Here we have a mid ’80s lugged steel road racing frame and matching fork, constructed of Columbus tubing, from the famous Italian bicycle manufacturer Atala. With over a century of sports bicycle production behind them, having been originally founded In Milan as long ago as 1907, Officine Meccaniche Atala are no newcomers to top level cycle sport. The first racing team to be sponsored by the Atala brand competed in the 1910 Giro d’Italia, since which time 36 individual Giro stages have been won on bikes bearing the instantly recognizable Atala script.
This particular Atala Team Professional frame and fork has been freshly refinished in a lustrous silver metallic with vivid deep blue accents to the main tubes and fork blades. The classic cursive Atala lettering has been applied in white paint, not mere decals, to the seat and down tubes, and our paint maestro has reproduced the diagonal blue-into-silver fades with evident panache. The decorative lug holes and Atala-scripted seat stay caps have been detailed by hand in white enamel. A new Columbus tubing decal and a new Cesare Rizato & C. Atala headbadge decal finish this painstaking paint refurbishment off nicely.
The correct original fork features a chromed sloping crown emblazoned twice more with the Atala typographic motif, and there are long additional reinforcing tangs with triangular cut-outs down the inside of the upper fork blades. The front derailleur attaches to a braze-on fitting, and the rear brake cable is located along the upper top tube by three more braze-ons. There is provision for a single water bottle. The drop-outs, of course, are Campagnolo items, and the lugs and slotted bottom bracket casting with additional cable guides are by Bulgarelli.
Brand: Atala
Material: Steel Columbus SL
Frame Size/Seat tube: 52.5 cm ct. – ct. (54 cm top tube)
Top tube Length: 54 cm
Head tube: 120 mm
Fork: 1″ Threaded
Fork Shaft: 160 mm
Rear spacing: 126mm
Seatpost diameter: 27.2mm