1972 Gilardi Dreher pista Patrick Sercu

Hunting bikes and finding gems is a something we can all relate with, but what happens when you actually find a gem. The emotions are going sky high , question being asked online just to give that gut feeling some form of comfort and acknowledgement. . A couple weeks ago i found this trackframe and directly my gut was saying could this be another Gilardi build? . After seeing the photos, a gut feeling quickly came up, partly because of the lugs at the seatstay and the forkcrown. After we had agreed a price and after some contact with the seller, I decided to pick up the bike in France. As I do with all my finds, I enjoy the train with my bicyclebag and a sandwich enjoying the scenery along the way. Arrived in France by the seller, and took the relevant trackbike. My abdomen feeling gets stronger and stronger. As I often suspect something is not what it seems. Frame was clearly repainted and when I saw an Italian +GF+ bottom bracket shell I thought I might have a track bike in a wrong jacket again. After I picked up the bike and came home the homework started, through the years I have had an x ​​number of track bikes in my hands. And how sad I find it often, the most beautiful and often the team frames are repainted. It is a pity, but on the other hand if this bike was original then the seller would never have sold it! . I am happy to say that im pretty sure my gut is right. Which was based on the Dreher / Brooklyn RDV frame i found couple months earlier. ( https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/1972-gilardi-brooklyn-gios-rdv-pista-39693 ) It was easy compare the frame with the newest addition to the collection, im pretty sure this is a Gilardi build trackframe. Looking a bit further i found a picture from Patrick Sercu when he was riding for the Dreher team. But can it be, doubt kicks in and i started asking around for more pictures from Patrick, dispite i always help other when they ask me for info, it became very quiet.. Which also make me realise, always listen to your gut! . . Now back to the frameset,......... When i took the tracjbike back home, i immediately took out the bottom bracket to see if there is any remnant of the old red paintjob. And luckily there was some red paint still visible in the bb shell!! This together with my gut feeling confirms that this frame was a old Dreher trackframe. Together with the picture i found from Patrick Sercu in his time by Dreher, i am safe to say that this is his old teambike. . Also looking at the Dreher picture it seems that the handlebar and stem could even be the original ones, aswell as the groupset. Minus the seatpost and rims. . I will repaint the frameset back in glorious red in the future. . 57cm center center 58,5cm center top 57cm top tube