First, the toy. A ~1965 Cinelli Speciale Corsa frame with a ~1960 Cinelli SC fork. How I got it and why it came as separate frame and fork is a long story I'll tell if asked; trust me, it's pretty convoluted.
64cm ctc seat tube. 61.5cm ctc top tube. 107cm wheelbase.
Yeah, it's a big'un, but then so am I. I never thought I would want a top tube that long, but it works well.
The tail end of the story is that I traded a 1986 De Rosa frame and fork (no headset) straight across for the Cinelli frame alone (I already had the fork - I told you it's a long convoluted story). Sometimes, you have to give value to get value. I liked the De Rosa a lot and I did not trade it away lightly, but this is a Cinelli. In good condition (although the paint has, shall we say, plenty of patina, significantly more than the photo reveals).
In my size. From the glory years. Those do not come around every day. So I pulled the trigger.
I moved the parts over from the De Rosa to the Cinelli, and it is pictured here after the first ride. Yes, the rear brake cable is too short (since fixed) and the chain is too short (about to fix), but I wanted to get it on the road to see how I liked the ride before making any decisions about repaint/leave alone, etc. I've have also replaced the grungy white bar tape with new red bar tape.
And yes, the fork is chromed, a recent rechrome before what was going to be a repaint - it's part of the long convoluted story.
Bottom line - I love, love, love it. It rides like butter. Smooth, luxurious, stable, as you would expect from such a long frame, but without being even remotely sluggish or blah. Surprisingly little detectable bottom bracket flex. Just an ungodly nice ride. No regrets about making the trade.
Now the rant: I was going to post a photo of the De Rosa, too, for comparison. But I can't figure out how to pry the photo away from the f***ing Nazis at Photobucket with it being compressed top-to-bottom and looking like it was shot in a fun house. Yeah, I know the subject has been covered, and I will search for the solutions people have posted. But this is the first time I've run headlong into the problem. I can almost forgive them for suddenly charging an arm and a leg to post the photos on sites like this, but making it utterly intuitive how to copy over your own damn photos is inexcusable. I'm not techno-whiz, but I'm not an idiot, either - it should not be such a mystery. It will be a very cold day in the nether regions before they get one penny from me.