If you like vintage Itailian...

[witcombusa]

Check out this very unusual bike from Lucca, Italy in the mid 70's. Lots of very nice custom handmade touches. Fanini Super Mondial.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/404020...7646905591086/

This is my friend Kevin's bike, and if this is the type of bikes you enjoy be sure and poke around his flicker site as he has LOTS more amazing bikes there as well!

[redir]

A beauty for sure. That chain stay is the shortest I think I've ever seen. Was that big chain ring modified? I've never seen one like that before.

[witcombusa]

redir

They often "made them their own" back in the era of "drill it, cut it and panto it". The production pieces were merely a starting point!

[gomango]

Thanks for the link.

It will take me a week or two to go through all the pics.

Just spectacular.

[seppa]

Some oddities: Direct mount front derailleur, "direct mount" brake calipers, through BB shell cable routing, really long lower head tube lug, which I imagine resulted in a really stiff front end. Also the seat stay chain keeper is probably before anyone else was doing it..

[Hindmost]

Originally Posted by redir

Was that big chain ring modified?

It was a simple, garage job to make a Record ring look a little like a Super Record.

[tiretrax]

I am impressed by the OP's collection and documentation. Glad to see these bikes getting preserved/restored. Nice job!

[texbike]

It may just be me, but the build quality on that Fanini looks really crude.

He has a great collection of bikes!

Texbike

[F150]

All roughly the same frame size, which tells me he actually rides them. Good for him!

[Drmojo]

me love lugged steel
the tandems rock, too
Thanks for posting this collection

[witcombusa]

Originally Posted by seppa

Some oddities: Direct mount front derailleur, "direct mount" brake calipers, through BB shell cable routing, really long lower head tube lug, which I imagine resulted in a really stiff front end. Also the seat stay chain keeper is probably before anyone else was doing it..

Exactly, these are some of the things making it fairly unique in the mid 70's.

Add yes, the workmanship is not what we now expect from our amazing US builders these days. But in Italy (UK and France), race bikes were tools to be used. We have come a long way in the finishing details but make no mistake, these bike rode wonderfully and did exactly what they were built to do. It was evolutionary over the preceding decades...

[texbike]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Add yes, the workmanship is not what we now expect from our amazing US builders these days. But in Italy (UK and France), race bikes were tools to be used. We have come a long way in the finishing details but make no mistake, these bike rode wonderfully and did exactly what they were built to do. It was evolutionary over the preceding decades...

My reference was to other Italians from that era - Cinelli, Masi, Frejus, Grandis and a couple others that I've either owned or seen over the years. But yeah, I agree - they were meant to be tools and I'm sure that it rides very nicely.

Texbike

[martl]

Originally Posted by redir

A beauty for sure. That chain stay is the shortest I think I've ever seen.

Humm...



.. only takes 20mm tires which have to be deflated to remove the wheel


But the Fanini is a nice bike, definitely!