French Threaded Frame, Any Help Identifying Appreciated

[coomber]

I bought this off the late (great) Steve Worland just before he sadly passed away. He didnt know what it was other than he thought it was Italian and handbuilt. Bottom bracket has 650 C stamped, nothing else I can see on it. Here's what the great man himself had to say

I wish I knew what it was. I know it's a good quality frame and it's in decent condition. But I don't like the paint job... typical late 70s/early 80s wishy washy green with a slight snakeskin effect. The chrome is still good though.
I believe the BB is Italian threaded. I still have the Duraace BB and crankset that came with it, plus Duraace rear gear and brakeset.... all in remarkably good condition.
Rear dropouts are 126mm. Seat post is 27.2.

Tried a 27.2 seatpost but seems a little tight, going to try a 27.0.
I attach a few rubbish pictures. Tesag so Steve told me, were painters and not builders of bikes. So think the decals are a red herring.

Any thoughts or opinions as to what it might be would be appreciated.

 

[dorset boy]

Re:

I would say thats more mid 80s. Agree about the paint job .

 

[keithglos]

Re:

Does not look Italian to me, Is the bottom bracket right hand thread both sides?
Keith

 

[coomber]

Re: Italian Frame, Any Ideas or Help Identifying Appreciated

Pass. Bottom bracket is in there and (novice that I am) I dont have a BB tool for these types to check.

 

[Martin Rattler]

Re:

Anything stamped on the cups that might indicate whether it is a British or Italian threaded?

 

[Excel]

Re: Italian Frame, Any Ideas or Help Identifying Appreciated

if it's stamped 37 on the b/b it's British if it's 36 then it's Italian
Griff

 

[coomber]

Re:

Thanks griff and Martin. I will check the bb before I finish putting it together. And report back.

 

[pigman]

Re:

Unicrown fork crown style looks 90s. Plus vertical rear dropouts not used much in 80s other than for ultra close time trial frames. I would guess early to mid 90s, the end of the lugged frame era

 

[coomber]

Re:

Thanks for all the input. I'm really happy with it. Hopefully rides nice!

 

[foz]

Re: Italian Frame, Any Ideas or Help Identifying Appreciated

It looks nice, more early 90's than late 80's I think, due to the semi-vertical dropouts and fork crown as someone said. 126mm rear spacing was still being used during the early 90's too.

Those wheels look nice too