Bottecchia Bicycle

[Ernbar]

Yesterday a gorgeous yellow Bottechia bicycle was listed on the Facebook Marketplace in my area for $50. The odd thing it did not have gear shifters or rear gears but the pedal crank had two sizes of sprockets. It sold very quick but just wondered about the lack of gear feature and the double sprocket setup on the pedals. I have never seen such a setup on a bike.

 

[cyclingday]

Possibly turned into a fixed gear bike during the “Fixie Craze.”
A lot of great old road bikes met their demise during that time period.
Not too bad if the frame was left intact, but a lot of the guys were trimming off the brazed on fittings.
I had an old Colnago, that I refused to sell to a guy, because he said, that’s what he’d planned to do with it.
They didn’t see any value in those bikes at that time.
I was always amazed that what seemed like none of those guys ever gravitated towards antique bikes.
I’m thinking, that the knee surgeons are making a mint right about now, from all the young adults with blown out knee’s.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
I became a Bottechia fan when Greg Lamond won the Tour de France while riding one.
Quite the endorsement.

 

[juvela]

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If the bicycle's chainset was cottered steel it probably began life as a DeLuxe model.

There is a Bottecchia catalogue from 1973 posted here.

If the machine you saw was boom era you should be able to find something very close in this reference -

http://velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=27995

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