wildOG

I had a look at where the crank meets the spider/hub on the drive side, and thankfully it looks nice and free of cracks. I had seen in the "...wrenching on" thread AdventureManCo the Huffmeister's posting he had that issue recently and thought I should take a look at mine. I didn't realize that it was such a known issue with these. I was looking at this thread..


No cracks thankfully

I went a little extra maybe... when I worked as a machinist, I was taught that any sharp edges were weak points so I brought the radios down into the transition to the chamfer. Looking at the pic now, I maybe should have finished with 400 grit. I used needle files and then rolled up 120 grit, then 220 grit. The macro lens on my phone really shows the imperfections more clearly than they are to my eyes. I can see the chatter marks from the ball mill operation.

I tried to relieve the sharp edges/stress risers by smoothing it all out.

repechage

I found a pretty good match for repairing this Blue at a well stocked fingernail polish dispensing display.
would work for the top of the seat lug and probably elsewhere.

wildOG

I had a go at it, tried it out just a little as it is a bit puddle-y outside, and it helped some for sure. There was a bit of glazing, hard spots, even some aluminum embedded in the pads. I picked out the shards, and matching the angle took off enough to smooth past the visible glazing. The difference is ok it seems, a bit more grip. Maybe I will put the Campagnolo pads in a drawer and take BradL's advice with the Kool Stop pads. I'd read that people were all about having the Campagnolo pads and how they are hard to come by. I do plan on riding this bike.


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repechage

There are new production Campagnolo pads. $40. For a set of four plus ship.

wildOG

Ha, interesting The pics of the storefront do look a bit "blighted" as the article puts it, with the bottom of the "S" broken off and stains running down. Certainly they could have put the sticker on the bike more evenly. I'm gonna keep it though as part of the bike's history.

wildOG

Next weekend is supposed to be better weather here, and I'll see how it goes with these.

It's no wonder they were glazed, the wheels when I got them were caked with adhesive from the tires being sloppily put on, and the black from the pads all smeared together with it all over. I went at them with lacquer thinner and elbow grease and got them a lot cleaner.

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1970bikes

Wow, really sorry to hear about your accident and bad medical treatment.
I have trouble with cleats etc. these days as my feet are not flat and tend to twist when riding. When I was racing was not aware of the issue and used to get massive cramps in the legs generally at 2 AM in the morning, you could feel the cramps for days after.

I now use Shimano PD-T100's with toe clips and straps. My feet can move around in them, on the flat plastic platform, and I still get most of the benefits of toe clips.
Been a long term buyer of PD-T100's over the years and always have a spare set on hand. Toe strap rub seems to be minimal for some reason with these pedals as an added bonus.

MKS GR-9's can do a similar job after some modification with a hacksaw to fit normal toe clips but I find the strap rub is a problem again with the MKS.

Great to hear that your badly set bone issue has not stopped you from cycling.

merziac

More great work, could help some more.

Assuming you did clean and grease the cables in the process.

wildOG

I've seen it called that, but also Nuovo Blue? I thought maybe one was what they called it in Italy vs a common name. I have seen another blue they had at the same time that is a metallic color, maybe that one is Nuovo blue? I prefer the non-metallic darker blue. I feel like that is the quintessential Colnago color, followed by Saronni Red.

I did think the spacer was kind of weird. It was indeed on the fixed cup side. I thought maybe it had to do with the change in the lip on the front derailleur, like the bottom bracket was cut for the early derailleur/axle, but they were rolling out with the longer axle. It does have the longer axle and lipped derailleur and pegged chain ring. But given the 78 stamp on the nds crank, they still had some stuff from earlier? Idk.. The crank side is dated 79. I put the spacer back in where I found it. I don't mess with too many bottom brackets so I figured that would be safest.

merziac

Tx, yeah I managed to carry on with the cycling and not being an athlete was lucky it stuck a bit, never raced but did ride a bunch in HS as well as snow skiing for a few years about the same time.

The story is longer and sadder as it has come back to bite me now that I'm going down the backside, it will become much more challenging from here on out.

1970bikes

Yet another really nice looking bike. Always fun getting a new toy and discovering that it was better than you expected.

One thing that I noticed, after seeing seeing several U.S. Colnago Super's listed on the forum. Pantograph parts do not seem all that common.

Here in Australia, if you were rich enough to buy a Colnago, you always seem to get it with most components pantographed. That is my experience anyway as a 'interested spectator' and non - Colnago owner.

wildOG

I will give the toe strap routing a try. I had watched a youtube video on how to do it, and I think I did it how he did. I thought the outer pointy part would protect the strap? I will give it a go with it outside though for sure.

wildOG

Yeah it is pretty basic, but Record alone was my goal. My wallet isn't fat enough for a bike with all the pantographed stuff.

Overall I was very happy with it's condition when I got it. Once I went through it, got it together and went for a ride, you're not looking at everything with a macro lens and all the chips and stuff don't seem so terrible. I do think some spot repair is in its future though..

Here's a shot of the first ride.


My 1981 Colnago Super that I'm working on.

