Serotta Duetti Pro’s Closest

[fmradio516]

Im too terrible at wrapping bars to justify nice tape.

Is there a gold standard tape wrapping instruction that is fairly easy to do?

[d_douglas]

I wish that I had nabbed a 58cm when these were dirt cheap. I thought they were a bit goofy looking, but in the end, Serotta makes great riding bikes. Its been a decade since I sold mine

[coffeecherrypie]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Im too terrible at wrapping bars to justify nice tape.

Is there a gold standard tape wrapping instruction that is fairly easy to do?

I seem to have a few videos saved

Silca: https://youtu.be/KkQg961CzGI?si=V70THrDrjKnDIPcn

Park: https://youtu.be/5MzIiv7pewE?si=8kOzjZYB8u2lytl1

GCN (figure 8 method): https://youtu.be/4iekC7HnG4o?si=fdAGG7r6o1oUgjQW

[TrackSmart]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

I wish that I had nabbed a 58cm when these were dirt cheap. I thought they were a bit goofy looking, but in the end, Serotta makes great riding bikes. Its been a decade since I sold mine

Definitely a nice riding machine. I'm glad I jumped on the opportunity to buy one of the last ones in my size (gently used and for half of the already dramatically reduced price).

I'm curious which part you found goofy looking. Round tubes, minimalist branding, subtle paint job (aside for the small orange accents). They don't look like classic skinny-tubed Serottas of old with fully level top tubes, but they look more like "normal bicycles" than most modern aero carbon stuff (i.e., less goofy in my mind). But we all have our own aesthetic opinions on bikes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[d_douglas]

The orange accents and weird non-serotta branding is what irks me. If its a Serotta, make it known - it doesnt have to look like the old logo (maybe it cannot?) but the wispy signature annoys me as a neophyte graphic designer

[TrackSmart]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

The orange accents and weird non-serotta branding is what irks me. If its a Serotta, make it known - it doesnt have to look like the old logo (maybe it cannot?) but the wispy signature annoys me as a neophyte graphic designer

Yeah, you are missing some of the story behind these bikes that explain the "weird non-serotta branding" you mention.

There are some posts in this thread that explain:
1) Why he couldn't put Serotta in big letters on these bikes when they were produced, and
2) Why he was able to add the big "Serotta" branding back to these frames later, but with decals (which I removed).

The story as I understand it: Ben left (was removed?) as an executive at the Serotta company. He only owned a portion of the company at this point, so it was not under his control. The brand did poorly without him and he was able to buy it back a few years later. These bikes were made in the interim. They represented his return to the bike industry under the "Serotta Design Studios" brand. I'm guessing that he was already pushing his luck with using his own name, even in a subtle fashion. There was no way he was going to be able to use the original and iconic SEROTTA lettering on the downtubes without attracting a lawsuit. So, instead of "Serotta" in big letters, the names of the bikes were used (Duetti and AmodoMio).

After he bought the Serotta brand (and owned it again), he still had a bunch of these frames in his inventory. He wanted them to be recognized as Serottas, so added decals after-the-fact. I thought the added downtube decals ("SEROTTA" in big letters) were okay. By contrast, the big orange "S" slapped over the headbadge was not a good look -- especially since you could see the "D" through the sticker.
- See here for an image of the frame with the added decals: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...&postcount=128
- This one has slightly different decals (silver/gold on the headtube): https://serotta.com/clearance-frames

Certainly, there is some history that goes with the traditional SEROTTA logo on the downtube, made in a font that would be easy to read as bikes zipped by at racer speeds. Did the after-the-fact decals mimic that look sufficiently well? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the decals - and if you would have kept them or not.

[d_douglas]

Yes, I know most of the backstory on this, and have owned two Serottas in the past. I assumed that it was a legal issue that prevented him from decalling "Serotta" all over the bike.

Subjective as it is, I just find what he did choose to do as unappealing. as many have said, I am sure its a nice bike to ride - I just dont like the paint.

Now someone pass along a 58cm for $250 to me and I can b*tch about it in person!

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Now someone pass along a 58cm for $250 to me and I can b*tch about it in person!

Then you can send it along to me when you can't sleep at night, knowing a frame with that paint is living inside your house.

[TrackSmart]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Yes, I know most of the backstory on this, and have owned two Serottas in the past. I assumed that it was a legal issue that prevented him from decalling "Serotta" all over the bike.

Subjective as it is, I just find what he did choose to do as unappealing. as many have said, I am sure its a nice bike to ride - I just dont like the paint.

Now someone pass along a 58cm for $250 to me and I can b*tch about it in person!

Ha ha ha! I wasn't expecting a custom, multi-color fade paintjob for the price. For the $295+shipping that the demo models were selling for, I think the paint job is solid. Understated, but with a bit of flair from the orange accents. And minimal branding, which I prefer. That said, with the money saved, you could have paid for any paintjob you wanted!

Originally Posted by BRad704

Then you can send it along to me when you can't sleep at night, knowing a frame with that paint is living inside your house.

Indeed! Or get some custom paint with the saved cash.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by TrackSmart

Indeed! Or get some custom paint with the saved cash.

Oh I definitely don't hate the paint... just giving him some confirmation bias to find a 58 and then move it along to me. I'm moving to CO next month and passively looking for a deal/steal on a disc road frame.

[Latestart]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Who makes that black to orange fade tape? Perfect for my Serotta I'm rebuilding!

https://www.amazon.com/fizik-Unisex_...7G0?th=1&psc=1

[polyhistoric]

FYI - a local shop in Fitchburg, MA (The Break) has purchased a bunch of the inventory and has Jordan Low painting them with new non-Serotta branding (TULPA Cycles). As you can imagine, the finish is spectacular looking given JL's paint credentials. You can check Jordan's instagram for pics.

[TrackSmart]

Originally Posted by polyhistoric

FYI - a local shop in Fitchburg, MA (The Break) has purchased a bunch of the inventory and has Jordan Low painting them with new non-Serotta branding (TULPA Cycles). As you can imagine, the finish is spectacular looking given JL's paint credentials. You can check Jordan's instagram for pics.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that. This is what a web search turned up (since you didn't give a link):
https://www.facebook.com/fixallthebikes/

And the instagram page for the bike painter: https://www.instagram.com/jl_paintsbikes/

I'm not a huge fan of the brown psuedo-rust paint on the Facebook example, but some of the paint jobs on the instagram page, on other bikes, are nice.

I'm not sure what to think about the "Tulpa" branding. Why not put Serotta on it as the man himself would have done? That would surely draw more interest. Maybe that wasn't approved by Ben? Although he slapped stickers on these with "Serotta", so surely the paint version would be better.

Also: The Facebook post suggests that you can put fenders on these bikes. That's only partially true. There are no fender mounts near the dropouts (either front or rear), just on the fork bridge and rear bridge. I'd hardly call that fender-ready. And I'd hardly call 32mm tires gravel-ready compared to modern gravel bikes.

[d_douglas]

Wow, some of the Low paint with Serotta graphics are saweet! Now I want one of these and will spend $1000 on a pimp paint job!