1979 De Rosa super prestige pista #2.

In the last 3 years i have been a couple of times to Ukraine, and got in contact with a couple of people and this De Rosa came out of that. After talking for a couple of months the deal was made. Allot of patina on this one. . . As a master craftsman, Ugo De Rosa and the DeRosa team (including sons Cristiano, Doriano and Danilo) hand-craft each DeRosa cycle that is made in their Milan factory. . After developing a passion for bicycle racing as a young boy, Ugo De Rosa (born 1934) opened his first business manufacturing racing bicycles in the early 50's. The quality of his work quickly developed a following amongst amateur racers and in 1958 Ugo De Rosa was asked to build a bike for Raphael Geminiani for the next Giro d'Italia. . During the 60's and 70's De Rosa cemented his reputation with the cycling elite by supplying cycles to the professional Faema, Tbac, Max Majer, Filotex and Sanson teams. During the 70's Uge De Rosa also accepted the role of official frame builder and mechanic for the Molteni team which was captained by Eddy Merckx. During this period, the Molteni team won nearly every major race, including the Giro d'Italia, Milano-san Remo, the World Championship and the Tour de France. . De Rosa's expertise was further acknowledged when Eddy Merckx established his own cycle brand - engaging Ugo De Rosa as a technical consultant. Info: https://www.forzabikes.co.nz/DeRosahistory. . . Im not sure what tubing is used and the reason for that is because on the steerertube there is Reynolds 531 double butted stamped. Eddy Merckx won his first Tour de France in 1969 on a De Rosa built, Reynolds 531, bike. I think Ugo De rosa built a number of reynolds 531 tubed bikes for Eddy Merckx in the early '70's and they were branded "EDDY MERCKX" . My guess (only a guess) is that the early De Rosa's were probably built with Reynolds tubing but later changed to Columbus tubing. I would guess that this may have been before the 1980's. . . 58 center center 59 center top 58 top tube