jamesdak 

Well, lesson learned. Don't go browsing for Giordana's right after you get back from a wonderful ride on one. When you do it just may result in another irrational buy. But I'm so glad I did it, LOL!

This is a direct match to the 1991 Giordana Polaris in my catalog so pretty easy to tie down the year on it. So now I'm rocking a 1989, this one, and a later 90's one. Life is good.

This one has a really low mileage Dura Ace 7400 7 speed setup. My first time with one of these Dura Ace stems and I quickly found out none of my 6mm wrenches were long enough to adjust it.

The paint's pretty dang good for a 27 year old bike. Decals are a bit dry and brittle but not enough to worry about. The Turbo saddle looks really good so I'm guessing it's a new one. That will probably be replaced as I've never gotten them to work for me.

I should get it out real soon. Suffering with strep throat right now so my riding effort is way off each day. Once I feel normal again I'll take this out for it's first, racy ride!

As pictured right now with the cages and pedals the bike is 21 lbs, 12 ozs. That's respectable for a Columbus SLX frame.

Now for the pics:




54 cm according to the specs in the catalog.



Paint's good and that all important pump peg



Matching fork, nicely pantographed



More pantographing, the paint is pretty clean around the top of the seat lug.



Internal cable routing, Columbus SLX tubing.



Turbo saddle in great condition



My favorite Cinelli bars in the perfect 42cm size.



Ready to cut the wind and make some time.



There's that standard Billato Brake Bridge, holding a sweet set of Dura Ace Calipers.



Digging the front fork.

jamesdak 

More pics:




Nice levers



Pretty crank!



Really , it is!



More Dura Ace jewelry!



Oh yeah, check out those sweet hubs!



This should be dependable



Beautiful set of QR's



Giordana Dropouts!



This will be nice to look at as I pedal along!

Sir_Name 

Colnago Mixte

Wow, Columbus SLX, Dura Ace, and MA 40's. That's one solid bike, and it's made in Italy too!

This stuff is like catnip for me, TAKE IT AWAY!

tyler_fred

jamesdak 

And best of all, geometry designed by the Italian genus Dario Pegoretti!

I can go weeks riding the De Rosa, Serotta, Lemonds, and Paramounts. Then I get on one off my Giordana's and the quality of the feel on the road is instantly kicked up a notch. These bike just don't get their due for the most part.

Sir_Name 

jamesdak 

Yep, when the owner of Gita decided to produce his own line of bikes he went to Dario for design help. Dario even did a small number of the frames at the very beginning. Those would be the Holy Grail of Giordana bikes, for sure!

jamesdak 

So....since I'm sitting home bored.

For the heck of it I took the modern Fulcrum Racing 3 wheels off my Reus and threw them on this Polaris to see how they look. I know the RD will cover an 8 speed cassette but I need to figure out if the D.T. shifters can cover it. If so I may consider running modern wheels on this sometimes. Just the wheel swap dropped the weight down to 20 lbs and 8 ozs. That's a good savings the one place it will matter. I have to day too, the white hubs with red labels do match the bike.




Hubs do accent the bike well.



I think they look fine on it.

Colnago Mixte

Levi's made a fixie:

jamesdak 

^ OK, that actually is sorta cool!

ryansu

Yes by means Levi put as many seams on the saddle as possible....

jamesdak 

Well, I've got it where I need it right now. Still may make a few changes down the road.

Today was like Christmas and all sorts of parts came in. For this bike I got a used Aliante Saddle since those mostly loved Turbo saddles have never worked for me. Then I was about an inch short on the proper setback with the Dura Ace seatpost. So another Thomson seatpost makes it onto one of my bikes. Then I swapped out the Continental 4 Season tires for my prefered GP4000s II tires with latex tubes. All these parts came in today alonq with a Gan Team Jersey to match the Lemond Gan GLX.


These modest changes shaved another 6 ozs off the bike to get it to 21 lbs 6 ozs. If I do decide to swap to modern wheels that should easily drop off about another lb I bet.




How it's looking now.


Unfortunately I'm still sick. Can't believe I can't shake whatever it is that's messing me up.

Wileyone 

Go have a good Shivtz and a couple of shots of Dark Navy Rum. That will fix you up.

verktyg 

I bought this Giordana Capella frame a number of years ago from a fellow who sold them new. He said that it was built by Dario Pegoretti. Found out later that it was actually made by Billato.






The frame is made of Italian Oria ML25 thin wall straight gage Chrome Moly steel tubing. The 0.8mm wall thickness on the main tubes should make for a supple ride. Back in the 90's a lot of top quality Italian frames were made of Oria tubing which came in about 6 versions.

From the horse's, or rather the centaur's mouth:

"The Giordana bike brand was the house label for Gita, a supplier of bikes and clothing. Gita, the United States distributor for Merckx, Pinarello, and De Rosa bike lines at the time, wanted a high-end frame set that would offer great quality at a slightly lower price point than the other brands they carried. Thus, the Giordana was born! Gita enlisted the assistance of Dario Pegoretti in designing the prototypes of the frames before they turned the final production over to Billato.

In 1992, the Capella represented the entry level of the Giordana line. It came in 3 models:

Crono - a time trial version with sloping top tube and a 26" front wheel
Strada - the basic road version
Pursuit - another version with a 26" front wheel

All 3 used Oria ML25 tubing with investment cast fork crown and standard lugs.

If the frame is Ferrari red or Cobalto blue, it is the Strada. Anything else and its one of the other versions.

Even though they were made by top builders Giordana frames never got the recognition they deserved because they were "farmed out" by a clothing company."

I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a Pegoretti but the workmanship is excellent. Need to put it together and see how it rides.

I have 2 Lemond Team Z bikes with Billato frames. The Billato Brothers contract built frames for a lot of top name brands. While generally not fancy they were very well built.

verktyg

jamesdak 

I'm betting it rides really nice. I totally agree on the comments on the Lemonds too. All of mine are top notch although they did put the brake bridge on the GAN GLX backwards.

One day I will find one of those Team Z bikes in my size and pick it up. No self-respecting Lemond collector can be without one.

I think in about an hour I'm going to say the heck with this illness and take the Polaris out for it's maiden ride.

Your Capella is a match to the one in the 1992 catalog.

jamesdak 

Well, I got it out on the road today. Despite still being quite sick the bike carried me well for 25 miles with an avg pace of 18.3 mph. Not bad since I couldn't breath and was dizzy a lot of the ride.

Like my other Giordana's this one feels really good under me on the road. A few times late in the ride it seemed to just take off by itself for some miles in the low 20 mph range. I think this is certainly another keeper.

verktyg 

Thanks for posting the items out of the Giordana catalog. Your Polaris is spectacular!

As far as a GL Team Z, your dream could come true....

Almost NOS 56cm 1991 Lemond Team Z with Bilatto built frame, Campy C-Record with Delta brakes, very low mileage. This came from LA collector John Waner. It's been a wall hanger for maybe 10 years.






verktyg