urodacus

It took far too long, but in the end it turned out pretty enough. I'm more than happy with the finished product.

I have owned this bike since new (purchased in Sydney) and have done maybe 200,000km on it... it gets less use now that i have another couple of beasts in the stable, but it's still my favourite. May get even less miles on it for a while until i wear off the 'new baby' feeling and start using it in the wet again!

It was not easy finding people I trusted to do the chrome and the painting here in Taipei.

edit: oops! a mistake in the title name... Saronni, of course!





more pictures and full info at the flickr page

Otis

What brand are those tires?

Citoyen du Monde

The bike is screaming out for some modification. I understand that you are probably accustomed to having the brakes set up with left rear, right front and won't comment on personal choice of this nature, even if the manufacturers designed these brakes to be set up the other way around. The rear brake cable SHOULD however be routed around the stem. The way you have it now WILL impede the proper functioning of the brake, routing around the stem will improve braking. The same thing for the placement of the rear caliper. Placing it on the front side of the brake bridge DOES diminish the brake efficiency. May I ask why you did not have the gear lever bosses removed when you repainted? Removing bosses is non destructive as you can readily replace by brazing or by a clip-on version. Newly repainted bikes with braze-ons without levers seems so wrong to my eyes. Lastly, was your bike originally labelled as a Colnago? or as a Saronni?

ozneddy

Bwah --- another dead kitten !

Oldpeddaller

Really pretty bike - well done! Just love the yellow cable housings - they pick up the saddle and decals perfectly.

John E

The only modification I would make is to add a decent set of derailleur gears.

Seriously, though, great-looking bike, and I personally strongly favor leaving derailleur tabs (in particular) and shift lever bosses intact.

Lots of folks, particularly but not only in drive-on-the-left countries, favor right front / left rear brake cabling, which is what I learned on in the early 1960s. The big benefit of old school centerpull or cantilever brakes was the ease with which one could reverse brake cabling parity at will.

urodacus

The bike , like all my bikes, came originally with right front brakes, and that is still AFAIK the preferred method of mounting them in Australia and many other countries (and makes far more sense for us motor bike riders). I don't agree with the 'logic' of mounting them any other way, far preferring the greater modulation that comes from the right hand controlling the front. I may well mount the cable around the other side of the stem, i am intending to keep an eye on the cable position first and see how and where it wants to rub before i let things settle down into position, and add some of those clear urethane sticky pads to prevent paint rub.
edit: I've now moved that cable to the other side of the stem, and it fits much better.

The rear brake will not fit the other way around as the brake bridge mounting hole is slightly asymmetrically drilled, and the reach is too short in the normal position: it only just makes it this way around. But why should the design be less efficient this way around? It is, after all, exactly the same brake hardware as the front brake, which is also mounted forward of the frame... And even if it were less efficient, that would be fine too, as the rear brake does so much less braking. efficiency loss in brake mounting position will be far more than made up for by running the DuraAce pads and mounts in place of the original DiaCompe rocks.

The tires are a pair of older Continental Competition 22. they will be replaced by some Vittoria Evo Corsas when their time is up, to keep the yellow theme going, but the contis have plenty of life left until then.


I have left all of the original bosses and gear on: the bike can easily turn back into a geared bike, and when it does it runs a 6 speed regina, 600 downtube shifters, and suntour XCcomp or something or other derailleurs (been a while since i last saw them). I like kittens, i would never needlessly remove a set of bosses...

The bike was originally a Colnago-decalled machine, not labelled as a Saronni. The original decals were the mid 80s white panel Colnago name, I chose the late 70s Super decals for a better match with the yellow highlighting. (Did you look at the flickr set? it's all there...).


This was AFAIK, the first year that Ernesto started the Saronni frame building, and the frames with Saronni and Vlaeminck 'branding' were still built at Colnago, by Colnago workers, using Colnago lugs, Colnago angles and geometry, but with Saronni (or Vlaemink) name on the seatstay caps, no clover cut out in the BB (just a pair of slots) and Colnago decals. the next year, the Saronni and the Vlaemink bikes were still made at Colnago, but with their own decals, and maybe two years later, they were farmed out to submanufacturers, with eventually the Saronnis being made by Tecnotrat, with no more input from Ernesto. (Ernesto never let his signature appear on these frames, BTW.)

Gary Fountain

Great info. urodacus. I was particularly interested to read about the first Saronni's having Colnago decals. I have a Saronni track bike that i've re-painted and made up my own decals (none available). It originally had Saronni decals and the BB has the Colnago Ace of Flowers cutout.

All the Saronni's I have seen had poor (painted over chrome) but quite spectacular paint jobs. All except for my bike though. My frame was quite plain but was coloured Saronni red. It was not well applied as the undercoat was practically non-existent. It's white now and the steel is properly prepared.

urodacus

Geez thanks, Gary mate. That's high praise indeed coming from you: I wish i had the space to run a museum like yours, or the patience to put together a collection anywhere near as fine.

I did have an XP Falcon for a while, though... bloody great wallowing boat of a thing.

I have a whole bunch of photos of different Saronnis, mostly stolen (well, borrowed, your lordship) from ebay auctions and so on: trying to track the history of that brand is not easy. there were at least four solid colours initially offered, though framesets also come in a mix of triple colour fades too. the tubing seems to have really varied too: i think they were just put together from stuff lying around in excess, much like Ducatis of the same vintage. successive bikes off the production line had totally different bolts, wiring patterns, electric components, etc... a nightmare for restorers.

