mystery frame worth saving?
 

I went to pick up some Dura ace parts for my steel track bike yesterday and found this frame from this guy's shed. It was very light when I pick it up and the lugs are quite nice, I was hopping to ID this frame see if it's worth saving.
The rear drop out spacing is 120mm, there are some letters on one of the rear drop out but it's hardly visible, I've put it on a piece of paper and attached below. It came with some broken bits from the shimano 600 arabesque groupset probably from the late 70s or early 80s. No serial number under BB or seattube, I can get more measurement later like bb width etc..
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a45db3e8fa.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...51fc42d729.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...95ffd1e7c7.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f944946f10.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c7651561d.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...109dce76a2.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d2434c21d7.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ebe0025aa5.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bf1f83773a.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3e6e32022d.jpg

Dropout made by Gipiemme. Available to any frame builder but used predominately by Italian companies.
Brent

we really wanted to see the bottom of the bottom

Nice frame likely worth saving if it's strait the seat post clamp does look a bit out of round in the pics which can likely be corrected.. As said it does look to have mostly Gipiemme frame bits nicely done so likely and no shifter or bottle braze on's with over the BB cable guides would indicate late 700's which would match with the early 600 bits. It does look a lot like some late 70's Mexican Benntto's or Windsor Ace-Mex stuff I have seen.

Definitely worth saving in my opinion. As far as what it is, I'd lean towards Italian, possibly a small builder. How it ended up where it did, looking like it does is the real mystery to me!

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see no combination of clues to suggest an origin in France, Italy, or any anglophone land

suspect a low countries origin

one simple check which has yet to be made is to determine steerer and bottom bracket thread as well as tubing diameters

do not be surprised to discover frame constructed of Ishiwata 022

look forward to reading the observations of our low countries experts:

Munny non-fixie JaccoW LucasHartong


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Is it a GIPIEMME frameset? That's what the writing in the image looks like to me.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...711211ebb3.jpg

Cheers

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GIPIEMME is a brand name for fittings, not cycles.

In this case they are the manufacturer of the frame's ends set.

​​​​​​Gipiemme / GPM


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That is a nice-looking frame. Certainly worth saving in my book. The way the top eyes are finished makes me think it's better than average. What seat post size does it take?

Agree with @juvela that it could well be Belgian. This style was certainly popular around 1980 with Belgian manufacturers.

I'd be tempted to get out my credit card. And use it to carefully scrape off some of that paint and see what clues it might be hiding.

IMO, the question is not whether it is worth saving, its whether it is worth saving by you? Do you have the time/tools/aptitude/work space/pile of parts? If so, by all means go for it! If not, buying parts one at a time, or paying a shop to do the work, can make this project uneconomical cost wise.

+1 a frame up rebuild including cleaning off the rattle can paint and repainting by hand can be done with nice results. But if your not experienced and don't have a tone of parts and tools in your stock pile it can get very expensive and time consuming figure several hundred for a first time build maybe a bit more with paint work.