Sluggo

My brother got this 1987 Atala Corsa Professionisti (catalog ) from our uncle. I don't know why Uncle D purchased this hotrod bike, with tight clearances and racerboy gearing. Since the catalog does not list components, these were apparently sold as bare frames. This example was equipped with Shimano 600 rather than the Campi that one might expect.

It has some patina and the decals are faded, but it cleaned up nice and it is in basically good condition. It is hard to tell in my crumby photos, but the paint is gray mellic fade, darker on the back and the fork.With the chrome dropouts and right chainstay, presumably it is all chrome under the paint.

I plan to do a 650b conversion with old-guy-friendly gearing.

Mr. 66

Hey that looks cool, but ah, I don't think you have the Professional model of the line. Yours is not pictured in that catalog. The Pro are Columbus SLX and SL for the bigger frames probably. Yours is like Matrix tubing, Cromor

Sluggo

I amy be misinterpreting the catalog, but it looks like there are two version of the "Corsa Professionisti". The first has SLX or SL tubing, and the second has unspecified Columbus tubing. Mine looks like the second from the left in the latter version (except for the odd shifter braze-on and front derailleur braze-on in the catalog photo). I don't see any reason that it could not be Cromor.

The next model listed in the catalog (Special) is tretubi Aelle -- three main tubes straight-gauge CrMn steel and the rest some lower-grade tubing. The tubing sticker would reflect that. My 27.2 seatpost says this frame is not straight gauge, and judging from the fight it put up when I spread the dropouts, the stays are not lower-grade tubing. So I see nothing inconsistent with calling this a Pro.

Mr. 66

Ok I am not trying to rain on you

I took a closer look at catalog, mainly I looked at blow-up pictures of the catalog spread. Those pictures show a gold Columbus SLX decal which is consistent with the pro line up they have. Cromor tubing, to the best of my knowledge, only came with a silver label.



Performance wise its not, not that much different. The Cromor is a seamed welded and then rolled, probably a little stiffer than SL.

Companies back then could or would make the top of the line, and some would basically make replica bikes of the #1. It was a way of getting look and price point for increased market share.

I have a similar Olmo that is a beautiful bike that looks identical to the top of the line, made of Matrix tubing. Matrix name was changed, due to litagation, to Cromor. I think Olmo had 4 versions of this one.

jdawginsc 

Yep. Matrix is Cromor. Good stuff just manufactured differently and not so much heavier.

Great ride qualities.

Mr. 66

Note, another difference is yours has standard shift mount and the catalog shot you did has a piggyback.

Piff 

Cromor isn't low grade tubing, it's great for sport touring applications. A bit thicker, but still good stuff. Double butted.

Check out this thread, talks about other Cromor bikes with 27.2mm seatposts: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-question.html

Sluggo

Since the catalog does not specify tubing for the second version of the Pro, I would speculate that they were flexible about choosing the tubing for a particular production run. Ditto with the shifter mounting and FD braze-ons. Maybe decisions were made based on the destination of the individual batch of frames, or whatever is a better deal on the spot market. To an extent, the catalog photos would show some of the options available or the range of products that might show up if you ordered one (note that the first, SL/SLX version of the Pro in the catalog shows two different fork crowns). And yes, this flexibility with materials probably means that the second version was a little cheaper. Similarly, the Special is specifically tretubi Aelle, while there are several tubesets listed for the similar GS.

Yes, Cromor is rolled, seamed, and drawn, much like True Temper. Cromor has a heavier downtube and chainstays than SL, but it has lighter toptube, seattube, stays, and fork blades than SP, so the ride would presumably fall between SL and SP (and closer to SL) in terms of stiffness (reference). BTW, any frame with 0.9/0.6 seattube will take a 27.2 seat post (unless it's damaged). Cromor and SL do; SP does not.

This bike is 11 tubes of high-quality material with essentially all of the characteristics of a Pro in the catalog and clearly different than the next model down. What else would you call it?

Sluggo

Bad news for my side of this discussion. I can find no Columbus stamp on the steerer and there is no rifling. Also, there was no sign of tubing stickers on the fork blades. So maybe it is a special Special rather than a Pro. I still think that the stays are Cromor, but even if they aren't, Cromor (butted cromo) is better than Aelle (straight gage CrMn), so specs are still clearly better than the Specials in the catalog. So I am not sure what to call it. But I expect to ride just fine.

machinist42

"Atala Cromor."




Source.

(Of note: Apparently Cinelli offered a Cromor tubed bike too? Who knew?



All apologies for the picture askew. Lazy.)

Sluggo

Very interesting. The colors described in this document advertising the Atala Cromor don't include the silver/gray of my example, but the fact that it was equipped with with Shimano 105 (the successor to 600 if I understand correctly) might not be a coincidence. So maybe mine is transitional.

machinist42

Not Quite.

That's one advert from one year and the only inference to be drawn from it is that Atala had a model called "Atala Cromor," and that Cinelli had a model fashioned from Cromor, which are two inferences but too Lazy to Edit. There may be other inferences? Don't Care.

Shimano "600" became "Ultegra"
while
Shimano "Golden Arrow" became "105."