Frameteller - My New Favorite Website

The Milanese and Venetian schools of classic builders are fairly well known. You have Gloria, who begat Galmozzi and Masi and Colnago who begat Rossin and on and on. Venetian brands are fairly well known as well, even if their lineage is a bit murkier. A visit to Turin and my eyes were opened to that incredibly talented school, which is known locally but not as well worldwide, what with folks like Ernesto and Ugo hogging the limelight still to this day.

After my visit to Emilia Romagna's Somec, a favorite brand from my teenage years, my eyes were opened to yet another innovative classic Italian school of builders. I recently found frameteller.it, where regional pride has led to an incredible archive of this region's highly innovative and influential builders. Here, Manuel Dall’Olio has curated stories, innovations, publications and more, all with a narrow focus on the output from Emilia Romagna.

Known to serious collectors, but still fairly hidden from the "easy" collectors, names like Marastoni, Somec and Rauler rise to the top fairly quickly; however, the important contributions of Vicini and Dosi (two builders of Marco Pantani's early bikes) lead down the rabbit hole until you find a Paletti, an Ortelli and all of a sudden you're reading a long complete history of Neri e Renzo and then you find your saved eBay searches has doubled!

It is thanks to this site that I now know the creator of the greatest 90's paint jobs... Mario Martini. The amazing stars, neon argyles and fades created by Martini graced the bikes from this region and I now know the story behind it thanks to frameteller.

The list of innovations and patents to come from this region is in itself worth a visit. Too long to list here, but incredibly important are such items as internal cables, brazed on bottle mounts, shaped steel tubing, and even rollers for training!

One common thread from E-R to Milan to Turin to the Veneto is that the artisan construct remains: local "houses" doing business to finish a hand made work of art, with little regard to systemization beyond the idea that you've worked with this chroming house or frame painter for years. It's something worthy of many business theses and a way of doing business that still exists in il bel paese. But this is also lost to many new world collectors who can't wrap their heads around the idea that the hard rules of production are thrown out the window when working in this manner. Yes, this builder used this certain lugset for this period - until he ran out, lost interest, found something new or whatever... but then eight years later found the last box of them and used them again. These are the mysteries that are best appreciated by accepting and understanding the artisan environment.

A tip of the hat to Manuel, who has researched and listed 340 historic brands to emerge from this region since the 1920's. His completeness and dedication to the project sets the standard for the archiving of and lifting the covers off of a very narrow but important focus.

To translate the site into english, you can start at the Patelli link here and navigate around. Note that some of the flash pages won't translate in this manner, but most articles will. Also, be sure to enjoy the awesome photos and publication archive.

Possibly the nicest Galmozzi project I've seen

I'm an idiot. I know. I don't check my FaceBook messages that often. Sorry - I get over 200 emails a day at work and don't make time for all those other socials that people use to reach out to me. Case in point: Fabi sent me a message looking for info on this bike. It's a Lazzaretti, made by Galmozzi. It is in good shape other than a bit of light rust and some over sprayed paint. It also it the only rooster bike with the curved cambio corsa dropouts that I've seen.

I went months before opening and looking at the photos. Who knows - I would've probably tried to convince him to sell it to me! I wouldn't even repaint it... honest!

Yes, please.

I've not seen a Galmozzi with this dropout before!

Have NEVER seen this before, either!

Why do we see classic bikes with evidence of spray paint in Italy?

The Galmozzi Cambio Corsa is Finished!

Ciöcc finished the work on this quite a while ago, but I just now finished it to the point that I was ready to take it to the studio for photos. I'm real happy with how it turned out. There have been a lot of Galmozzi's popping up lately, but still none this early.

Once again, here's the video of the restoration and a little bit at the end with Angelo Galmozzi.

Galmozzi Restoration!

The 1950 Galmozzi with Cambio Corsa is ready for its maiden voyage finally! It was quite a long process, like all restorations, but well worth it. I've added a couple more details since then, namely the period-correct Columbus decal and the non-period-correct black bar tape with red stitching!

The man towards the end is Angelo Galmozzi, son of Francesco (a co-founder of Gloria and considered one of the best Italian framebuilders of the early days), who took the reigns from his father until finally closing the company in the mid-70's. He is full of stories from "back in the day" and even more from BEFORE "back in the day". He's quite the Italian historian, and is quick to let his political ideas seep into and eventually become major players in his recounting of growing up in Italy. He was impressed with the bike, and even more so by the Galmozzi t-shirt I was sporting under my Lambo sweatshirt! I guess I need to get another one on order!

