A crusty Casati Perfection
 

Been quite a while since I shared what I'm working on, and re-entering grad school has limited my bike work in general.

But here we are...the latest find.

From what I can tell, it's a Casati Perfection from sometime in the late 80's.

It's a mix of Campy parts, with a triple up front but no indexing on the 7spd rear.

The seat stays caught my eye, but honestly not much on the Internet talks about these bikes. Probably Columbus. The centered shifter boss is kind of cool too.

Paint has a couple issues, and was a Cycle Art repaint. Some bubbling under the paint near the seatpost lug, and the chrome on the fork is toast.

Suntour Superbe Pro hubs.

Anyone know about these?

Happy New Year :giver:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4886/...6fae6016_k.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7863/...5139a00c_k.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4804/...cf88616b_k.jpg

More images here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/673386...57699331924810

Whats to know? It is red and italian! Three generations of handmade bikes from Monza Italy. Looks beautiful to my eye.

...I just bought one from earlier than yours, and repainted it in the fall. The makers are still in business and have a website. Sometimes they respond to information requests, and sometimes they don't. Welcome to Italy. :D

The big deal with the ones in the 70's was they were in the forefront of through the frame cable routing. FWIW. I'm not a fan of internal routing, but I can deal with it if I need to.

Cool and unusual details! The seat stays, the shifter mount; I've never seen anything quite like them.

The chrome on the fork looks pretty scruffy from here; is it as bad as it looks or just kinda dirty?

Yeah, it's pretty bad on one side.

I'll either have it powder coated or painted in the near term.

Seems structurally OK though!

Seatpost and stem moved no problem, so I'm not anticipating rust inside the tubes.

...if you do have it repainted, and you want to go the full rebadging route, I'm pretty sure yours is a "Gold Line", and those "Perfection"decals might exhibit some creative license from Cycleart. Anyway, I looked at a lot of pictures of Casati bikes on Google search trying to figure out how to paint mine, and the ones I saw with seat stays and shifters in that style were all badged "Gold Line". The "Perfection" decals seem to have been used on earlier bikes (like mine).

They came in some pretty exotic color schemes. These guys somehow ended up with a bunch of NOS framesets from 1985 that they are selling off, and they have a full listing or the colors and photos of the decals for some frames that are of similar vintage to yours.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a2001343ef.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...34b54da523.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0a1513ffeb.jpg

what is the surfboard in the first pic? looks very nice :) (it is not all about bikes :) )

Super helpful, thanks!

And yes you may be right about the Perfection decal. Creative license :P

How do you like the ride of yours?

This example from @ozneddy looks most similar to mine in terms of the seat stays and shifter mount.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...o/P1010027.jpg

The board atop my work bench is a 5'10 old school twinny fish for those small days when you still want to turn. Gave it a full wipe down a started with fresh wax for the new year!

In the upper right corner is a 7'6 funboard that my wife learned to surf on. Nice to grovel on but too much board when the waves pick up.

Our combined collection of bikes and board sits at about ten of each. Lots of options for rolling or sliding depending on the conditions ;)

Thanks, that was a useful thread.

A mountain of bikes you say? Those pink Casatis are really really pretty.

Really it was just two bikes and a frameset, plus a mountain of wheels and various extras. Honestly, I've still only dealt with about half of the loot from that day, but it's mostly the fact that the bikes were a Cinelli, a Casati, and a De Rosa that made it so extravagant. Full details here: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ure-heavy.html

Pretty sweet pickup you got there.

That Cinelli, gosh.

I'll add this Casati to the Campy Triple thread once it's been cleaned up!

...I just got it painted, decals on, and clear coated with epoxy clear before the weather turned, so I have yet to reassemble and ride it. It might be next up in the line, because I'm finishing up a pretty nice Bianchi Giro right now.

I got a set of Perfection Casati decals from Greg Softley, and I went for that sort of metallic cinnamon red color they were using in 1985, even though I think mine is earlier than that. Mine was powdercoated white and not rebadged by the previous (original) owner, but I managed to rough it up and get decent adhesion with a primer and color coat.

If I get it put back together soon, I'll put up some pictures.

Just don't leave them out in the sun too long:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...58c81946f7.jpg

Mine used to be pearlescent pink; what you're seeing above is basically the gold base layer. I solved the refinish problem by media-blasting, then added decals to the bare frame, finishing with three coats of matt clear. Turned out a good looker and a great rider!

OP: with that "tuning fork" seat stay top eye, braze-on FD mount and later lugs, I think Perfection is out and Gold Line is in. Mine is an earlier frame and was originally designated a Perfection.

Enjoy your cool bike :)

DD

Thanks DD!

Still not sure of the year of my frame, but trying to narrow it down.

Just found out the rear hub is falling apart, so more crusty than I originally thought.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...231e09a99f.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02d5ffe45e.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6474084eae.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...efe5654428.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f5247c1cd6.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9e75fbfa31.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...738472b75d.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0212ff4b6b.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c367ffbe9b.jpg

Hi 3alarmer, I just finished this Casati Gold Line. Any other Casati owners out there? I’m reviving this thread. Show us what you got!

aceves


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5a821de0b.jpeg

Yes there are :) nice work on the bike!

https://fotos.rennrad-news.de/img/ph...-800-010.jpg?0

A burgundy painting with yellow stickers and a yellow bar tape (and possibly a yellow saddle ;) ) always warms my heart.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...980d8db301.jpg
Just posted this in another thread. A little too young for this forum (2002), but I just finished building it up and am in love.

Quill stem means it gets a pass