Torelli Corsa Strada TIG
"I have to say it again: I love the blissfully quiet ride of the bike's heart of steel"
Bicycling Magazine
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| Torelli Corsa Strada. Click on the image for an enlarged view. | ||
"I have to say it again: I love the blissfully quiet ride of the bike's heart of steel"
Bicycling Magazine
|
||
| Torelli Corsa Strada. Click on the image for an enlarged view. | ||
The Corsa Strada is a real racing bike at the sport bike price. It is built of double-butted steel drawn down to only 0.5mm wall thickness. This is as thin as most tubing companies are capable of drawing steel. The 56 cm frame weighs 3 pounds 15 ounces before being sent to paint, paint brings it up to about 4 pounds on the button. On top of this superb steel, we still give it an American DuPont Imron multi-stage paint job. For those on a tight budget, or cannot wait the three weeks for American paint, we offer a lower-cost Italian paint option. The Corsa Strada is light, fast, comfortable, and beautiful.
I have always been bothered by the lack of stiffness in the bottom bracket area in many TIG welded steel frames. We used a cast shell to reinforce and strengthen this critical area. We braze on reinforcements rings on the top and bottom of the head tube. The seat lug is an investment casting as well. I believe we've blended the best of both techniques.
The Torelli Corsa Strada is proof that a well designed frame made with care and less exotic materials will ride well. In fact, it can out-perform a frame of more expensive tubing built without the attention to detail that characterizes a fine bike. In fact, one magazine editor noted that our Corsa Strada rode almost as well as a Cinelli Super Corsa he was reviewing at the same time, and this was our 1997 Aelle frame!
Most builders of frames in this price range buy their fork blades and chain stays from the tubing manufacturer with pre-shaped ends. Our builders shun this time and money-saving shortcut. They still laboriously fill in the ends where the fork tips are inserted with brass and carefully hand-shape the joint with files and sanders for beauty and strength. Time is the item we lavish on our frames.
It has always been a major goal of Torelli to bring the performance of the most expensive Italian machines within the reach of everyone. And do not let anybody fool you, the Italians are the best at making superb stage-racing bikes.
The Corsa Strada is built in a small shop north of Padua that specializes in contract building for famous names in the cycling world. The Corsa Strada is shipped unpainted to Torelli, where we put on our famous paint and perform our meticulous frame preparation.
The Torelli Corsa Strada is built in Italy from Columbus Zona double-butted steel. The top tube and down tube are drawn down to .5mm. The seat lug and fork crown are lost-wax (investment-cast), as is the bottom bracket shell.
Steel fork: We were able to obtain .9mm fork blades for the Corsa TIG. This allowed us to use the same fork crown we use on our Countach OS and better frames. With the lighter, more supple .9mm blades, we can use the stiffer, lighter fork crown that shortens the flexible length of the fork blades. The net result is a far lighter, yet comfortable, stable fork that imparts the ride we want: comfortable and predictable.
Carbon Fork Options: Torelli stocks two carbon forks for the Corsa Strada, the Torelli Aspect with aluminum steerer, and Aspect SL with carbon steerer. Also available: a threadless steel fork which can be painted to match the frame, or chromed.
Paint is DuPont Imron.
Every frame size is built to a unique geometry, because a six foot man is not a scaled-up version of a man five feet five inches tall. They both have roughly the same size torso, but the bigger man has much longer arms and legs. Torelli design accommodates this fact. As the frame gets larger, the seat tube gets slacker and the top tube gets longer. We can't stress enough that this bike rides far, far better than either its price or its materials would lead one to believe.
The brake cable routing is split external for lighter weight and crisper feel.
The seat stays are brazed directly to the seat lug for lighter weight.
Frame weight, 56 cm: 4.0 lbs.
American paint: any of the colors on our paint page.
Any Imron color is available for custom paint, the cost is higher. Please inquire for price.
Sizes, measured center to center: 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 62 cm.
|
Frame Size |
Head Tube |
Seat Tube |
Top Tube |
Chain Stay |
|
47 |
71 |
75 |
49 |
40 |
|
48 |
71 |
75 |
51 |
40 |
|
49 |
72.5 |
75 |
51.5 |
40.5 |
|
50 |
72.5 |
75 |
52 |
40.5 |
|
51 |
72.5 |
74.5 |
52.5 |
40.5 |
|
52 |
72.5 |
74.5 |
53.5 |
40.5 |
|
53 |
73 |
74 |
54 |
40.5 |
|
54 |
73.5 |
74 |
54.5 |
40.5 |
|
55 |
73.5 |
73.5 |
55 |
40.5 |
|
56 |
73.5 |
73.5 |
56 |
41 |
|
57 |
74.5 |
73.5 |
57 |
41 |
|
58 |
74.5 |
73.5 |
57.5 |
41 |
|
60 |
74.5 |
72.5 |
59 |
41 |
|
62 |
74.5 |
72.5 |
60 |
41 |
Details of the Corsa Strada frame. Click on any photo (including the one at the top of the page) to see a larger version.
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