WGB 

My youngest son turned 21 last week and he's been riding my old Raleigh GP and I thought he needed an upgrade. I'd tried to upgrade him to a drop bar bike before but he was trained on a flat bar mountain bike and so to him that's natural. I saw this Fiore Modena and since it's in quite good shape I grabbed it for $100 Canadian - about $80 USD. Thought I'd post it as these are not high end bike and get passed over and are usually seen in a far more abused state, this one is in quite good shape for an '80's bike . Also, @T-Mar will want the serial number.

Serial number of S1742384. Hope it's correct as the serial number is hard to read.

Seller was a very old Italian Canadian who told me he had bought it for his son when he was younger and solemnly pointed out the Italian flag on the frame as a selling feature. There is a wide spread (and very wrong) belief that Fiori and Miele bikes were made in Italy. He explained that his son had left it stored upside down in the basement for "I don't know, 30 years?". When he handed me the original drop bars I could see the levers had rubbed through the hoods or alternatively that the bike had been pushed on a rough floor which abraded the hoods. "Recently" his son had installed flat bars and flat bar brake levers and larger tires but had given up as the bike was "unrideable", hence the cheap price. I couldn't take a test ride as the tires were 700 x 38mm and were so fat they they bulged up onto the bottom of the steerer tube. Luckily they hadn't been left inflated and the seller had re-inflated them before I arrived. I deflated the tires before leaving as I thought they'd blow up. I wish I'd photo'd it to have before and after shots.

I had very little work to do to clean it up. For now it still wears the flat bars, and the drop bars and levers will sit in a shelf until my son changes his mind and wants them mounted. I'll need to buy new hoods. Tires are now a more realistic 700 x 28mm. It was a bit shinier a few days back but it has been ridden since then. Pedals are rusty because I only had a single set of cheap flats. I'll find a better pair.



Needs a dust cap

Headbadge shot

garryg

Pretty decent bike ,looks to be in decent shape.

T-Mar

This Fiori is almost certainly Asian given what appears to be an Ishiwata EX/EXO tubing decal. I don't know how to interpret that serial number but the bicycle should be very late 1980s, either 1988 or 1989. I have the 1987 literature and they mention the Modena getting the SIS upgrade but it's still using Dia-Compe brakes. Those lower end SLR calipers didn't debut until the 1988 model year and Light Action had disappeared by 1990. The 1987 was spec'd with 700 x 28C tyres, so I imagine you should be able to go at least that large and possibly slightly fatter.

Sorry that I missed the party (not that I was invited). I hope things went well. Maybe next year.

oneclick 

None of the Modena's I've seen had a chrome fork.

I'd be having a good look at the top- and down-tubes behind the head lugs.

smd4

Except for the bars and tires, a very nice looking bike. Love the "Shimano SIS" decal on the chainstay.

WGB 

@oneclick no issues with the tubes. No sign of any damage. Having said that my Peugeot Competition had a bent fork and when the local frame builder (Jody Lee) straightened it he rechecked it as I had for any frame damage and there was none. I should say that I have seen a couple of Fiori bikes (I thought they were all Modenas but logically not) and some had chromed forks.

@T-Mar. Sorry we didn't meet again. I was going to just bike down to Port Dalhousie but first my rear axle snapped on my Bianchi and by the time I walked home pushing it I'd pinched a nerve in my back and now I can hardly walk. Try again next year!

ClydeClydeson

Fiori was a brand that was, I think, invented by Norco and named to make people think of Italian bikes. All Fioris, AFAIK, were made in Taiwan. Ironically, any post-mid 80s bike from Taiwan is likely as good or better quality than the vast majority of bikes that were actually made in Italy (in my opinion).
I think 'Made in Italy' was pushed as a selling feature long after the 'lower cost' bikes from Japan were obviously superior to almost all Italian made bikes. Japanese production became too expensive to compete with low-cost

Another brand which is often mistaken for Italian is Miele, which were never made in Italy but were, at first anyways, made by an Italian-born Canadian named Jim Miele. Miele bikes were made in Canada for most of its run, even after the brand was bought by Procycle in Quebec.

alcjphil

Those brake levers are designed for linear pull brakes. I have a Limongi that had been converted to a flat bar in the same way. Braking was awful so I converted it back to drop bar with drop bar levers

T-Mar

Back in the 1980s, there were about a dozen Canadian bicycle brands that took advantage of the reputation of Italian bicycles by offering Italian styled or influenced bicycles, with Italian sounding names. In some cases there was legitimate Italian heritage but in other cases it was soley marketing ploy.

In the case of Miele, even when the brand was still owned by Jim Miele's company, many of the bicycles were contract manufactured, in both Italy and Japan. Similarly, the Norco owned Fiori brand bicycles were not restricted to manufacture in one country. Besides Taiwan, I've owned a Japanese manufactured Fiori and one of the top models appears to be of non-Asian origin, though I haven't had the opportunity to examine one in person.

Hummer

It is not just T-Mar that likes the serial numbers, I like them too.

Based on my observation of Norco and Fiori serial numbers I would suggest that the serial number is SI742384. The digit "1" is probably an "I".

If so the date of frame manufacture is I=Septermber and 7= 1987.

I would suggest that this is a 1988 model year. The 1987 model year had a different decal layout.

I have seen another Modena with a similar serial number. The one I saw had a black fork, not chrome.