I have a very serious illness – bicycle fever. It’s dormant for long periods, but it can come back to attack my wallet at any time. The latest attack was brought on by a convergence of circumstances. Rivendell decided to bring out a new “club racer” style bike called the Roadeo that is lighter and has a slightly more aggressive geometry than their previous designs, I’ve lost some weight over the summer and the last time I was out on my Rambouillet I felt stronger and faster than normal, and I read an article about Eddy Merckx. All these things came together to convince me that I needed a new “fast” bike that is lighter and has steeper angles than my laid back Rivendells.
So the search was on. I considered the new Rivendell Roadeo, but I looked at the specs and they weren’t that different from my Rambouillet. They have similar length chainstays at 43cm and a 73 degree seat tube to provide Rivendell’s signiture big tyre clearance. Anyway I wanted to try some other bike makers. The frame had to be lugged steel and I thought of all the usual makers; Waterford, Circle A, IF, Mercian, and more, but I was drawn to an Italian bike and their classic stage race geometry with 41cm chainstays and a 74deg seat tube angle. Now that is significantly different from the Rambouillet. I looked at the Cologno Master-X, and Cinelli Supercorsa, but when I saw the De Rosa Neo Primato I was hooked.
It happens that Eddy Merckx rode a De Rosa so that sealed my intention and I set off to order the frame from my dealer and buy the parts. This became a bit of an adventure involving email correspondence between Cambridge, Berlin and Milan and I’ll go over all that in my next post.
Filed under: De Rosa Neo Primato Build | Tagged: Neo Primato
Looking forward to your full report and review. I am in the process of looking for a new steel light weight frame. I’ve check all the same manufacturers you have listed above and am still undecided.
There’s a lot of choice out there. A great place to browse is
http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc
lots of ideas on there! I just finished buying the last of the parts for my De Rosa build. It’s mostly Dura-Ace 7800 series stuff. This will be heresy to some people who only want to see Campy parts on an Italian bike, but I like to be an iconoclast. So my De Rosa will have a threaded stem, a compact crank and lots of Japanese parts on it.
Hi,
Great bike! I want a threaded stem as well.
Did you order your Neo Primato directly from the factory? If so, how did you contact the right person.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
I ordered my frame through a local dealer, but I emailed the factory to make sure that I could get the threaded stem. To contact the factory just send an email to Cristiano at “info@derosanews.com”. He will answer your questions and then you can buy the frame through a local dealer. My frame shipped from Milan a couple of days ago so I should see it soon.
Hello Clive,
I want to thank you for getting back to me so quickly and with very good news (contacting De Rosa). I will be retracing your steps on this process though I am tempted to use Campagnolo equipment (no carbon).
I was torn between Colnago and De Rosa and finding access to a classic fork/stem clinched it for me.
This bicycle will allow my classic Bianchi Limited a rest as I have had it since my time at university (UBC).
Enjoyed your story of cycling to Montreal. I can see a touring cycle in my future.
Regards,
Patrick