“Because even intellectuals fall in love at least three times in their lifetimes.”

Replacing the 8:30 AM (another name inspried by a Zappa tune) in 2006, Pegoretti’s Love#3 was an aluminum rendering of the Marcelo. Being aluminium, Dario considered the Love #3 to be a mercenary frameset of sorts — it’s a “pure race bike” that “50% of the people want, and 70% of them don’t need.” The oversized chainstays (30mm) and large diameter main tubes of Columbus XLR8 Scandium were custom drawn to Dario’s specifications. The tubes were relatively thick-walled, in deference to Dario’s concern with the ride quality and longevity of his frames rather than with a mindless quest to shave grams (though, at 1225g in the 54cm frame, we were able to break the UCI’s weight limit without breaking a sweat). As usual, the attention to detail is mind blowing. .

Beautiful as it was, the Love #3 was well suited for hard riding and racing. Owners report that, unlike any other alloy frame they have known, the Love#3 had a Marcelo-like ride: smooth, comfortable, predictable on descents and very fast. All exactly what you would expect in a race specific frame.

The new Love#3 respects the original’s killer feel and shares most of it’s design features, but boasts a larger diameter headtube of 43mm, up from 39mm on the original.  The new headtube is stiffer and blends better with the rest of the frames custom, oversized Columbus 7.5 Alloy tubing.  Along with improved performance, the larger headtube necessitated an entirely new D19 headset designed as a collaberation between Chris King and Pegoretti, and based on the venerable Chris King NoThreadSet^tm.

From his super-human welds and museum quality finish to the frame’s aggressive stance everything is a bespoke reflection of the artist’s vision. Unique among Pegorettis the Love#3 features removable derailleur hanger bolted to oversized, hooded alloy dropouts. It uses an Italian threaded bottom bracket, a 31.6mm seatpost and includes a Chris King D19 1 1/8″ headset and a Falz fork

Should you come to the reasonable decision to own a Love#3 please allow the enthusiasts at Lakeside Bicycles to offer your their assistance. Our hours are Pacific Time 10-7 W-F, 10-6 Sat, 12-5 Sun, you can e-mail us at info@lakeside-bikes.com or, if you would like to learn much, much more about Dario Pegoretti and his frames, just click this link.

Videos

Painting with Dario Pegoretti

Reflections
Reflections on Dario Pegoretti and his frames