Fiets in de kijker: Arezzo Sprinter

A bike with an Italian name this time in the spotlight but anything but Italian. The name Arezzo was launched by the Belgian bicycle manufacturer Norta, probably in response to the fashion phenomenon that arose from the 1970s to make their bicycle brands sound Italian.

The reason was because Italian racing bikes then had just that little bit more in terms of design than the other racing bikes. Although we must immediately add that beautiful bicycles were also made in other countries, but the number of Italian brands was still larger.

Usually the Italian sounding name was a contraction of several words like the family name. Some examples are Comati (COols MArcel TIelt) and Capino (CAtry and PIno). You can find more information about this fashion trend in the article Belgium bicycle brands that sound very Italian

But back to this Arezzo. What is striking is the color and finish of the frame, everywhere you see small cracks painted. This finish is also called crackled and it makes this frame a bit special. Also beautiful is the engraving of the Arezzo model in the upright rear fork.

The bicycle probably dates from the late 1980s - early 1990s. It contains a mix of the 1st version of Shimano Exage Action group that was only on the market from 1987 and the later version Shimano Exage EX that came on the market from 1990 (learn more about the history of the Shimano Exage group). You can see the mix in the photos below.

In addition to the Japanese Shimano, Italian (Columbus Gara tubes, ITM handlebars and Selle Italia saddle) and Spanish components (Triplex seatpost) have also been used