Pretty small
love that paint
The Tange fork dropouts are unusual for a De Rosa. The crown and inner blade tangs are what de Rosa used on many forks but I haven’t seen another with Tange dropouts. Not saying it ain’t real, just unusual.
^ I thought it must have been an aftermarket fork, but the lugs seem to have the heart motif. Did Ugo subcontract Tange to make a bunch of forks?
The heart motif is just the lug pattern/shape and is cast that way. Not original and exclusive to De Rosa. Aids in brazing penetration and flowing the brass around (as are most cutouts, reliefs, drilled lugs etc). Very few productions bikes had any carved or customized lugs … most had them panto’d or stamped en masse becuase it was cheap, easy to replicate and cheap.
De Rosa used to build everything in house (no subcontracting). Only way would be if they had a bunch of these dropouts cheap, the local suppliers didn’t have any other stock or if Ugo thought they were better.
In any case too many peep’s focus too much on the brand of dropouts. For the most (in Italy) they were made by Tecnociclo and stamped Campagnolo, Columbus, Gipiemme, De Rosa, Merckx, Colnago or whatever the customer ordered. French and Japanese dropouts were equally as good (and maybe even better) but either were known by their shape/style or were stamped with the manufacturer’s name (Tange, Suntour etc). I pointed it out not as a mark against it but as something I’d not seen on other de Rosa’s. I’m almost certain it’s genuine and original.
It’s hot!
I know what you mean, but the heart does seem more pronounced on the De Rosa example:
But we’re talking the whole fork, right? Not just the dropouts?
I see what you mean (funny, I look at all the small details and not the obvious). In looking closer it may well be that the fork is not original even though it is very close to what De Rosa would normally use off the shelf. The lack of a pantographed crown suggest it might be a complete fork bought separately and to nicely compliment what would have originally been on there ex factory. The cutouts on the crown are just standard and not “heart” shaped as it may appear.