D1andonlyDman

The other day, I acquired this DeRosa which had been listed on ebay from a local seller, but did not sell. The frame is in extremely nice condition, but the model is a bit of a mystery, however, and the components are a mixture of various Campagnolo families from the early-mid '90s with 9-speed index shifting. Based upon the decals and details, and the fact that it was 130mm rear-spaced, the frame appears to be a late 1980s or early 1990s lower-end DeRosa model built from Columbus SL tubing. I'm pretty sure that the mixed bag of component families, and the uncertainty over the model is the only reason I was able to get this bike for as low a price as I did, given it's very nice condition. After the bike did not sell for it's starting price of $700 plus a shipping fee in the U.S. of $125, I was able to get the bike directly for a negotiated price of $650, as it was based about 20 miles from where I live, after checking it out and riding it - it's feels wonderful, BTW, and fits me perfectly. But I'm very curious to get more information about what model DeRosa it may be.

The only changes I'm planning on making is to swap out the cassette, which is an 11-23, which seems rather silly for use on a 53-39 crank, with a for me much more useful 13-26, and to replace the tires, which are extremely narrow 700x20 Michelin Axials, with either 700-23 or 700-25 rubber.

De Rosa 55 cm Vintage Italian Steel Campagnolo Beautiful Condition | eBay

D1andonlyDman

I should add that the wheels are Campagnolo Moskva 80 rims 32h, which are a low profile aero rim (I've heard just a re-branding of Omega Vs), laced to some Campy hub that I can't tell which it is, but they do have a lubricating port and cover - perhaps they are Record EXA or Chorus?

Also, one other trivial mod planned - the bike can use an additional roll of bar tape.

clubman 

Pretty bike. Can't help you with the model but 11-23/39-53 was a pretty common spec for new 8 speed campy groups. Which your's probably didn't have. Depending on the cogs you can get nicely gapped ratios. It's a go fast drivetrain.

horatio 

I'm no De Rosa expert, but I don't think SL tubing was ever used in lower-end bikes. From that era I would say SLX frames were top of the line, followed by SL. I'm sure the real experts will chime in shortly.

Nice bike, BTW. I love my Professional.

D1andonlyDman

I only meant "low end" by De Rosa standards - they didn't make anything that was actually low end. But for the timeframe in question, I'm pretty sure that De Rosa's top-end steel frames - particularly the Professional and the Primato, all used either SLX, Max, or EL tube sets. Which is why I tend to think this frame is more likely a San Remo or Super Prestige or similar, which were slightly lower cost De Rosa frames than the Professional and Primato. Along those lines, this frame doesn't have some braze-ons that the higher-end ones likely would have, such as a pump peg, a 2nd set of bottle cage mounts, and internal cable routing.

jimmm18 

Well I will chime in here. I have all the Gita catalogs from 92-97 and none are painted like yours. In addition i read somewhere that the 2nd water bottle was added to american models as the home market didn't have them. The italians didn't see the need for them. So it is either an italian market version or 1980's model. But i am no expert. Very pretty bike.

D1andonlyDman

I've dug up more information: After perusing all of the pictures on the Bikeadelic website: De Rosa Bicycles - BIKEADELIC
I found a couple of pictures of comparable De Rosa bikes with essentially the same paint patterns, decals, braze-ons, and lug detailing. What I determined is, the frame almost certainly comes from the period from 1983 to 1987, and is probably a De Rosa Professional from those years, although it may have been an un-named special variant or made to order frame from that time span. De Rosa transitioned the Professional from Columbus SL to SLX during the 1986-1987 timeframe but during those two years, was making the Professional out of both tube sets, before moving it completely over to SLX by 1988, and by 1988, the paint of the logos was different. The Campy 9-soeed index components on my bike are from the late 1990s or later. So basically, the frame set is a few years older than I thought it was, and the components are a few years younger. BTW, the Campy 50th Anniversary edition was 1983.

De Rosa Bicycles - BIKEADELIC: De Rosa Professional 1987

De Rosa Bicycles - BIKEADELIC: De Rosa Specialissima Campagnolo 50th Anniversary

De Rosa Bicycles - BIKEADELIC: De Rosa SL from the 1980`s

jet sanchEz

Nice bike, the original owner probably updated everything when he/she ran out of gear combos. I'd bet that the only thing original to that frame would be the cranks and the cockpit.

Maybe the rear is cold set to 130mm?