VintageR

Right, I can understand that.


This is plain WRONG !!
It even makes more sense to mount brakes this way, it will reduce the risk of brake squeal (as the rim gets "pulled" through the brake arms instead of being "pushed" which reduces the inevitable [micro-]vibration - best short explanation I can deliver).


Do something with with your eyes then!
(Removing gear lever bosses can harm the frame structurally [e.g. by uneven heating], even if it's minimal and in most cases won't have noticable effect.)
In any case it's barbarian and WILL kill a kitten for sure.
Buy a track frame if you don't like shifting.

VintageR

Sorry, but this ain't no Saronni Colnago (anymore?).
Saronni's Colnagos were wine red metallic with white panels.
(And please don't let Giuseppe know how you spell his name.)

luker

whew. Tough crowd today. I think everyone is a little testy because of the weather, maybe?

This most certainly is a Saronni. The seatstay caps tell the story. Just because the color changes a little, doesn't make the marque change.

slushlover2

Like mine?

bmaxwell

THe new paint scheme is much better than the old one good job on the restore project. How do you like the ride compared to say a carbon fibre?

prettyshady

bikes looking great for its age and mileage. I think the rear brake looks quite nice hiding away like that, intresting talking point anyway!

VintageR

Now THAT is a Saronni Colnago, even with the correct shrine.

(If I were picky I'd criticize the wrong saddle, the wrong bar tape [color], stem [color] or even the bottle holder, but I ain't .
Nice bike. And I like that poster.)

urodacus

It is true that most of Saronni's Colnagos were red wine with white panel decals, that is indisputable. As well, many Supers and Mexicos appeared in that colour scheme, and it has even been reinstate recently for the Master.

However, the Colnago Saronni bikes were not the same as the Colnagos (like slushlover's excellent example) that Beppi rode, if you can get your head around that... Beppi rode Colnago's top racing machines, the Saronni bikes made by Colnago (and the Vlaeminck models) were lower end machines made to boost Colnago's output and cash in on the name of their champion riders (Beppi Saronni as world champion, and Roger de Vlaeminck as a giro and TdF points winner, and classics and cyclocross champion) by offering a frame made from not-quite top of the line materials.

Saronnis originally came in choices of solid red, blue and green, or three colour fades of red into yellow into blue, or with white in between. the paint jobs were not as good as on the mainline Colnagos, but were decent enough.

Saronnis have the Saronni name in the seatstay caps, and a Saronni name and logo in the fork crown, and Saronni stamped into the dropouts front and back: they look exactly like Campagnolo dropouts of the same era, though they may be from molds made in house, rather than bought from campagnolo, or they may be bought from campagnolo blank and stamped in the Colnago factory. Vlaemincks (much rarer, by all accounts) have the same deal but with the Vlaeminck variation on the theme. see the Bulgier catalog online for pics of both bikes with their own decals sets, probably 1985. these decals sets came the next year from mine, which is frame number 25/ fork number 31 and must be an early model.

the ride is exactly the same as a Super: comfortable for a hundred miles, soaks up bumps, a bit soft compared to a modern carbon number like my TCR, very stable descending, with a bit more fork rake than most modern bikes. the fork is a bit heavy for the rest of the frame for great climbing (i can easily feel the difference while pulling on the bars when climbing between the original fork, now i have it back on there, and the short carbon fork i had put on temporarily).

but of course it feels like a super: it uses super lugs and geometry. i actually love the ride of this bike, especially for low demand stuff or for low cadence training rides, but if i am out for a hard ride, especially with team mates, i have no option but to get out one of the bikes with gears, and then the TCR is better than the Guerciotti.

Gary Fountain

I think Action Cycles on Dandenong Road, Melbourne imported the Saronni's I am familiar with. The owner, who's name I can't recall, has been at the pointy end of bicycle racing in Australia for many years. He is very knowledgable but can be very difficult as well.

Thanks for all your information about that interesting period of Colnago history. Your Saronni looks really nicely restored. By the way, what frame size is it?

urodacus

54 cm. perfect for me if i run a tall saddle.

mkeller234

Wow, tough crowd is right. I personally think the new metallic paint and decals look stunning. Obviously the aim wasn't a perfect replica of the original bike. Kudos also for keeping the derailler tabs and such, I think that is worth way more than a period correct repaint any day.

I also bought some decals from Cyclomondo and am impressed with the quality.

EoinC

Nice bike. I have a Saronni in my workshop in Perth. I bought the frame 2nd hand in 1981/2(?) in NZ. It was a bit of a mongrel in componentry - I put it together with Dura-Ace chainset, FD, seatpost and hubs, Modolo brakes and levers, Campy NR RD and shifters, Cinelli seat and stem, and Mavic GP4 rims. The frame had been repainted, and had crappy chrome, and a crappy Galli headset.
One day I'll get around to putting it back on the road, although I'll replace the chainset, as it had the "way of the future" AX cranks / pedals that are of no use to man nor beast. The frame needs to be taken back to bare metal and a few repairs done on it.
I always enjoyed the ride on it, though, and it was my race bike for quite a while in the 80's.

Good job on your resurrection, and thanks for stirring the memory bank.

Cheers,
Eoin

EoinC

That's damn fine, SL. Pretty much the path I intend for my Saronni when I get around to it.

Cheers,
Eoin