That Galmozzi

Since the race season hasn't officially started in earnest yet, that leaves weekends for building vintage bikes! I posted my Galmozzi with Cambio Corsa a while back and realized that I never posted the finished product. Here it is, along with me and... Angelo Galmozzi! I met him one morning with my friend Stefano, who scheduled a visit/interview with him on a Saturday morning. Stefano has the Galmozzi bug as well and is currently restoring a number of them, it seems! Enzo, as well, has come across a few of them recently, proving that once you dig deep, the rarest of the rare can become almost common... keep digging!

Now I just have to cut that rear brake cable housing!

Two More Galmozzis

A recent trip to Dr. Frankenstein's lab (more on that shortly) presented the occasion of snapping these two Galmozzis that were offered up to me. Believe it or not, I passed even though they are in the right size range and both VERY interesting. The last thing I can afford right now are yet TWO more project builds that would cost a fortune to do correctly!

This lovely celeste has original colors. The red panel is great with original decal. The head tube badge is a repro. Would've been a great project for my first P-R bike, but I have another idea. This one shouldn't be repainted, which is what I need to do...

This one I first saw almost a year ago on an Italian website. It looked real rough but in the flesh, it's super-interesting. Enzo wanted to build it up with all original Simplex shifting, which really isn't what I'm interested in. After building a P-R bike, I think I want to mess with the Cambio Vittoria/Nieddu type shifters (I have a line on new boxed systems in Torino). He also says he wouldn't paint it, and I'm totally not into raw steel vintage frames!

Enzo's Eroica Stuff…

In the Italian vintage bike world, there's one guy you go to if you're looking for something truly hard to find. While Ermes and Roberto have their own garages full of parts, it's Enzo who had consistently the coolest stuff on display at Gaiole's market during l'Eroica weekend. Here are a few examples…

This Campy clanger was just a bit too new to put on my Galmozzi. And at 350 euros, I'm glad. I'd seen photos of them, but not in the flesh (remember, I'm only a year or two into this).

This Campy chain guide, similarly, was too new to spend the 120 euros on. Same - first I'd seen one.

This shifter is a very rare Paris-Roubaix type of affair. Even Enzo didn't know about it, other than the flip-side has a hogged-out section with a gear inside that makes the shifting and chain tension action. "BRV Socrates Modena". Evidently, there were well over a hundred lever type shifters in Italy in the 30's and 40's, all leading the example of the Cambio Corsa and Paris-Roubaix.

This Brooks-styled bike caught my eye. It's a Renaissance bike, much like my Cicli Masini will be.

Finally, Enzo's wife bought a stack of head badges that weekend. Included were an original Masi, and this Galmozzi, both worth far more than their weight in gold. She wouldn't sell it to me, but promised that the next one she finds is mine. Of course, she has looked for five years for this one, so I'm not holding my breath!

After l'Eroica, I got an invite to Enzo's secret lair, which I have dubbed Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory. That tale coming soon.

Historical Italian Constructor Registry

Here's one to bookmark! In the comments of this article, blogger P. De Sade is attempting to construct a registry of local Italian bike builders. In the past year, I've learned far more about Italian bike history than I thought possible, even without many written resources, thanks to guys like this on the net. With l'Eroica just a week away, I'm hoping to meet more of them in person... most likely as I'm handing over Euros to buy their vintage parts!

Restoration Update

So Ciöcc finally has everything he needs to finish my two old frames. I hope to pick them up next week after getting back from the Tour. Having finally found all the packages sent by me and others, we now have the proper Legnano and Galmozzi decals to finish them up. I say 'proper' loosely, as this is a subject I'll likely receive some grief over once they're built... and I'm calling it now! You see, the thing with collectors is that their discussions rarely get past whether something is "original" or "restored" or "period correct". In my case, I really don't care that much. I'm restoring these babies to do one thing... RIDE 'EM!

That Galmozzi decal with the address would most likely not be found on a bike made in the 50's. Guess what? I don't care - I like it, and it will look great adorning my seat tube! The head tube badge is a repro. Guess what - ALL collectors in Italy tell me that my chances of finding a real one are about nil.

The '47 Legnano would not have chrome on the dropouts, or at least four of the decals that I'm going to place on it. But, it's going to look SO much nicer with them.

The point is, these things lost their resell value to collectors the moment I found them without their original paint. So... Jimmy crack corn! Another point I've learned is that back then, large decals weren't easy to make reliably, so bike graphics weren't the advertising that they are today. Also, they didn't make these bikes knowing that they'd be so desirable sixty years later. Lots of detail has been lost through the years. What crank did Cannondale spec on a 2002 R1000? I bet you can find that answer within five minutes of a Google search. Now - what brakes would you find on a 1952 Roma? Guess what - Legnano most likely ran out and switched to whatever was lying around!

Other things not likely to find for a reasonable price? Jerseys and bottles. So, check out what you CAN find on a trip to Tuscany. Seems l'Eroica has been good for those able to reproduce certain desirables!

OK, off the soapbox now, and off to the Tour!

As Joel Says, 'I'm eatin' wet food tonight!'