That looks like a ti seatpost, lucky!

D1andonlyDman

It is a titanium seat post. And given the apparent age of the frame, it was likely cold-set, but there's no visible hints of that, and the alignment is perfect. I don't even believe that the crank is original.

DMC707

Mismatched groups do not bug me much on old race bikes, --- it just means they were used, stuff broke, and was replaced or upgraded with no thoughts to future collectibility.


if it leads to a good deal for us as buyers, so much the better. If that bike was a 53 , i'd pay that much for the frameset alone if i had a chance -- so great score

As an aside, it almost makes me sad sometimes to see an old bike that looks like it was only ridden 500 miles then put away. Anybody buying a Pinarello, Colnago, DeRosa, Paramount etc etc likely had already been through a cheaper bike or 2 before going big, so it makes me wondder what happened to make them abandon the dream

KonAaron Snake 

A few things...

With the sloped crown it's on the later side of your range. Most de rosa fans prefer flat crowns and they didn't really use them that long a time. It could be a 128 rear...as well. I don't know that it's cold set. I'd guess 87-88 without being that up on the catalogs.

De Rosas didn't really have models at this point...they had track, road and that's really it. There were a few odd balls, like the aero one, but those are exceptions. Some call these stradas, some professionals...it's all the same thing. It's an SL De Rosa.

Those ti posts are very hard to find, quite valuable and really cool!

D1andonlyDman

The original owner is in his late 60s and been ordered to stop riding because he has bone density issues. He was a collector, who had maybe a dozen or so really first rate bikes - all steel - and it looks like almost NONE of them had more than a couple thousand miles on them. As De Rosa had always been a "grail" for me, that's the one of his bikes I went for. I've asked for them to send me a list of what they've got to sell, and what they're asking, so I could post it here. But there's stuff like a Raleigh Team Professional, a Cinelli, a Paramount, you get the gist. He has no familiarity with ebay, so he's using a friend of his who does to list and sell the stuff, and that's who I dealt with.

BTW, Aaron, It looks to me from my internet search that the sloped crown De Rosas predominated in the 1983-1988 timeframe, and that flat crowns dominated both before and after that. That period also coincides with the diagonal flourish pattern alongside the name in their logos. So that's pretty much the timeframe, but by late '87 to 88, they were mostly using SLX, rather than SL tubes.

KonAaron Snake 

I'd be interested in that list if he has any order stuff.

jimmm18 

And look what showed up on eBay:

https://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...337468&alt=web

Similar to yours sloping crown and all. Can't see the tubing sticker but seller says it is SL. 1983

D1andonlyDman

There's a typo in your link (an extra 7). Believe this is the one you're referring to:

De Rosa 1983 Team Sammontana Columbus SL Campagnolo Super Record Vintage Eroica | eBay

The price of that one is, I believe, knocked out of whack by all of the custom pantographed components. But it's still being put up there for at least twice what I think the market price should be.

KonAaron Snake 

Beautiful bike, but have to agree that the pricing is optimistic. God speed if he can get it, but even with the panto bits, I don't see an 80s de rosa fetching that.

gomango

Nice bike, absolutely hilarious asking price.

@op. That's a good bike!

D1andonlyDman

And I'm not too upset with having gotten essentially the same frame, in at least as nice condition, built up with much more modern components, for 1/5 that asking price.

jimmm18 

Interesting that the link was off. Just copied and pasted.

As for the price it all depends if you can find the same for less. That bike with the original components is pretty rare and the original poster got a great deal.

daf1009

Good deal on a great looking bike! Also...love to see the research into what model/year/etc...very cool thread!

D1andonlyDman

I just wanted to add that, upon careful inspection, this De Rosa was pretty clearly cold-set to it's present 130mm rear spacing. There's a hairline crack in the paint (and JUST the paint) of one of the chain stays right near the bottom bracket, which is the sort of cosmetic forensic evidence that one might expect to see after cold-setting. It's visible in the photo of the bottom bracket that I posted at the beginning of this thread, about an inch and a half from the bottom bracket shell, on the drive-side stay in the photo. Which would be right in line with the 1983-87 time frame that I've narrowed this frame down to. I would expect that some time between 1987 to 1989, they started producing frames with 130mm rear dropout spacing as standard.

Whomever cold-set this frame did a nice job of it, though, as the alignment is as close to perfect as one would hope, and the spacing e is dead on at 130mm.