56cm Somec Classic Italian Steel Frame SET Restored | eBay
Somec Lugo DI Romagna Frame SET 57cm VGC Columbus SLX Campagnolo Cinelli Rare | eBay
Road Bike Frame Somec Columbus Cromor Campagnolo Shimano 600 Dura ACE Wheels | eBay
perhaps not cheap, but plenty of nice here.
The paint on that last one is amazingly horribly rad.
be still my beating heart
Vintage Somec Air Frame Fork 55cm Square Campagnolo Aero Cabling Mint | eBay
you should buy that, and ride it to clayton. and not catch my face when i steal it from you.
Bastard !! You gotta stop posting these gems. And the decals on these are so hilarious that they’re mega cool.
Interestingly it uses Portacatena dropouts which were more or less leftovers (and obsolete tech.) shortly after they were introduced in the late 70’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with the dropouts (just a few holes) but that frame has to be at least 10 years older than the dropouts … framebuilders are such bargain hunters !!
Campagnolo “Porta Catena” chain holder | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
if it was a teeny bit cheaper, and a teeny bit smaller, i’d be mighty tempted.
i’m confused… what is it doing!?
and why are the decals hilarious? cos americana?
i have one of those; but heaps banged up.
the fork is so nice. and the seat post cluster bit.
I’ve actually never seen one before but i assume you hook the chain over it (or actually shift the chain onto it) so it’s real easy to take the rear wheel out and chain doesn’t fall off the chain rings either
So good, not a bad price, too (sans postage.) Is that a channel in the top tube? I bet that would get filled up with gunk quickly.
This … it came with special shifters (which overshifted for the resting position) and the liitle dropout attachment as pictured. Great idea but worked with 5 speed freewheels on 6 speed spacing. At the time of introduction 6 speed freewheels were more the norm and there wasn’t enough room to fit 6 speeds and the portacatena. So the irony is that it was obsolete just about the same time it was introduced. All those dropouts with holes sat on shelves for a long time till examples like the Somec above used them up (as they were probably a fair bit cheaper). Nothing wrong with them … just next to useless and an interesting point of interest.
The French constructeurs had been doing this type of thing for easy wheel removal decades earleir fwiw
And then last year Bishop hacked together an old portacatena and a modern shimano drivetrain and made it all work together.
it’s cute, but for the dick around doesn’t really offer a whole heap more than a small tab as found on many frames.
You have to lift the chain onto the tab and back off again.
With these you shift onto the carrier, remove the wheel, replace the wheel, shift off the carrier.
I’m not pretending it’s a necessity, but it’s much cleaner than using the tab.
Pretty useful on tours when you need to change a flat rear… shift onto the carrier, mechanic swaps wheel, resume awesomeness.
I think it’s a great idea as long as it works. Most people couldn’t care spending the extra $'s for labour and thinking time to make something like this.
Bonus points if it gets rid of stupid 11 and 12 tooth cogs that otherwise sit at the end of a cassette wasting space on most tourers and rando’s.
^^ i think previously the seller said it wasn’t a somec. plenty nice in any case.
max somec
Somec Columbus Max Steel Frame Frameset Needs Restoration Colnago Merckx | eBay
pure class
