Chat with Buck enough and you’ll pick up on it. By “it” I mean his desire to get a deal on unique things. Or at least that was my impression. He rolled this Chesini into Golden Saddle this week and it immediately piqued my interest. Turns out, he bought it from a shop in Seattle that was liquidating its inventory. It came mostly as you see it here, minus the Swift saddle pack and top tube pad. It also had a longer pandographed stem, which Buck swapped out for a Nitto. The seller noted that their shop commissioned Chesini to build them a lightweight touring bike, with a randonneuring influence. To my knowledge, this wasn’t Chesini’s specialty and was their first attempt at creating such a bike. It’s a prototype of sorts if you will and prototypes are often a bit buggy. Idiosyncracies aside, this bike has style and is not ashamed of its detailing. If you’ve seen Chesini frames before, you’re familiar with how extravagant they can be. That being said, there are a few head-scratchers. For starters, there are no provisions for a front rack, hence the pipe clamps. Those dropouts are a bit uncharacteristic of Chesini’s craftsmanship, and the angles do look a bit steep for a tourer.
Still, when Buck rolled this bike through the shop, I had to get some photos of it. Documenting well-used bikes like this is always fun and I know y’all would enjoy it. Now, I know someone out there has more information about it, so let’s hear it!
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