Are Tommaso bikes "legit"?

[Veloo]

I've never owned or worn any Tommaso apparel.
Started to see Tommaso bikes a few years ago.
Is this just another brand scooped up by a private equity and rebranding Chinese frames?

I do see a used bike on Kijiji that may work for the person I'm shopping for.
Or should I not bother and stick to some more of the mainstream stuff?

[Chris]

They’re like Motobecane and Vitus. The names were bought and now they’re low level bikes.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by Veloo

I've never owned or worn any Tommaso apparel.
Started to see Tommaso bikes a few years ago.
Is this just another brand scooped up by a private equity and rebranding Chinese frames?

I do see a used bike on Kijiji that may work for the person I'm shopping for.
Or should I not bother and stick to some more of the mainstream stuff?

They were a "created" name in some ways to sell Italian made bikes to the American public. I believe a bike shop/importer had them made.

People often confuse Tommasini and Tommaso but they are two very different brands.

[e-RICHIE]

Tommaso was a label created by Tom Eason of Ten Speed Drive Imports fame. TSD was a legit importer and distributor of fine Italian bicycles and components based in Tallahassee. Are we discussing the same brand (or is there a current Tommaso that’s being traded?)

[vertr]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

They were a "created" name in some ways to sell Italian made bikes to the American public. I believe a bike shop/importer had them made.

People often confuse Tommasini and Tommaso but they are two very different brands.

They used to be the house brand of GiantNerd.com which sold a lot of other stuff including Iron Horse bikes (RIP). Looks like now GiantNerd just redirects to the Tommaso site. My brother bought one back in the day, as others said, it was comparable to a BikesDirect bike but with probably better branding. I don't think that kind of fake old-brand appeals to people and they missed the boat getting huge like other consumer direct brands including Canyon.

[merckx]

Tommaso was a Ten Speed Drive Imports house brand. Probably made by Bilato.

ah, I see e-Richie beat me to the punch.

[Spaghetti Legs]

To summarize all the answers yes.

The steel lugged frames were quality although (from what I read, never ridden one) not at the level of the oft confused with Tommasini (which I have ridden and are spectacular).

https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalo...o85(tsd)/2.jpg

Then there is the modern unrelated brand.

https://tommasocycling.com/

[nicrump]

Originally Posted by e-RICHIE

Tommaso was a label created by Tom Eason of Ten Speed Drive Imports fame. TSD was a legit importer and distributor of fine Italian bicycles and components based in Tallahassee. Are we discussing the same brand (or is there a current Tommaso that’s being traded?)

Did TSD move to Charlotte NC before eventually shuttering?

[e-RICHIE]

Originally Posted by nicrump

Did TSD move to Charlotte NC before eventually shuttering?

I never heard that.
Tom is still in Florida, so I’m wondering about the NC connection.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by e-RICHIE

Tommaso was a label created by Tom Eason of Ten Speed Drive Imports fame. TSD was a legit importer and distributor of fine Italian bicycles and components based in Tallahassee. Are we discussing the same brand (or is there a current Tommaso that’s being traded?)

Yup, that is the guy. They were a good importer and I think the original bikes were made in Italy - not sure by whom.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

Yup, that is the guy. They were a good importer and I think the original bikes were made in Italy - not sure by whom.

Yes, this was the way it was done through TSD. Similar to how Torelli imports had Mondonico (IIRC) build frames for them more recently.

[e-RICHIE]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

Yup, that is the guy. They were a good importer and I think the original bikes were made in Italy - not sure by whom.

Most likely Billato and Tempesta (the latter being kin of Guerciotti, a label that Eason built his business on.)

[Chris]

Snipped from the Road Bike Review forum:

These comments are from the Classic Rendezvous mailing list:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++
Yes, Ten Speed Drive Imports (I think in Melbourne Beach, Florida?) was a BIG player in the road bike business before mountain bikes and bad business practices put them under.

At one time or other they imported Guerciotti, Ciocc, Cinelli, Woodrup,
Rossin, Pogliaghi, and their own Italian made house brand named "Tommaso" (the owner was named Tom Eason, kinda like the Giordana bikes & clothing was named for Gita prez. Georgio Andretta.) Alan frames were labeled as Guerciotti or Tommaso, not as Alans.. They also repped for Masi USA briefly.in Masi USA's early days (drop shipped I think from California) ..

Then they were main distributors of all the Italian goodies from Campagnolo, Cinelli, Nisi, & many other marques.

One of their claims to fame was that they brought in unfinished frames (but not all though... Rossin, Pogliaghi and Cinelli came with Italian paint..) and checked for alignment and painted them with DuPont Imron. That was in answer to the prevailing opinion at that time that Italian bikes had crummy delicate finishes when done in Italia.

Dale Brown
cycles de ORO, Inc.
1410 Mill Street
Greensboro, North Carolina

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++

I remember Tom as being a nice guy, but I heard rumors about Miami Vice like goings on.

Jim Merz
Bainbridge Is. WA

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++

Oh oh... I didn't mean to imply that Ten Speed Drive or Tom Eason was crooked or anything. I meant that they did things that put them selves out of business! That is not a good way to do things, i.e., bad!
I was fairly close to Ten Speed during those years, being on the supply side and retail side of the bike biz, and I always got along with Tom ..... but I also am aware that he was not well liked by many in the industry nor by many of his employees. I also will defend him as having very high standards and doing some things very very well.


Dale Brown

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++

In the early '70s they also had a storefront a couple of miles up A1A from Melbourne Beach in Cocoa Beach. When I would go in there, especially for crank cotters, they would hand over a box and tell me to pick a couple, no charge. I still have two boxes of black cloth tape from their shop (really tatty boxes now) that I remember they just handed to me. At the time, I thought these were brilliant business practices.
Tom Donahue
Melbourne, FL

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

Relative to the California and Tommaso comments, Cyclart owner Jim Allen said:

I painted a bunch of the Tommaso's in California in the late 80's and early 90's for Ten Speed Drive. They all came from Billato. The earliest units had only frame sizes stamped on them, while the later ones had six digit serial numbers.

Early units had either black or white decals, later units had multi
color decals. I still have some OEM decals in a box somewhere....


Later,

Jim Allen
San Marcos, CA