Wednesday, 29 February 2012

TOMMASO- Itlay.

more here- http://lopro.blogspot.com/2011/11/tommaso-bikes-colorado-usa.html

Despite the Butterworth decals (Butterworths are a Sheffield bike shop) this frame is a Tommaso – these were built in Italy by some of the top contract builders in the 1980s and 90s and sold in the USA. This lo-pro is really rather special with curved top tube and curved seatstays and is beautifully built.
from-
http://hilarystone.com/

Friday, 24 February 2012

NOS - TOMMASINI

on ebay right now- "The frame belonged to my father who originally ordered it from Italy (Circa 1989) He planned to use it for time trials, but never got around to assembling it. The frame has remained un-used in dry storage ever since!"


Italian - Coppi forks/bars


Thursday, 23 February 2012

Cycling Weekly -UK - Covers - old and new

Cycling Weekly used to have quality covers, nowadays its a generic cyclist every week and way to much text(see examples) those suckers need to employ someone with some graphic desgin skills.








"Cav makes history " but they still use a photo of a generic cyclist  for the main cover!

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Panasonic - Japan - since 1918

Panasonic, the bicycle brand of the mighty Matsushita conglomerate, made very nice bicycles, beautifully built, but never very successful in the U.S. market.
In the late '80s, Panasonic had a plan to supply semi-custom bikes, using "just-in-time" production methods. The program was called "P.I.C.S." (Panasonic Individualized Custom System). The frames were stock, but were painted to order (with the customer's name optionally painted on the top tube) and with a custom-length handlebar stem
more here-
http://panasonicbikemuseum.info/history


Friday, 17 February 2012

Marinoni- Canada

Marinoni  studied under Mario Rossin while he was the head builder for Colnago. He was still building frames last I checked. Made in Canada by an italian. Frame is not drilled for brakes and takes a 650 front wheel. On ebay now

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Nishiki- Japan/USA

Nishiki was a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by West Coast Cycle in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cyles in Kobe, Japan and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the American Eagle brand beginning in 1965[1] and later under the Nishiki brand until 2001 http://www.nishiki.com/



Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Peugeot - France since 1882

The 1980s proved a difficult time, when Peugeot cycles and motorcycles suffered stiff competition from Asia. The bicycle and motorcycle businesses were separated in 1987, the year of the merger of Cycles Peugeot with AOP (Acier et Outillage Peugeot), the steel and tools division, to constitute ECIA (Equipements et Composants pour l’Industrie Automobile), the vehicle components division. more here- www.peugeot.com/


www.peugeot.com/