UprightJoe

I stumbled across this Pinarello frame on eBay and couldn't help myself:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=290326528122

I don't know what came over me but I just had to have that frame. Now that I've won it, can anybody tell me how to date it? I've only found a handful of Pinarello catalogs from the 80's online - nothing from the 90's. I'm assuming a Campy Record grouppo from about the same year would be the most appropriate build?

Amani576

Well... 126*mm spacing places it in the 80's or VERY early 90's.
Campy is the appropriate build for that frame. C-Record.
You got a kick-arse deal.
-Gene-

SingeDebile

interesting bottom bracket cable routing

UprightJoe

The seller claims it's from the 90's and one of the decals mentions both '84 and '90. I don't have the frame in-hand yet so I haven't had a chance to inspect/translate the decals. I'm assuming it's at least a 91 based on those two facts though.

C-Record it is for the build. What components would typically NOT be campy? Brakes? Seatpost? Stem? Bars? I would have been riding Japanese bikes with Shimano components when this bike was made so I'm a bit clueless.

I'm glad to hear I didn't get taken to the cleaners price-wise. The only references I could find to Asolo described it as a lower-end model with off-brand tubing but the Columbus stickers are clearly visible in the pictures of this frame and the paint looks great so I figured it was probably worth a few bones...

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how that works yet. It'll also be the first bike I've owned with internal cable routing so I'm not exactly sure how that works yet either. I'm going to need to dig up some photos and search posts here to figure it out while I'm gathering my components.

bryle

Velobase.com - C-Record

Go with some 3ttt or Cinelli bar and stem combo unless you can find a pantographed Pinarello stem.

RobbieTunes

Great price, very nice frame.

Cinelli bar and stem, I'd opine.

I suggest getting that frame clear coated ASAP. Once the decals start falling off, the paint is next if you sweat on it.

I suggest an 8-sp Chorus group with Ergos, and try to find early polished Vento, Ypsilon, or Shamal wheels by Campy. Or a late 80's Campy group with Synchro II. Doesn't matter, it'll be cool.

Whatever you do, ride it.

Picchio Special

C-Record is overkill on a Cromor frame, IMO (so are Shamals). I don't believe any Cromor complete bikes from that era would have come with C-Record. I do agree that with Pinarello, Campagnolo is the way to go.

gomango

Pretty frameset.

2009 Campy Centaur
Open Pros/Record hubs
Nitto Noodle bars/ Nitto Pearl stem
San Marco Regal-your color choice
Keep going on ebay and find an appropriate Campy seatpost/ or Nitto 83

Good luck!

Late add- +1 on the clear coat. The decals on that bike are brittle to say the least. Careful w/ yellowing.

prettyshady

I have an Asolo Pinarello frame too, but have yet to put an exact date on it. I'm geussing by the internal rear brake route, its about 1990? here are some catalogs from the late 80's


https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello/
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello85/
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello87/
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello89/

Reynolds 

I have a similar frame, but from the late '90s I guess. The tubing is labeled Dolmen OS (but it's not oversize) and was manufactured by Dedacciai for Pinarello. Some details are different, as you can see, and spacing is 130mm:

UprightJoe

Nice frames prettyshady and Reynolds - those both look like they were made yesterday...

I've been trying to bone up on my knowledge of Campy from that era for a few days now... It sounds like the Syncro stuff which would have been out when this frameset was built was really tempermental, including the Syncro II stuff. So now it looks like I have to decide between 4 options:

1) Build it with a pre-indexed group
2) Cold set the frame and run a more modern group
3) Build it with Syncro or Syncro II and expect to be tinkering with it constantly.
4) Build it with Syncro or Syncro II but run it as friction

I'm probably leaning towards option 4 right now.

Also, I'm probably going to run tubulars on this bike. Is it worth trying to find a NOS set of rims or should I just use period-correct hubs and mavic reflex rims? What do most people do?

conspiratemus

Italian frames in those days were often sold at retail as framesets with the buyer specifying whatever Campy or Shimano group he wanted. For an Asolo, I should think Campy Victory/Triomphe or Shimano 600, or perhaps even 105 if you were building it on a budget. Many of us buying/building a bike like that for the first time would try to get the best wheels we could afford and then go cheap on the other bolt-ons, particularly low-bling parts like headsets and seatposts. Campy Record and SR brakes were so expensive that almost everyone used Modolo, Ofmega, Gipiemme, DiaCompe, even Weinmann once they came out with good sidepulls (which I still have in use.)

While I personally prefer Cinelli stems and bars, most of the catalogue shots show TTT, and most of the pantographed "Pinarello" stems I see on eBay are TTT. Note that the Cinelli standard of that era was a 26.4 mm stem clamp. Bars in 26.4 mm are getting rare now, and expensive to buy new old stock (of course you don't want to ride used handlebars...)

This mix-and-match approach would suit an Asolo particularly well if you were trying to make it look period-correct, since a bike at that price point could well have been someone's first half-decent road bike and very likely would have been built with both eyes on the rollaway cost. This historical fact will allow you to get your bike built up sooner if you are assembling parts from eBay as you find them.

Agree that Campy's indexing downtube shifters didn't work well until their last effort just before Ergo, the 8-speed SL-01RE C units that are index-only (no friction mode) and have the little adjustment thumbscrew on the rear lever for fine cable adjustments while under way. These go for high prices on eBay and are too rich for an Asolo, especially one from the 7-speed 126mm era. If you can do without indexing, get some Shimano or Suntour dual-mode levers which in friction mode will of course work with any combination of freewheel and derailleurs. They are more resistant to ghost shifting during out-of-the-saddle climbing than the old Campy friction shifters. Simplex retro-friction shifters are also excellent.

Edit: The internal rear brake cable routing is easy to do. There is a conduit running inside the top tube between the entry and exit ports that is just wide enough for a bare cable to pass -- it is no more difficult to pass the cable along it than it is to push it through helical housing -- you don't have to fish for the end flapping around loose inside the large frame tube. You have to cut the cable housing to fit into the ports just as if they were ordinary cable stops -- measure carefully. The installation will look better if you use reducing ferrules at each port, but in a pinch you can just strip the plastic covering off 5 mm of cable housing at each end. The metal helical windings will just fit down into the port but won't be pulled further into the tube. Finally, because of the angle that the forward port wants to impose on the cable housing, it looks better with the cable housing running in the old-fashioned non-aero arc from the brake lever down to the port and not run under the handlebar tape in the modern style where it would have to try to come into the port sideways. (This will make you think twice about brifters!)

Enjoy your project!

UprightJoe

Thanks much - very insightful and helpful.