Poguemahone

I picked one of these up today. No pics yet, but they're coming on the morrow. Beautiful frame, campy drops/ends, full Campy NR with pantoed chainring. Excellent attention to detail, particularly in the brazing.

Never heard of them. Nothing on CR. There's an Italian sculptor of the same name, does site-specific stuff. An astrophysicist, who appears to be based in Catania, the same town the bike appears to be from. Also an Italian pop star by that name, but he would have had to brazing in the womb, because the bike dates to 1978 by the campy codes.

Seriously neat bike. Anyone know a thing?

AZORCH

Nada, but I'd love to see pix! Sounds great!

Poguemahone

In a moment of internet gutsiness, I emailed the astrophysicist. He's based in Catania, which is the city the bike looks to be from. If he isn't the builder, perhaps he knows something... who knows, may not even get a reply. Or a may get an interesting explanation. Since I don't know Italian, I wrote in anglais. He appears to be very well published...

lotek 

best bet for someone here would be Citoyen du Monde, he knows more about
obscure Italian builders than most of know about well known ones.

Shimagnolo

When I saw the name, something made me think he might have gone into the Witness Protection Program.

Poguemahone

I don't even know that much about the well known ones, and I own a Masi, a Viner, and a Somec. I think this bike is put together better than any of them, I do know that much. The paint is even still half-decent.

I'll PM Citoyen in the next day or so if he doesn't pop up on this thread. I aim to to take fairly comprehensive photos tomorrow afternoon-- the bike is dirty, and will be in the photos. Then I will slowly start cleaning it up.

What info I find will go on this thread.

Otis

Yes, in the list of variables above the OP did not mention the "crime family".

Poguemahone

First set of pictures.



This is the bike as found. No tires, and the rims are obvious replacements. I think everything else is original to the bike.



Headtube junctions. You can see the builder's name on the top tube. The lugs are very neatly done, an exceptionally clean braze job.



Looking down at the fork crown. Overall, the bike is very good if dirty shape; you can see the chrome has not fared as well as the paint. I'd call the lug windows extended hearts. Bike is gold colour; the fill on the lug windows is blue.



Interesting seat stay arrangement/design. Certainly unlike anything else I have or recall seeing. Probably some similar seatstay treatments on something, I dunno what.



Name "decals" are actually stencils on Seat and Down tubes. The banded colour decals are actuall decals; "Bonanno" atop and "Catania" at bottom.

Poguemahone

More:



Better shot of banded decals and shifter area.



Inside of fork crown.



Serial number, located on bottom bracket shell, non-drive side.



Crank and chainring.



Rear mech and d/o threatment. Again, remarkably clean braze job.



Bike from front.



Bike from back.

yellowjeep

WOW. The thinning on the head tub junctions are gorgeous.

AZORCH

Man, I've totally never head of this builder - but boy, is it ever cool! Get 'er cleaned up and on the road; post more pix and give us a ride report!

Poguemahone

I spent a few minutes today comparing the build quality on the Bonanno and my Viner, which is roughly from the same period. The Viner is very nicely built (make that really nicely built, superior to Colnagos I've seen from the period*), but in every external regard, the Bonanno is superior. The photos do not do the build quality justice. The only real problem is the chrome.

Alas, the bike is not quite my size. It's a 58 CtC seat tube, with a 56 CtC top tube. I'm usually on a 62/58. I'm not certain what I am going to do with the bike. It's becoming fairly obvious I am not going to find another one, ever. I don't feel right parting or stripping this one somehow. I can find no mention of this builder anywhere, but I find it extremely hard to believe this is the only frame he ever built-- the build quality is simply too high to be a one off. Hard to believe there seems to be no mention of this guy anywhere.

I dunno. Assistant to some more famed builder? Sicily is not a hotbed of Italian frame building, if memory serves. Local playground legend who dunked on the pros, maybe?

I'm tempted to join CR to see if any of them know anything, but I suspect many of them are us as well already.