75lechamp 

Very nice, and in my favorite Colnago color. Here is mine, which according to the research I have seen, is a 1981 Super, same color as yours. Great bike!

wildOG

About reach... It's a 58cm frame, and I'm only 5'10" but I have long legs, a 34" inseam. So no problem standing over it, but with a 110mm 3ttt stem even with narrow 40cm 3ttt Super Leggero bars... I've moved the seat forward all the way and my knee drop over the pedals seems good there, but I still go straight armed to get to the hoods. My other bike is a 57 cm frame, and I never thought it was big, but it's got a much shorter stem. As I got the bike the brake pulls were really down low with the bottoms well past inline with the drops. I moved them up to in line and it helps. I like the look of the bars angled so the drops match the top tube. I do feel how the bike being square isn't the best for my not-square body. I've read a lot about fit here, and I can understand now the advantage of sizing the frame for the top tube to fit your body, and then use the seat post to compensate. I'm considering going to maybe even a dramatically shorter stem.

wildOG

Yours is very very nice lol. All super record stuff, and the real chrome chain stay and dropouts. Yours is definitely later [than mine] with the sloped fork crown and the flat seat stay tops — not to say I doubt it's an '81. I definitely see some varying info on when changes happened.

mackgoo

Hey wildOG. I live in San Clemente, let's go for a ride some time. I'm in Laguna on Sunset Ridge two or three times a year. I always bring one of my bikes and head north on PCH to Newport Coast up the hill to San Joaquin down to Margarite, back to PCH through Corona Del Mar and home.

Fredo76

All Record and Nuovo Record makes your bike look classic and timeless. No drillium, and none of the pantograph silliness that so detracts from later examples, imho. Just basic, classic, all-Campy road-racing bike from before the name was well-known here.

Nice cleanup - looks great. Congratulations!

AdventureManCO 

Yep, I found mine by chance. Who knows...maybe it was there from the start? But I'm so glad I found it. I am still going to try to file it out, might not have any success, but I will try! Yours look great!

wildOG

I plotted it out on Komoot. I've only done a few rides using it, but it seems cool to use, it evaluates your trip and gives what I think is the best routes with traffic etc between points. I sort of had to fight it to get it to go on just the main roads, then I deleted those points to let it make a route with a few key points choosing its own way between. I made it start at my place in the canyon..

It rates the path as "expert" but then oddly says "all skill levels" — I'm not sure how those 2 ratings coexist in the same route. I'm thinking once I have the bike more dialed in, I will give it a go and see if I'm expert enough or if it will kill me lol. It would be cool, knowing that I can do it to meet up and give it a go as a group.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/14192914...zF0dqrd1o4ifQ8

merziac

You might want to get some zefal/lapize straps for this, with the angle and twist it can be pretty hard on the straps, I would keep the Campy's in the best condition you can.

Another thing we don't often talk about is greasing the straps with some leather treatment, it keeps them good longer and makes it easier to get them threaded through the pedal without rasping them very much.

repechage

‘non drive side arm - no changes. Drive side arm, 79 places it post CPSC, it uses a longer spindle, Campagnolo did not mark them well actually. 115 +/- is the length for this crank version, prior was 112-113mm overall. There were adjustments to achieve the extra gap between the ring and the backside of the arm to provide room for the “safety” lip.

I don’t like the spacer being split, but keep a watch on it, might be OK. I think the metallic medium blue was Nuovo Blue, but often Colnago surprised importers with what they received. I have a ‘72 super that is near school bus yellow, better I think but I have never seen another.

75lechamp 

Good point about the dating, I think these can be kind of difficult to pin down during those years. I bought the frame from a guy who had gotten it from the original owner, who said he bought it new in 1982. I was actually looking for a Superissimo from this era. I actually had one I bought new in 1983, and it was this exact color with chromed lugs. I don't think Supers had chromed lugs (I am sure there are exceptions), but the Superissimo I had did. The research I found said:1981
- Chain stay bridge is spool shape (no longer tube)
- Chain stays stamped COLNAGO on sides, long stiffening flutes inner-side of chain stays and right chain stay chromed
- Derailleur cable routing on underside of bottom bracket

1982
- Superissimo model introduced with chrome head lugs and new decals
- New decals introduced with Worlds stripes at one end of white panel and club at other end of panel
Since this had all the features for 1981, but not the new decals with the white background (my old Superissimo had those), I am calling it a 1981. But it's possible that it is actually an early 82, before they changed decals(?).

One other topic, relative to fork crown, this one is sloped and the Panto

has a "C" with the clover inside the letter. I haven't seen too many like that - what does yours look like?

wildOG

I actually missed that the spacer was there on initial disassembly. You can see it in the pic before cleaning, the spring action hods it above the threads, so it's pretty tight in there. I think if it wasn't split, it couldn't go so tight above the threads. I will keep an eye on it though.

The yellow super sounds interesting. I do like to see the less common colors. Check out this one, maybe similar to yours, very early, a '68. https://steel-vintage.com/products/c...ke-1968-detail

wildOG

I think it makes more sense dating them to think of early and late in a given year. Like introduction of the newer over-white decal may have been late '82, but early '82 could still have the transparent decal without the white stripe.

The superissimo how I understand it, is basically a Super with chrome headset lugs, but it's still a Super. Like a Superissimo is a Super but not all Supers are Superissimos. Non-Superissimo Supers were definitely made in '82 and after. I've read that a dealer could get any combination of chrome on the chain stays, dropouts, and head lugs before and after the Superissimo was introduced.

I have thought about researching to develop a maybe more accurate timeline of when features were introduced. Like when did the Porta Catena/chain holder get dropped, when did front derailleurs get a brazing vs using a clamp?

I've read that the fork crown, you had an option of flat or sloped as late as '91. Like this '82 has a flat crown fork, flat seat stays, and a front derailleur brazing. Nevermind the decals with anything on Classic Steel Bikes site — I think they put the new decal on everything that goes through there.
https://www.classicsteelbikes.com/pr...-saronni-1982/

The fork on mine is the same as that one. Despite the fuzzy timeline on fork crowns, the sloped one is definitely later and I would say started to transition around '82. Of course all my observations are internet-based and sort of fuzzy because of that. I wonder if yours has a brazing for the front derailleur? — hard to see in the pic.


The fork on mine

I think people also may be confusing date of manufacture vs model year? I'm not positive if there is really such a differentiation in Colnagos back then, but I know for cars of that era, production for the new model year would start in August of the year before.