Product Description
Roland Della Santa was one of the first American frame builders of the classic era, starting in 1970. He gained his fame building for Greg Lemond from the time he was racing juniors. This is a very late Corsa Speciale model, which was his signature road racing model from 1974 to the time he died in 2019. This is a later one, the 15th frame built in 1999 (build sheet and handwritten work order in images). It is built with ultralight Dedacciai Zero heat treated tubing and 130mm rear spacing ideal for for 8 speed to current/modern components. It's very much a modern recreation of a vintage lugged steel road bike with modern high end steel. Despite it's recent build date, it's aesthetic form is that of vintage 1970's / 1980's frames. Horizontal dropouts, curvy lugs, dipped stays & chrome fork, pump peg, star-pantographed cube seatstay bridge, etc. Those with sharp eyes will spot the cable stop adjusters for bar end shifters and brifters, the only feature that gives it away as a newer build.
Roland also made an extra-deluxe model called The Ossobuco, or “hole in bone”. It's a take on Masi’s Prestige with Chronometro slotted chainstays.
*Note, the fork's crown race area is somehow slightly undersized at 26.35mm. Nobody seems to know how/why this would have happened, but there are solutions. Jim Allen (who painted all Roland's frames) says the fix is get a framebuilder or machine shop to knurl it with a lathe or the Stein knurling tool. Save that, CR suggests Loctite bearing retaining fluid on the crown race will be very safe and secure with a 26.4mm race. They also suggest finding a headset with a split ring crown race as an alternative. The price has been reduced accordingly to compensate for the efforts needed here.*
Condition
Aside from the crown race mentioned above, the frame is in near mint shape with low miles! It passes for new from 8 feet away. ZERO dents/rust/bends/cracks/damage. It's original paint is deep, glossy, and clear. Note the bent dropout has been replaced. Dropouts/fork ends show only light axle marks. Fork chrome is nearly perfect. The layer has a few spots where it's worn off (mostly driveside chainstay). Stay chrome has some sort of protective plastic later over it and it appears it will be pristine underneath aside from maybe that scuff on the driveside chainstay towards the dropout. No chain suck marks. The only significant paint wear I see is a ~3mm slender chip on top of the top tube and two chips on the underside of downtube by BB shell. Maybe a few other very minor marks not worth mentioning.
Details
- Frame numbers: 9015 / 54DZ / 154 (dropout)
- Top tube: 55cm
- Seat tube: 54cm c-c, 55.5cm c-t
- Head tube: 132mm
- Chainstays: 410mm
- Head angle: 73 degrees
- Seat angle: 73 degrees
- Rear spacing: 130mm
- Seatpost: 26.8