Took the opportunity to do some vintage shopping at Via Bicycle in Philly this morning... WOW! I was able to pick up some Universal & Balilla parts for the Legnano retoration, plus a 'hairnet' in great condition. The collection is incredible, if you're into piles of classic old bikes and parts (which I am).

Training for l'Eroica!

So the long weekend presented many opportunities for some training d'epoca. This entails my best wool jerseys, clips and straps, and climbing the local hills in the hardest gear possible. Here's a taste... with a little help from Photoshop to make it "period-correct"!

Vintage Bike Swap, Reggio nell'Emilia!

Italians love (in no particular order): Mamma, calcio, ciclismo... and motorcycles and cars! I got tipped off that there was to be a big vintage car/moto/bike swap meet in Italy so - off I went! Early Sunday morning, I was speeding off once again toward the boot with Euros in hand hoping to learn a little and pick up a few of those small finishing parts for my 2 old bikes.

Upon arrival, I had not expected to see such a huge footprint. C.A.M.E.R. (Club Auto Moto d'Epoca Reggiano) took up the entire Reggio nell'Emilia fiera (fairgrounds). Unfortunately, it was mostly motos and cars, but the five or six stands for vintage bikes were put on by the cognoscenti of Italian collectors.

The first stand I loitered at for a few minutes had tubs full of FB cranks, hubs... whatever I would have needed if I wasn't already set. Gaslo tape, brake hoods, saddles, old shoes, wool jerseys, it was all to be found in abundance here, even with just a few stands dedicated to bikes.

Luckily, I overheard a little english which led me to meeting John Barron of Velostuf and Cinelli collecting fame. He, his wife and I proceeded to a few more stands and I was happy to lend a translating hand when needed, although he does pretty good by himself. I was also able to pick up a lot of info, history and tips from him.

The better-known Italians in the vintage world were here, and all proved to be extremely helpful. Guys like Ermes Leonardi, Roberto Doganieri, Enzo Pancari, and Luciano Berruti (who recently opened a museum in Cosseria with a large donation from his collection). Berruti is usually the guy doing l'Eroica on the oldest of bikes, with his long mustache and high wheelers.

So what was my haul, besides a sore back from the 9 hours of driving? Balilla brake hoods, Campy repro hoods, 3 colors of old housing, a new pair of old-style shoes, an Atala bell(!), and three gems... Gaslo bar end caps (these 2 aluminum pieces consistently fetch well over $100 on eBay); an old beat up steel Legnano sign; and an old "cardboard" Bianchi sign. I'll have to post these separately, as I also broke rule #1 - bring a good camera. Here is the best of what I could capture on my iPhone...

Monday I was able to put the new shoes to the test. Donning my best wool jersey and Rapha cap, I took the blue Galmozzi out for a quick spin, climbing an easy hill or two in the large ring (preparing myself for limited gearing on the older bikes). I'll just say... the bike rides like a dream and I'm now HYPER-motivated to do l'Eroica and other vintage randonees.

1940's Galmozzi... Yeah, I did...

While the wife was away, I did it. I keep telling myself 'last one'. Maybe just to make me feel better about this quickly-growing collection of old Italian bikes. But this one was too much. I ended up speaking with Angelo Galmozzi over the phone for quite some time. I got the whole story, politics, history and all.

I took it over to Ciöcc this morning to strip it and sandblast it. He was impressed and excited enough to give a call to his friend Alberto Masi to confirm a couple of things regarding the dates of such a bike. Best we can guess is late 40's.

Ciöcc got busy with some things while we were stripping the bike, but let me turn the switch on his sanding machine (I'd never run one before) and I got to work!

The rest of the photos are at my Flickr page here.

It Must Be Galmozzi Day

After some interesting conversation about whether to rebadge a Gamba to its constructor, Galmozzi (over at the Great Gunnar Berg's site here), it seems I've stumbled upon yet another bike, my size, that I must have...

This time, it's what you might consider a Holy Grail bike of mine. A Galmozzi with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa... conserved, good shape for a bike of its era. I can't say much more about it yet, as I'm waiting for a reply from the owner still.

As Holy Grail bikes go, supposedly, should I acquire this it would mean... that's it! No more! There's nothing better, don't bother looking. Collection complete. In fact, start unloading the others.

My New Galmozzi!

So... here it is... as I got it. I haven't even wiped off the dust with my finger. I'm thinking I'll put Fiamme red labels on it as opposed to the too-new and mildly aero rims that are on there. I'll also try to find a good set of GS or NR brake levers with decent hoods, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Also, I got a VERY short NR seatpost of the same vintage and the flutes are blue and yellow. I'm thinking of putting that one on the Galmozzi, and use this one on the red/white/yellow Ciöcc.

The rest of the photos can be found on my Flickr page.