Show us your cycling version(s) of a Formula One car. No MTBs, touring rigs, or hybrids; no rack eyelets or room for fenders - just pure road racing machines. Some collect and display them, some still ride the snot out of them. Here's a place for them.
1983 Colnago Mexico acquired while stationed in London from 1993 to 1995. The original (and only other) owner purchased it as a complete bike outfitted with Campy 50th Anniversary at Deeside Cycles in Scotland in late 1983. He immediately removed the special gruppo and stored it in its case, then kitted the frame out with Shimano 105 and rode it for a decade. He originally listed the 50th set in Cycling Plus (a weekly cycling mag I perused religiously); in the process of procuring that set over the phone, I got to know Andy Martin and learned the history of the Colnago. I let him know I'd buy the frame/fork - and he could name his price - if he ever decided to sell. Within the year he contacted me and quoted me a price; it arrived less than a week later.
Here it is as-received, just prior to building it up on a rainy day at my LBS in north London:
I re-married the 50th gruppo to the frameset and for the first time in a decade, it was back to original spec (less the rims - I built a new set of wheels from the unlaced hubs). I rode it in this guise for years before finally removing the 50th components, doing some restoration work on them and then selling them on Ebay. I outfitted the Colnago in basic NR/SR but over the years began to acquire pantographed parts, finally finishing off with an SR single-bolt panto seatpost in 2020.
This bike is my longest serving and would be the last remaining if I ever had to pare the stable down to just one. Although I've become less sentimental about many things as I've gotten older and (hopefully) wiser, this one still gets my motor running. It was even stolen and briefly out of my hands for a couple weeks before being recovered - the only stolen bike I ever got back! Unquestionably my favorite, I'll keep it 'til I croak. Hopefully it will still be in one piece and passed along to someone else who will continue the tradition of riding it into the ground - without putting it away wet.
DD