retyred

I bought this bike years ago with the intention to restore it. Never got around to it and finally decided to pass it on. Upon closer inspection it appears to have been rebadged (?)

This bike lacks two distinctive details that every Allegro of this time period should have: the small tag with serial number brazed to the seat tube and wrap around seat stays. The serial number and what I believe to be month and year of manufacture are stamped into BB shell.

Frame has been repainted and some components have been changed. (rear derailleur, fork, and stem) Campy hubs are 'No Record' with CAM 60 lock nuts. BB shell is 68mm. Stronglight 57 crankset. Mafac 'Dural Forge' brakes. Campy 25.0 shimmed seat post.

One more bit of info. Allegro head badge, when compared to those on my other Allegros has the exact same rivets used as fasteners.

Last bit of info: a genuine Allegro from 1961 would have a serial number beginning around 167... and consisting of six digits.

So what do I have here?

cudak888 

What's the BB threading?

Is there anything to indicate that the sleeve in the seattube isn't the remains of a stuck post that's been opened up just enough to accommodate a 25.0 post?

-Kurt

juvela

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another Allegro feature one would expect on a cycle such as this at this time is the Georg Fischer sandcast bottom bracket shell with the prominent lip on the drive side

cannot recall seeing another Allegro of this calibre and era which exhibited this seat stay treatment

since it has been the recipient of a respray it is possible that the serial ingot has been removed from the side of the seat tube. have noticed this is a frequent thing on examples which have received a respray. assume it to be done due to someone knowing or suspecting cycle to be thermally aggrandised...

it appears to be fitted with mostly original kitting which provides a helpful date bracketing

shall look forward to reading what our Allegro experts have to communicate...



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cudak888 

Or the lack of the serial plate brazed on the left side of the seattube.

Wonder if the OP has a shot of the headtube. Would like to see how the Allegro badge is fitted.

-Kurt

merziac

I would have expected the HB to be the first pic of the thread.

Especially with that title.

retyred

Requested pictures

Am hoping that stampings on BB will jog a memory out there. Have had many vintage road bikes of this era pass thru my possession but cannot recall the BB stampings.

Shim in seatpost occurs in 3-4 of my other Allegros, most likely a factory install.

Not ready to deal with BB threading as this relic spent many years on a boat dock on Balboa Island, ca.

merziac

Huh, Tx, the plot sickens, looks pretty original from here but with chrome underneath and the paint falling off, who knows.

We have seen plenty of rebadgings and plenty else so......

juvela

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for those of us who be yanks there is something t' would be well to keep in mind -

a) there be what was produced in Neuchatel

b) there be what was selected of that by U.S. importers/distributors to import

c) we do not know how close be the correspondence between a) & b)

d) would be wise to assume correspondence of somewhat less than 100%



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merziac

In other words?

retyred

Am thinking this once noble steed is either French or Swiss . My reasoning? Stronglight 57 crankset only available in French / Swiss threading.

Am too lazy post Thanksgiving to pursue research on my statement.

Did my research... Stronglight BB cups available in English and Italian also

Sactown_Albert 

My suspicion is that it is an Allegro Super Luxe or same era (1960s) with a replaced fork. The main body matches the appearance of the Super Luxe but the fork does not.

Those Allegro bikes did not have the serial number “lozenge” or wraparound seatstays that later was commonly used with Allegros. Take a look at swissbicycles.com for some images.

Sactown_Albert 

The lozenge serial number came later.

The fork design was like this in the 60s, too.

retyred

Once owned a Super Luxe model. It was lozenge equipped, serial number 167960

juvela

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we do not know what we do not know


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unworthy1

could be (a Super Luxe from '60s) and that's a new model Allegro for me, have only seen the examples with full-wrap-over stays and GF sandcast BB shells.

But the fork sure seems to be not correct,

The one pic of a somewhat similar model from the swissbicycles website is from drive side so no view of where a serial number "lozenge" would be, but the stay cap looks more or less the same, and it has Nervex Pro lugs, no idea what BB shell, never seen one with "peened/dimpled" chainstay sockets like the OP's has!
BTW the OP's shell looks like it has the "spec numbers" typical of a Nervex BB shell, can anyone confirm it?

Here's a borrowed pic from the website

merziac

So true.

repechage

at least it was not submerged as a mooring anchor. Rust does look scary under the chrome. I am not sure what it is. The headbadge does not look square...

merziac

And exactly what I was eluding to above, never say never.

If I've learned anything here, its that anything is possible and this one as well as the repainted Frejus in the other thread could very well be exactly what they appear to be.

juvela

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me comment a reference to the situation that in the U.S. we see nearly only the Special model of the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies

so it is natural that folks extrapolate from that experience

but there are sure to be other models out there...

group eventually got all well sorted


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Mr. 66

The details looks a lot like the Mondia I have

JoeBass

Mondia did purchase Allegro. Maybe they shipped some former Mondia models as Allegros?

bikingshearer 

I didn't know that.

merziac

I didn't know that I did not know that.

Feldman

I will guess older like late 1940's frame with some parts updates along the way like the Stronglight 57 cranks.

retyred

First, a big thanks to to everyone who contributed to my Allegro thread. In the end it was the combined input from BF members which helped identify my salty survivor.

Sactown Albert was spot on with his Super Luxe call out.

Here are my final conclusions plus a few speculations.


1) Bike is a 1961 Allegro Super Luxe.



2) All brazed on fittings were removed prior to repaint, including lozenge with serial number.


3) Majority of components are not original and are upgrades to the Super Luxe model.


4) Fork is a replacement.


5) Numbers stamped into BB most likely done by a licensing authority. They are not the Allegro's serial number.


6) Most importantly this rust magnet probably transported lots of beer and broads on Balboa Island.