Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Classic & Vintage
Reload this Page >

Help identify this Cinelli

Notices
Classic & Vintage This forum is to discuss the many aspects of classic and vintage bicycles, including musclebikes, lightweights, middleweights, hi-wheelers, bone-shakers, safety bikes and much more.

Help identify this Cinelli

Old 10-14-19, 01:07 PM
  #1  
2wheeljonz 
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 181

Bikes: Eddy Merckx Titanium, AX, '74 Raleigh International, Velo Orange Randonneur, Trek 7600, Fuji Touring Series V, DeRosa, Miami Vice Ironman, Eddy Merckx 10th Anniversary

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 47 Post(s)
Liked 68 Times in 22 Posts
Help identify this Cinelli

The CL ad title said just “lightweight 10 speed” and the body of the ad didn’t contain much more information but did have some pics and listed a low price. The photos were of low quality but I did see a Cinelli logo on the fork crown and on the seat stay cap. No decals were on the bike. The bike looked to be my size so I called to see it. The owner was a non-bike person who said a friend gave it to him when he moved. He also said previous callers had told him it was a high quality bike and so he had raised the price to twice what it was listed for. The new price was still very good so I scheduled to see him immediately. The bike was my size and did not have any dents, deep scratches or rust. I pulled out my wallet and we had a done deal.
As mentioned, there are no decals on the bike; make, model, tubing or otherwise. I have not found a serial number.
It is a mish-mash of components:
Campy NR derailleurs and shifters, Ofmega Mistral crank, Cinelli stem and bars, Ofmega headset, Gipiemme seatpost, Universal AER brakes with Shimano RSX levers, Miche Competition hubs, Look pedals, Cinelli? seat. I can’t find any identification on the rims.
The paint appears original as does the lug lining. I haven’t checked yet for rifling in the tubes.
So, using the pics below, (or above),








what are your thoughts as to model and approximate year of bike?
2wheeljonz is offline  
Old 10-14-19, 01:21 PM
  #2  
merziac
Senior Member
 
merziac's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: PDX
Posts: 14,099

Bikes: Merz x 5 + Specialized Merz Allez x 2, Strawberry/Newlands/DiNucci/Ti x3, Gordon, Fuso/Moulton x2, Bornstein, Paisley,1958-74 Paramounts x3, 3rensho, 74 Moto TC, 73-78 Raleigh Pro's x5, Marinoni x2, 1960 Cinelli SC, 1980 Bianchi SC, PX-10 X 2

Mentioned: 267 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4493 Post(s)
Liked 6,297 Times in 3,632 Posts
Windsor, Centurion Pro or some such?

Last edited by merziac; 10-14-19 at 03:55 PM.
merziac is online now  
Old 10-14-19, 01:24 PM
  #3  
martl
Strong Walker
 
martl's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Munich, Germany
Posts: 1,316

Bikes: too many

Mentioned: 31 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 332 Post(s)
Liked 481 Times in 252 Posts
at a first glance: Microfusione seat lug, so about the same time as the cranks, second half eighties? The very sloppy lining job looks homemade.
I'm not aware whether Cinelli ever made a lower budget frame but if so, this might be one (even though the chromed lugs suggest otherwise).
There was a letter from Mr. Billato on CR list like 15 years ago in which he suggested his company had built frames for Cinelli. If so, this might actually be one?! (big speculation)
martl is offline  
Old 10-14-19, 01:24 PM
  #4  
KonAaron Snake 
Fat Guy on a Little Bike
 
KonAaron Snake's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 17,229

Bikes: Two wheeled ones

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1254 Post(s)
Liked 345 Times in 174 Posts
Looks like a Centurion Equipe (Cinelli built). Not a Windsor.
KonAaron Snake is offline  
Likes For KonAaron Snake:
Old 10-14-19, 01:25 PM
  #5  
Spaghetti Legs 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Central Virginia
Posts: 5,085

Bikes: Numerous

Mentioned: 150 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1672 Post(s)
Liked 3,034 Times in 904 Posts
That looks to be a Centurion Cinelli Equipe. Sold in the US in '84 and '85 I believe. It was sold with Omega cranks and brakes, Campy NR RD and FD.
__________________
N = '96 Colnago C40, '04 Wilier Alpe D'Huez, '10 Colnago EPS, '85 Merckx Pro, '89 Merckx Century, '86 Tommasini Professional, '04 Teschner Aero FX Pro, '05 Alan Carbon Cross, '86 De Rosa Professional, '82 Colnago Super, '95 Gios Compact Pro, '95 Carrera Zeus, '84 Basso Gap, ‘89 Cinelli Supercorsa, ‘83 Bianchi Specialissima, ‘VO Randonneur, Ritchey Breakaway Steel, '84 Paletti Super Prestige, Heron Randonneur

