Thursday, January 16, 2020

1970 Giuseppe Pelà built Faema replica


Giuseppe Pelà was one of that small number of master 
frame builders that have become part of the rich tapestry 
of cycling lore and legend.
Pelà is known for never building frames under his own name,
preferring to construct high end frame sets for elite riders 
and in the case of Feama, the whole team in 1969(?), 
and flagship frames for established brands,
 Masi and Gios to just name two!
Apparently he also taught Irio Tommasini the fine art of 
Frame building, as I said a master builder.
Guiseppe Pela, Paratella  and Angelo Picchio
photo Courtesy of Classic Rendezvous

 In the early 1970's Pelà's wife became seriously ill,
Pelà stopped building frames to look after her and 
never built another frame as far as I could find.


I have this card pinned above my workbench, I would often 
take it down and study the details that have already 
been etched into my memory..
 so of course I had to build a Faema team replica bike at 
some stage, you know, like Merckx rode...who doesn't.
 I brought this frame out of Italy from a collector whom I
have brought several frames from, it had been repainted 
at least once, so there was no way to tell what name it had 
originally been built under, which suited me fine for this 
particular project, sadly I forgot to photograph the frame
before I stripped it...damn.

Anyway here is the finished result.
I hope you enjoy the photos, I know I really enjoyed the
process of working on a master builders frame and 
recreating one of Merckx's iconic bikes at the same time.