Tigra Pista Titan, 1974, Switzerland
History & Specifications
This most exceptional and worldwide unique Tigra Titanium track bike in NOS condition is a revelation to the collectors world. Constructed and engineered by two outstanding individuals, Alessandro Manfredi from the Comepre factory in Settimo Milanese in Italy and Vittorio Coassin, an italian framebuilder from Carouge, Switzerland. The oldest invoice records I have seen are dated from June 10, 1974 when Aletti & Mosca delivered a titanium bicycle frame to Coassin. During 1975 and 1977 Coassin sold a few racing frames and lightweight titanium and Ergal components to Tigra for the Professional teams.
In the beginning of the 1970s the supply for thin wall Titanium tubing for bicycle production was very limited. Only some standard diameters like 1″ in pure titanium grade 4 quality were available. Other companies like Teledyne USA or Speedwell in the United Kingdom used pure titanium tubes with the disadvantage of cracking tubes and welds.
Aletti & Mosca and Comeple Srl desided to make the main frame tubing out of sheet metal of grade 5 titanium alloy. They welded the formed tubes in the Argon chamber that still today exists! Other parts of the frame were built with grade 2 titanium.
For more information about the Compre history you find here detailed informations:
According to Coassin, they only have built 11 track frames and this one is the only existing bearing the Tigra logo and is in NOS condition, the tubulars were never glued. The track bike was in possession of the Tigra factory and was sold 1984 to a bike mechanic. He kept the track bike untouchted until 2006 when he planned to disassemble the wheels to safe the hubs. In the very last moment I could safe the complete track bike. Since then I took care of the bike, travelled many times across Switzerland to meet to Coassin to unveil the complete story of the bike. The bike is also featured in my 3D animation movie where Coassin tells in short the story of the development of this unique vehicle.
40 years of storage and moving around, the bike presents still in exceptional condition. Only the latex tubulars lost over the years the ability to hold air. This is a true collectors bike for an individual or a museum and shoudn’t be raced at all.
The documentation in the book «kick into next gear» contains, in great detail, all relevant technical information.
Frame size seat tube 55 cm center–top, top tube 56.5 cm center–center, weight 5.40 kg