Technotrat?

[jacksparrow]

just need some advise on a road frame I picked up a while ago (I'll post flix later)

The frame has no decals, serials or stamping that I can see, it has been repainted so any markings may be buries underneath. The only thing I can see is TECHNOTRAT stamped on the dropouts and fork ends.

I know this is quite vague and no photos are really unhelpful, but just generally, what is the deal with TECHNOTRAT?

Anyway, I'll post pics later.

Any help appreciated.

[drubie]

Mass produced Italian frames, generally sold as "bike shop" bikes. Think europa. I wish I could stumble across one! There's plenty of web info on them - my impression is that Technotrat is to Italy what Nishiki was to Japan, if that makes any sense.

[brauluver]

Any similarity to these?

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21106

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15879&hilit=abeni

Mostly Europas in oz it seems, ferari's in NZ and also saronni's in some places.
They became de Bernardi later on .

http://thejackalrides.blogspot.com/2008 ... onnis.html

[jacksparrow]

yeah sorta similar but not really...here are some flix

[im_no_pro]

Lugs look identical to a lot of bike shop branded bikes I have seen/owned. Looks like it had some good kit on it (campag & zeus are always nice )

[brauluver]

Lugs and forks are identical to my blue one.
Only difference I can see is the T/T cable guides and tecnotrat stamped on the d/outs , where mine are gipiemme.
Chances are what we have is an Italian built(generic) frame made from PG Oria tubes or possibly falk cro Mo.
531 DB has chimed in before with info on Europas, so he may be able to help.
I've sent 2 emails to John Abeni ,but had no reply to date

[jacksparrow]

yep, looks like it could be a europa, but...I'm guessing (hoping) it may a higher end frame because of the lack of pump pegs behind the head tube? Just a theory.

I found an image on the net of an ENGARDI which had tecnotrat dropouts and I was gonna post up the ebay link, but the page came up with a warning so I'm not going to post the link here.

It was very similar to this frame.

Anyway, still weighing up what I am going to do with it. Moving house in 2 months and really gotta figure out what is staying and what is going.

[brauluver]

yep, looks like it could be a europa, but...I'm guessing (hoping) it may a higher end frame because of the lack of pump pegs behind the head tube? Just a theory.

I found an image on the net of an ENGARDI which had tecnotrat dropouts and I was gonna post up the ebay link, but the page came up with a warning so I'm not going to post the link here.

It was very similar to this frame.

Anyway, still weighing up what I am going to do with it. Moving house in 2 months and really gotta figure out what is staying and what is going.

spotted that too, Chrome stays as well, no pump peg, but the TT cable guides are the same as the europa ones.
Maybe they were just pumping these things out with whatever they could source readily at the time.

[drubie]

Jack, I might be interested in the frame but not this month

[barefoot]

Zombie thread resurrection!

My colleague just bought this frame's twin. I'd assume it was the same frame except for the size.




I found this thread when searching for "tecnotrat", because it was an unfamiliar stamping. There's no other identifying marks on the frame - just plain red paint and chrome, like the one at the top of this thread.

She's built up as a TT / tri bike, and has obviously seen a bit of use. Front rim is a Velocity, rear is a Mavic, but they're both on the same hubs which I can't make out the brand of:


Derailers are Exage 500EX, which is better than bad but not spectacular. Cranks and brakes don't match the rest of the group - I think the shifters were off-group as well. Headset is Ofmega.

Strange that they don't have any decals on them... two the same colour. It's like they might have come out of the shop like that.

I guess from the above discussion we're going to call it most likely a Europa, or something similar. Italian made, probably basic CrMo, but nothing exotic.

Anyway, my workmate is not a cyclist, and is pretty stoked to have picked up a flash looking super-lightweight bike (in his opinion) for a hundred bucks. He's even more stoked that the resident bike tragic (me) was keen to pore over it and take close-up photos of interesting bits. Hopefully he'll ride it to work more than just this one time.

tim

[Lots of steel bikes]

Technotrat forks are some of the most elegant I have ever seen.

[barefoot]

Technotrat forks are some of the most elegant I have ever seen.

They are pretty, alright... although the metalwork is pretty rough.

This new one:


...is a little bit tidier than the OPs one:


...but you wouldn't call either of them nice work under the chrome.

tim

[xerlex]

I've owned one of these orange Technotrats too!

[singlespeedscott]

Nothing wrong with Technotrats built bikes. Honest, usable bikes IMO.