Spaghetti Legs is offline  
Likes For Spaghetti Legs:
Old 10-14-19, 02:07 PM
  #6  
markwesti
Senior Member
 
markwesti's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Seal Beach Ca. On the right , next to Long Beach
Posts: 1,825

Bikes: 86' Centurion Ironman

Mentioned: 72 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 628 Post(s)
Liked 314 Times in 175 Posts
Score !

https://www.vintage-centurion.com/mod...i-equipe.shtml
markwesti is offline  
Old 10-14-19, 03:02 PM
  #7  
2wheeljonz 
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 181

Bikes: Eddy Merckx Titanium, AX, '74 Raleigh International, Velo Orange Randonneur, Trek 7600, Fuji Touring Series V, DeRosa, Miami Vice Ironman, Eddy Merckx 10th Anniversary

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 47 Post(s)
Liked 68 Times in 22 Posts
SLegs and Mwesti, it looks like you nailed it. The link to vintage centurion describes it to a T.
So, are these regarded as “real” Cinellis or are they the red-headed step child? The vintage centurion site says it would have had a “Made in Italy” decal on it. Who would have it been built by?
Thanks
2wheeljonz is offline  
Old 10-14-19, 03:50 PM
  #8  
nesteel 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Midwest
Posts: 2,157

Bikes: See the signature....

Mentioned: 76 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 549 Post(s)
Liked 188 Times in 112 Posts
Good buy. They're nice riding bikes. I do not believe the lug lining is original. Bike snobs consider them "lesser than".
__________________
My bikes: '81 Trek 957, '83 Trek 720, '85 Trek 500, '85 Trek 770, '81 Merckx, '85 Centurion Cinelli, '85 Raleigh Portage, '92 RB-2, '09 Bianchi
nesteel is offline  
Old 10-14-19, 03:55 PM
  #9  
rando_couche
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,377
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 225 Post(s)
Liked 160 Times in 106 Posts
Originally Posted by nesteel
Good buy. They're nice riding bikes. I do not believe the lug lining is original. Bike snobs consider them "lesser than".
TRUE bike snobs consider any Cinellis made after the AL Colombo acquisition to be "lesser than". And they're right.
rando_couche is offline  
Likes For rando_couche:
Old 10-14-19, 04:07 PM
  #10  
RobbieTunes
Banned.
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 27,297
Mentioned: 34 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 378 Post(s)
Liked 1,407 Times in 908 Posts
The info is on here somewhere...1985 Cinelli Equipe (Team) Centurion

Built by the Chirico shop in Bussero, Italy, on the outskirts of Milan. Chirico made plenty of Cinelli models under agreement with Cinelli (and later, Columbo). Chirico's son was a framebuilder at Cinelli for more than 12 years.

Alan Goldsmith went to Italy to work out the arrangement, negotiating the size and placement of the Cinelli decals, the Cinelli pantograph logos, and the details on the frame of Columbus SL, with an SP seat tube on larger models.

One shipping container was ordered, with some models having lavender/black "CENTURION" on the DT and head badge, while others had orange/green. Posters show another font and color as well.

The saddle was a Cinelli Volare, and steering was Cinelli. Calipers and brake levers were Universal AER, and Miche supplied hubs, headset, and BB. The rims were Fiamme hard silver, crankset was Ofmega Mistral and pedals were Ofmega Sintesi. RD, FD, and shifters were NR, seat post by Gippieme.

Really nice bike. Yes. It's Italian , and yes, a Cinelli. It flopped, even at half the price of a Super Corsa.
In 1985 Centurion had the Equipe by Cinelli, the Prestige model with the new DA 2x6 indexed, the initial Ironman, and the do-everything Elite. All were really good values, but only the Ironman and Elite hit the price points needed.

If it had been red...

Last edited by RobbieTunes; 10-15-19 at 04:57 PM.
RobbieTunes is offline  
Likes For RobbieTunes:
Old 10-14-19, 05:20 PM
  #11  
2wheeljonz 
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 181

Bikes: Eddy Merckx Titanium, AX, '74 Raleigh International, Velo Orange Randonneur, Trek 7600, Fuji Touring Series V, DeRosa, Miami Vice Ironman, Eddy Merckx 10th Anniversary

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 47 Post(s)
Liked 68 Times in 22 Posts
Thanks Robbie for the genealogy of it.
yes...if it had been red.��
2wheeljonz is offline  
Likes For 2wheeljonz:
Old 10-14-19, 05:53 PM
  #12  
merziac
Senior Member
 
merziac's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: PDX
Posts: 14,099

Bikes: Merz x 5 + Specialized Merz Allez x 2, Strawberry/Newlands/DiNucci/Ti x3, Gordon, Fuso/Moulton x2, Bornstein, Paisley,1958-74 Paramounts x3, 3rensho, 74 Moto TC, 73-78 Raleigh Pro's x5, Marinoni x2, 1960 Cinelli SC, 1980 Bianchi SC, PX-10 X 2

Mentioned: 267 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4493 Post(s)
Liked 6,297 Times in 3,632 Posts
Originally Posted by 2wheeljonz
Thanks Robbie for the genealogy of it.
yes...if it had been red.��
Still a great score, plenty of history and good here.

It could easily end up with red livery, go through the archives and have a sign shop makeup whatever fits the best for you.
merziac is online now  
Old 10-14-19, 06:52 PM
  #13  
jiangshi
Banned.
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,958
Mentioned: 23 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 514 Post(s)
Liked 270 Times in 172 Posts
Originally Posted by rando_couche
TRUE bike snobs consider any Cinellis made after the AL Colombo acquisition to be "lesser than". And they're right.
How many have you ridden, and are you a TRUE snob?
jiangshi is offline  
Old 10-15-19, 07:35 AM
  #14  
drewellison 
Junior Member
 
drewellison's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Everett, Wa.
Posts: 165

Bikes: Cinelli Nuovo SuperCorsa, Cinelli SuperStar, Raseza, Bike Friday, Litespeed Classic, Fondriest X-Status, Trek Checkpoint ALR

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 26 Post(s)
Liked 32 Times in 20 Posts
I had a centurion Cinelli at one time and wish I still had it. It was a great riding bike.
Drew
drewellison is offline  
Old 10-15-19, 07:56 AM
  #15  
himespau 
Senior Member
 
himespau's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 13,553
Mentioned: 33 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4196 Post(s)
Liked 2,911 Times in 1,780 Posts
Nice Find!
himespau is offline  
Old 10-15-19, 08:07 AM
  #16  
seypat
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 8,756
Mentioned: 69 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3190 Post(s)
Liked 2,460 Times in 1,489 Posts
Originally Posted by RobbieTunes
1985 Cinelli Equipe (Team) Centurion .
Built by the Chirico shop in Bussero, Italy, on the outskirts of Milan. Chirico made plenty of Cinelli models under agreement eith Cinelli (and later, Columbo). Chirico's son was a framebuilder at Cinelli for more than 12 years.

Alan Goldsmith went to Italy to work out the arrangement, negotiating the size and placement of the Cinelli decals, the Cinelli pantograph logos, and the details on the frame of Columbus SL, with an SP seat tube on larger models.

One shipping container was ordered, with some models having lavender/black "CENTURION" on the DT and head badge, while others had orange/green. Posters show another font and color as well.

The saddle was a Cinelli Volare, and steering was Cinelli. Calipers and brake levers were Universal AER, and Miche supplied hubs, headset, and BB. Tje rims were Fiamme hard silver, crankset and pedals were Ofmega. RD, GD, and shifters were NR, seat post Gippieme.

Really nice bike. Yes. It's Italian , and yes, a Cinelli. It flopped.

If it had been red...
I don't know if the red Lotus Cinellis sold any better. They were available with various Campy groups.

Cinelli Record
seypat is online now  
Likes For seypat:
Old 10-15-19, 09:21 AM
  #17  
KonAaron Snake 
Fat Guy on a Little Bike
 
KonAaron Snake's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 17,229

Bikes: Two wheeled ones

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1254 Post(s)
Liked 345 Times in 174 Posts
Originally Posted by seypat
I don't know if the red Lotus Cinellis sold any better. They were available with various Campy groups.

Cinelli Record
Was wondering about that as well...I’m in PA, the heart of Lotus country, and you never see those. I’ve seen more of the Centurions than the Lotus variant.

That would be a bike I’d have interest in...I’ve had a special fondness for Lotus going back a lot of years.
KonAaron Snake is offline  
Old 10-15-19, 04:59 PM
  #18  
RobbieTunes
Banned.
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 27,297
Mentioned: 34 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 378 Post(s)
Liked 1,407 Times in 908 Posts
Originally Posted by nesteel
Good buy. They're nice riding bikes. I do not believe the lug lining is original. Bike snobs consider them "lesser than".
+1, but we know better.

Having had a Super Corsa and an Equipe, at the same time, in the same stable, I preferred the Equipe. I have a different Super Corsa now, and it's pretty hard not to love it. So much that I still ride it with the original 1990 group. The way I destroy bike provenance, that's saying something.
RobbieTunes is offline  
Old 10-18-19, 12:11 AM
  #19  
Rollingalong
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 7
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I also have both the Centurian and two Cinellis (69 & 73 I believe), and they all ride differently and well. My read is that the Equipe is a little quicker handling and a slightly better climber. I consider it to be as close to a Cinelli you can get and still not be a Cinelli. They were a bargain at the time, and sounds like the op scored a bargain now. Good score!
Rollingalong is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.