Argh! Neglected Casati dream bike

Damn it, I just went back to the town where I used to live and was wandering round the streets with a half hour to kill.

I saw an amazing Casati bike, steel frame with delta brakes and record kit with custom paintwork and pantographing. It had little slots cut into the top of the seat stays near the seat cluster, one of those tiny details that make Italian frames so nice. I think it was even my size. Almost certainly the nicest bike I've ever seen on the street.

It was locked up with a crappy plastic lock like you'd find in Halfords, with a couple of other student bikes piled on top of it. Painful to see someone neglect such a nice bike like that.

Sadly, I didn't have a camera. Neither did I have a paper and pen to put a note asking if it was for sale

Quality is wasted on some people. You should have offered a swap for a Halfords £80 sale special, they'd have probably snapped your hand off

As I live in a town with a big student population I've got used to seeing lovely old frames that have been made into fixies and been pimped up with dayglo tyres, grips etc.

But at least they are been ridden I suppose, I only get angry when i see ones that have had the gear hanger chopped off.

It makes me wonder how these sort of bikes end up in these situations. The Casati would have been very expensive to buy: the Deltas date it to approx. very early 90's, assuming it is in its original build, and it must have been the owner's 'good bike' for a few years at least. Then what became of it for it to be relegated to such a poor, unloved life?

Changes in circumstances will mean some bikes just move outside the world of the serious cyclist e.g. couple split up, he moves on but leaves bikes in garage with every intention of recovering them when he gets settled again; she stays in house, eventually she gets sick of tripping over bikes so sells them for buttons to unknowing stude who wants a cheap bike to run around on. Another possibility is that the owner died and the bike was sold without any knowledge of its true value. Also, sadly, some of these good bikes that are spotted being used as hacks will have been stolen, but this can't be the case with them all.

It would be interesting if the bikes could talk. I wonder what the 'best' bike is out there that is being used by someone as a daily runner but they have no idea how good a machine they have?

Is there any chance you would be able to get back to the town and have a look around for the bike? I know it's possibly a small chance of seeing it again.


Is

FWIW the bike I saw was similar to the Linea D'Oro model on this page (third frame down from the top):

http://cicli-berlinetta.de/tag/casati/ :shock:

The kit was almost certainly the original stuff, the deltas had been painted to match the frame.

I think I had seen the bike before: I noticed it disappearing off down the street in front of me and clocked the distinctive Delta brake profile.

My (soon to be) wife still works in the same town. However, I don't think she'll be overly keen on me asking her to keep an eye out for the bike and collar the owner to either ask if it's for sale or tell him off for not looking after it
She already thinks this bike obsession of mine has gone far enough.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and see it again one day. It's certainly the nicest bike I've seen on the street.