mzortman

I bought this Bottecchia bike at a Goodwill store for $40.00. I'm not sure exactly what I have. I've read some threads on other Bottecchia bikes that are similar. There are no serial numbers stamped anywhere on the frame. The seat post has a "27.0" on it and the derailleur cable guides are on top of the crank housing. The sticker on the bike says 75 years and it ends in 1984, so I am assuming this is a 1985? I can't find any SLX, SL or any other digits anywhere on the bike. Anybody have any ideas? Thank you in advance! I plan to keep the bike, even though it's too small for me. My wife can ride it! Everything works perfectly on the bike except for the front brake cable, which has come apart inside the brake handle. I think it will work once I put it back together. The bike is very light. I will keep the original paint and decals despite the scuff marks and scratches. It's not perfect, but it is a very cool bike and for $40.00 I think I got a pretty cool bike to fix up! If anyone needs more photos from different areas of the bike, let me know and I will gladly post them for ID purposes! Did I get a good deal at $40.00, and what it is worth? I don't think I'll sell it, but it's nice to what it might be worth (Ballpark).

TakingMyTime

$40 is a great deal for that bike.

zukahn1 

Looks to be a real nice mid level bike from the mid 80's. Looks to be a sl level frameset with giempme dropouts and fairly good lug work. With a mix of lesser Campy and Italian components. You did great for $40 I would say it's worth $300-400 in it's current state with a little TLC this should cleanup into a very nice rider.

ramzilla

You are one lucky SOB to pick that up for $40. Easily worth hundreds more.

mzortman

I just dropped the bike off at my local bike shop to have the brake cables replaced, new handlebar brake lever hoods and handlebar tape. I will be replacing the tires once I settle on what I want to put on the bike. Any opinions on what tires to use? I want to try and keep it as original as possible. There isn't many parts to pick from on Ebay. Any leads on an original seat? The covering is coming off of this one and want to put an original Bottecchia seat from the correct era on it. This is a lot of fun to me! Keeping it as original as I can...

CroMo Mike 

Nice bike that should clean up with little effort.

What kind of rims does it have? Clinchers or tubulars (sew-ups)?

There's not much out there as branded Bottecchia seats. Any worthy Italian-made period-looking saddle would look nice. I prefer the Selle Italia Flite or SLR, both of which can be found on ebay as lightly used or NOS. The Selle San Marco "Concor" is a period saddle that was popular then and still comes up as NOS.

mzortman

Thank you for the tips for a new saddle! I'm a newbie here and in fact just started riding bikes a little over a year ago and the Bottecchia bike is my first ever attempt at doing this! I found Bikeforums.net and there is a wealth of knowledgeable people on here! As far as the rims go, I'm not really sure what they are, so I'll post a pic! Thank you once again!

CroMo Mike 

They look like tubulars. That whole bike looks to be barely used and original.

88prelude

Incredible purchase for $40. Original as stated was probably either a Selle Italia or Selle San Marco. If it's to be a rider, I'd just put on whatever is the most comfortable/affordable and not worry about keeping it original. I'm not sure it was made out of SL or SP Columbus tubing if it's since it just has the Carnielli decal and this seems to be a lower/mid entry bicycle - (the fork should be stamped if it is though). Might be a lower grade Columbus Cromor. Still a great bike! Someone more knowledgeable can hopefully clear that up.