Specialeyes
Guru
- Location
- Essex
Hockey season's now over, so took advantage of the first free weekend in a while to glue some tubs and put Dora back together. Picked up with @BalkanExpress in Florence last year I was drawn by the long-lever Cambio Corsa rear derailleur.
It's a bit of a mystery frame though and full of weird contradictions. I can only find one other Cicli Dora bike online, and that's a town bike on the Registro Cicli Storici website (the l'Eroica record-keepers) but this one's got a 'Dora' cast headset, which implies to me they were produced in suffucuent numbers to warrant producing branded components. It's unmarked tubing but feels lightweight. It's got 19-tooth Cambio Corsa rear dropouts (so mid-50s latest) but internal cable routing for the rear brake which feels more modern. It's had a dodgy respray at some point and I've just oily-ragged it for the moment while I decide what to do.
But, and here's the fun part, the long-lever 'Tourist' Cambio Corsa is a piece of cake to use. Unlike the shorter version and the Paris Roubaix, where the handles are lower than the rear rim, these sit about 4" higher, below the saddle. It's such a pleasure to be able to change gear without feeling like I'm going to slip a disc! I strapped my NoPro to the back and rode up and down the close a few times marvelling in how much easier it is than the other versions. It feels like an upgrade to 1950! In other good news, having lost a bit of timber, my weight now seems to set the chain tension perfectly when the axle rolls back and forth in the dropouts.
View: https://youtu.be/rMihGLt_03U
It's definitely had a dodgy rattlecan respray at some point. It's somewhat hard to return it to original spec without knowing what that is, so that kills that urge, leaving open season on a better paint job - any thoughts?
It's a bit of a mystery frame though and full of weird contradictions. I can only find one other Cicli Dora bike online, and that's a town bike on the Registro Cicli Storici website (the l'Eroica record-keepers) but this one's got a 'Dora' cast headset, which implies to me they were produced in suffucuent numbers to warrant producing branded components. It's unmarked tubing but feels lightweight. It's got 19-tooth Cambio Corsa rear dropouts (so mid-50s latest) but internal cable routing for the rear brake which feels more modern. It's had a dodgy respray at some point and I've just oily-ragged it for the moment while I decide what to do.
But, and here's the fun part, the long-lever 'Tourist' Cambio Corsa is a piece of cake to use. Unlike the shorter version and the Paris Roubaix, where the handles are lower than the rear rim, these sit about 4" higher, below the saddle. It's such a pleasure to be able to change gear without feeling like I'm going to slip a disc! I strapped my NoPro to the back and rode up and down the close a few times marvelling in how much easier it is than the other versions. It feels like an upgrade to 1950! In other good news, having lost a bit of timber, my weight now seems to set the chain tension perfectly when the axle rolls back and forth in the dropouts.
View: https://youtu.be/rMihGLt_03U
It's definitely had a dodgy rattlecan respray at some point. It's somewhat hard to return it to original spec without knowing what that is, so that kills that urge, leaving open season on a better paint job - any thoughts?