*just to pick an entirely random Italian framebuilder.

unworthy1

Well it's very impressive, but he had to be Somebody to use those world champ stripes, and you're right, there are very few frame-builders anywhere in Southern Italy. The only one I've heard of is the "other De Rosa", who I think is Calabrian (but you folks who own one can correct me). I think you should dunk it in oxalic acid and keep everything original.
Edit: In case anybody's tracking this trivia,
"De Rosa bikes that are made in Pozzuoli (NA). The Fabbrica Biciclette De Rosa was founded in 1940 by Raffaele De Rosa." Pozzuoli is in Naples which is Campania, not Calabria. Angel Garcia says there's one other known builder down there, Luigi Greco. I think a quality builder (like this Bonanno obviously is) must be even more rare in Sicily.

KonAaron Snake 

Love the panto on the chain ring...very cool bike, feels Masi'esque.

seypat

Well it's a stretch. But the Australian singer's father was from Catania and maybe he was this guy. And maybe he was a bike builder some time in his life.

https://austcemindex.com/inscription.php?id=7407748
If you do the name search on that site, this guy's father is also named Alfio.

The time frame works and there is a resemblance between the two.
https://www.alfiomusic.com/alfio

Picchio Special

Of course, there were many smaller builders throughout Italy, some of whom did very nice work and never became known outside of a relatively small radius surrounding their shops. The better-known ones tend to be in the more industrial north of Italy, where availability of materials, higher general incomes, easier exchange of ideas, proximity to the rest of Europe, etc., contributed to some clusters of high-quality builders typical of Italian production, which often revolves around regional zones.
Of course, maybe Bonanno was more widely known than we realize, but the research thus far doesn't seem to bear that out. In any case, it appears to be a very nice, handmade Italian racing bike. I recently bought a no-name example because of the overall workmanship and character, and that bike has plenty of character as well, IMO. Thanks for sharing it. Makes me anxious to receive mine, which is on its way from Italy now ...

seypat

No info yet? The suspense is killing me!

Pogue, did you pick it up in the local area? There must be a great story behind it. Sweet looking bike. Talk about finding a "grail!"

Poguemahone

Here's the headbadge decal, which is certainly quite cool with the elephant and all. Perhaps an Alps reference, Hannibal and all? Certainly not a GOP reference...

We seem to be drawing quite a blank, although most all of the responses to this thread have been well reasoned. I thank the lot of you, and hope we somehow find more info. At this point, "Alfio Bonanno" seems like a relatively common name in the Catania area, but who knows. If the astrophysicist doesn't reply, I'm trying the sculptor and pop musician.

It's pretty rare to find anything, especially something this well made that draws a blank on both the internet and this board.

Any suggestions on how to phrase email headers so it won't look like spam? Anyone speak and write Italian?

Poguemahone

Yes, it was a local pick up. How the heck it got to RVA I have no idea. A local couple was moving, had this bike, had two Cannondales, wanted to keep the C-dales as this old thing wasn't as good... Eventually, the bike filtered to me. My network of contacts pays off once again. I paid a bit for it, probably close to the value of the Campy parts. Maybe a bit less. The frame is a freebie, in my mind.

I don't think of this as a grail bike. In order for it to be a grail bike, you must first know it exists. For instance, a Tom Kellogg built Ross is my idea of a grail bike just now.

But it sure is cool. It's the most surprising find I've had since finding the CID/Eisentraut at fan thrift.

Picchio Special

So a Tom Kellogg built Kellogg wouldn't do it for you?

KonAaron Snake 

You're rubbing it in

I should have bid more.

Poguemahone

Yeah, maybe on the bid. I thought your bid was about right IIRC, so I was as wrong as you.

But I'm not rubbing it in, the Ross is a grail for me. Has been since before we saw the tiny one you bid on. Of course since I'm looking for it, I won't find it. Instead, I find bikes like the Bonanno. I really am not going to complain.

I'd like one, but I'd rather have the Ross one. A Spectrum titanium would be good as well, passed on one on the bay recent like, though...

unworthy1

the elephant is a Catania reference: it's on the city coat of arms: look up u Liotru in your reference of choice.

seypat

I used "grail" because that is what it has proved to be so far. Extremely rare and elusive. That might change, however.

KonAaron Snake 

The cool thing about the Kellogg built Ross bikes is that they were actually built by Kellogg. I have a friend with a Spectrum ti that I might be trading for...my Look fits him better and I hate SRAM.