet!