Dannyboy21

Great buy yesterday. Seller was a very knowledgeable gent who was a time trialist in his day but now prefers a a taller bike in his 60s.

The original owner said it is a late 80s. It was built with C Record. I tried to convince him to sell with the gruppo but he is transferring the kit it to a nice Proctor frame. He recalls it as possibly either a Mexico or Super but wasn't sure. Any thoughts on what the frameset is?

Fun fact: It felt like Christmas going to pick this up. It turned out the selller lived next to Santa's Village in Bracebridge. Alex didn't have a beard but had a great waxed moustache.

Gary Fountain

I would agree that your new frame is a later 80's Super - most probably and especially as the original owner recalls these facts.

Personally I'd like to know a little more about the inclusion of the pump peg to Colnago frames as this may indicate when it was built. My 1991 Conic,1991 Super, mid 80's Superissimo, and 1997ish Tecnos frames do not feature pump pegs. Another curious (to me) feature of your new frame is the 'Colnago' cast into both sides of the bottom bracket shell? All my Colnago's have the Colnago 'Ace of Flowers' cast into both sides of the bottom bracket shells. I'm wondering if your frame is more a 1986/7 build? Then again it could be due to just who actually built the frame? Could it be that these features were built into your frame by a Colnago licensed framebuilder? With Colnago identification - who actually knows? I would tend to trust the original owner's recollections.

A great find but bad luck about the groupset.

repechage

Sexy fishnet stocking paint!
this is from my recall when the Super was the base full on frame.
while the Columbus transfer is basic, might as well check the seat and down tubes for the rifling of SLX.

Sir_Name 

Cool score, shame about the group set. Can’t blame the guy at all.

What are the build plans? Hoping you’ll keep us apprised of progress!

Dannyboy21

I have a full build of Suntour Superbe Pro and a full 600 Ultegra 6401 with brifters. Think I might go resto-mod to start with using 600.

Dannyboy21

This is the Superissimo 1987 with SLX tubing. The seat tube decal is different from mine as is the markings on the fork crown. This example has only the "club" while mine has the club surrounded by the C.
I did see online what seemed to be the exact same paint job on a Superissimo with SLX tubing. I thought maybe since the original kit was c record there maybe a small chance it is the Superissimo but I am not letting myself get worked up about it. I will check for helical ridges but I thought SL had the rifling as well.

jet sanchEz

Lovely.

My first generation Master has a similar paint job, it is from 1983.

repechage

SL is smooth bore. Only the fork steerer has the rifling.

Dannyboy21

Aha. Good to know. Thanks for teaching me something new. I will check and report.

poggor

Easiest way to determine super vs mexico is to put the frame on some scales. Depending on size the frame (no fork) should be around 1800 for Mexico, around 2200 for super.

Dannyboy21

I built the frameset last night using the Shimano 6401 8 speed stuff. Cinelli stem and handle bar. American Classic seat post and Selle Ifalia SL saddle. I threw on Cane Creek Aros Superlight tubulars with the bluish titanium spokes. Just took it for a 30 Km time trial over rolling terrain. Aside from an initial scare when I realized a husky was running beside me, all went well. The dog ran with me for about 1 Km at about 35+ Km/h. (slight downhill). Lots of fun!

bikemike73 

BEAUTIFUL BIKE !!!!


Great job on the resto !!!


Enjoy !!!!!!

robertorolfo

Lovely aside from those brifters. Looked horrible back in the day, look even worse now. Go downtube...

alex_74

Nice build. What cost do you have in the frame?

Dannyboy21

I think I understand you are asking how much I paid for the frameset? The Colnago frameset, the headset, seatpost and BB were 300 CAD. Very fair deal as the frameset Is in quite good condition.

Dannyboy21

I have down tube on my Marinoni, Cambio RINO and Gitane. Gonna keep those ugly brifters on. Nice crisp shifts.

robertorolfo

I can't argue with the convenience of brifters for many situations. But if that is your preference, why not get something better looking yet non super modern, like silver Campagnolo 10 speed? There was a Veloce group for sale here recently, and I can tell you from first hand experience that it looks great and shifts really well.

Dannyboy21

Hi Gary - Your comments made on another Colnago I just purchased (purple repaint) made me dig a little harder on this bike. The double stamping of the Colnago on BB shell, the cable guide as pictured, the lack of a chain stay bridge and lack of crimping in the chain stays are all typical of a Mexico according to info I have read. I don't say this with any conviction, but would you say these characteristics are those of a Mexico. There is no crimping of the top or down tubes . What do you think?

robertorolfo

A little late on this, but what are the respective tubsets that give those two weights? Which tubset would weight 2200g?

Dannyboy21

So in the article I read the Mexico was built with a tubing set called Colnago Record (SL?) which was slightly thinner than regular SL. So much to learn.

Gary Fountain

Hi dannyboy21, this frame looks to be very original so I would thing that the frame tube decal is correct which means that the frame is built with Columbus SL. Also, Colnago did away with chainstay bridges for frames of this era. I have seen Colnago's with 'COLNAGO' cast into each side of the BB shell but I can't remember it's significance. The twin biddon mounts indicate, to me, that this frame was at least latter 80's build. The pump peg still has me perplexed but Colnago did 'farm out' frame building to other frame builders during the period this frame was built. I wonder if another frame shop built the frame on contract to Colnago and the pump peg was included for this reason??? I'm just not used to seeing pump pegs on Colnago's from this era. The seat stay caps look to be late 80's as well.

Some say they can de-cypher Colnago serial numbers now but I haven't examined their thoughts/findings. I'm just going by my own observations and I don't rely on Colnago serial numbers.

The curved front forks speak of the latter 80's too. The straight bladed 'Precisa' fork was introduced around 1988 but you could still get curved front forks. I bought a Colnago Conic SLX frame in 1991 and was given the choice of either straight or curved front forks although this may be due to the well equipped and stocked bikeshop I was dealing with. i also have a Colnago Super pro-team bike that could only have been made in 1991 - it has a curved front fork blade set.

Due to the Columbus SL frame tubing decal, I'm sticking to it being a 'Super' model. Columbus SL was very nice tubing, a little heavy but nice stuff. I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference between SL and SLX when out riding. Columbus Record was a great lightweight tubeset.

Just on Colnago frame finishes - I used to haunt a top Australian bicycle shop during the 70's, 80's and 90's. The owner of the bike shop would travel to Italy and deal directly with the Italian frame builders including Ernesto Colnago. I recall discussing, with him, Colnago frame finishes as I had my theories regarding models and chrome placement. He told me that he could order any model frame and have it painted and chromed to any (Colnago) combination he desired. Thus, I ignore chrome placement and paint characteristics. There may be a Colnago 'norm' with regard to models and finishes but it is not conclusive as an identifying feature - it may also depend on who was ordering the frame from the Colnago factory.

One common thread that does run through the Colnago model range from this era is that they all ride well giving a quite neutral riding position and competent whether descending, ascending, time trialling or a long day in the saddle. The bottom brackets are quite stiff and do resist sideways movement when peddling. The geometry is well sorted. I'm sure your bike will be lovely to ride.

You have 2 great Colnago frames. Best wishes.

Dannyboy21

I have had an indentification of my frameset by Billy Kanzler of Colnago America as a 1988 Superissimo. He was quite confident. He provided the image above; which when looked at closely appears to have a generic Columbus decal. Time to dismantle.crank and BB to look for rifling in tubing.