albrt 

We received this Colnago as a donation. We don't get a lot of these. Condition is good but the build is probably not what most people would want. Any thoughts on the value for local sale (Phoenix), either as-is or as a frame and fork? We do not have an online parting/shipping operation.

albrt 

Also interested in general observations about the frame. I am definitely not an expert on fancy Italian frames. This looks to me like something from the 1980s, but the decals do not seem completely consistent, especially the Columbus decal looks a little haggard compared to the others.

RCMoeur 

In case anyone asks: 53 cm seat tube center to top.

Chombi1 

The pics don't show what's going on with the rear brake cable routing on the top tube. Did the previous owner drill the top tube to do the aero style, internal rear brake cable routing? If yes, it hurts the value of this frame considerably. Doing such can cause tubing cracking at the holes if they are not reinforced or at least, carefully eased out so the opening has no sharp edges for stress risers to form on....
The tubing decal is most liky genuine to the bike. If it was an add., most would not choose an SP decal and go for the lighter SL tubeset designation......unless the guy was clueless about tubing and just put in what he could find.

Mr. 66

I do think the internal cable route is factory. Yes 80’s. SP tubing on a small frame, probably rides tight, or stiff to SL and SLX. Mid level production. The Columbus decal being tattered, that’s not abnormal for those.

For year of production, I say ‘86, but that is a guess. Colnago is a company that did things first, a trend setting they did on the super and master. I have this as more a Sport level, or their entry race model. If this was a Super model I would say 1981-82.

zukahn1 

I would also check the alignment and rear wheel it looks to be out of alignment and hard to tell from pics it looks like someone just screwed a cheap cog on a road wheel suicide style. For safety you likely want to put a decent freewheel on the bike, sort out the alignment and rear brake as said the cabling doesn't look right like it may have been modified, if you sell the bike as is. IMHO I would say take it completely apart inspect the frame closely then either build it up with nicer road parts if you so-op has them or sell the frame set by itself. Value wise on local coop sale I would guess $250 or so for the frame if good, $600 for it nicely built up as a road bike and $200 as is made safe to ride. Myself having some coop experience I would say strip it put the parts in your bins sell the frame for what you can get and move on project bikes like this can eat up a tone of time and effort that can probably be put to better use at the bike co-op.

albrt 

zukahn1 - you are correct about the suicide setup on the rear wheel. The bike has nice Superbe brake calipers and crank that plausibly came from the original 1980s build, the single speed setup and the stem/bars/brake levers are more recent and out of keeping with the frame. Unfortunately, we do not have enough decent parts in the bins to do a proper build. It will probably get sold to a friend of a friend, so "as-is" includes at least a warning not to ride on that rear wheel, plus an offer of help to convert with whatever parts the buyer has or buys.

zukahn1 

This is what we did at the bike coop I used volunteer at on bikes like this sold them cheap or gave them to volunteer members or friends of the coop and let them deal with the time and hassle of sorting things out.

albrt 

So does anybody feel like it would be a grave injustice to let this go for $300 as-is? I would feel like I was getting a very good deal as a buyer if it was anywhere near my size.

I think we already have at least one person interested, so if somebody feels that $300 is not fair value for a local sale, please speak up now.

zukahn1 

As is with the warning that it has safety issues to a knowing buyer I would say yes.$300 is fine for a co-op. I have found that it is often times better to get bikes like this out the door fast at co-op even at a discount before they start to eat up time, resources, and create conflict problems . Which I can say from working at a coop that they unfortunately often do. If you can find a buyer for $300 your comfortable with I would say get it out the door and move on.

Mackers

It's a late 80s Super Piu.
A steal at $300.

jamesdak 

I'd be happy at $300

albrt 

Thanks for the comments everybody. I suspect it will go fairly quickly at the $300 price point. If it doesn't I might buy it, keep the Superbe parts, and find a friend to build it up for.

I will have to make sure the "Piu" is listed on the tag - that should appeal to Millennials and other gaming enthusiasts ("pew pew")

SJX426 

@albrt - Chrome head lugs say Superissimo. Seat stay caps say mid to late 80's.

zukahn1 

The frame does look to be a 86 Super which would seem to match the few Superbe components on the bike. It would be great to find the rest of of the vintage correct Superbe SR/Pro component's to built it back up properly.

bikemig 

If I were in a co-op, I'd be tempted to sell it as a frame for $300 (the parts don't add much value) and move the parts to a frame to sell as a single speed.

When I see donations like this at a co-op, it reminds me of one of the reasons I don't want to volunteer at one until I develop better tools for dealing with impulse buying . . .

SJX426 

@albrt - Is the BCD of the crank 144 or 130? You can easily get rings for that to turn it into a double. Sadly, I have the parts to turn that into a Superbe Pro group., the frame is too small.

albrt 

We don't get a lot of frame only buyers, and I was worried somebody would pick up the suicide fixie idea and run with it while I wasn't looking, so I'm building this up to usable condition. I think I can do a decent cyclone/superbe build without breaking the bank. I have some of the parts on hand. It will be functionally very similar to the superbe build, and if a purist buys it they can upgrade the cyclone components over time.

I think the crank is 144 but I haven't measured yet.

zukahn1 

The crank set does look to be 144 that currently has single mismatched ring the correct Superbe/Sugino rings are fairly easy to find to last I checked there are still new ones made in Japan for sale.online at somewhat reasonable prices

albrt 

The build is almost done and I am pretty happy with it. Some lovely components came together by pure good fortune, including Cinelli stem, bars, and tape. Gonna shoot for $500 and see what happens.

celesteguy 

Wow, that's cool! I have the exact same frame, with chrome stay, lug, colnago drops. But mine has a Precisa fork which I think is not original. All the same pantos on the frame, but mine only has the downtube water bottle bosses. The internal rear brake is legit, as mine is the same. I wish I had more information on mine, but got some nice insight from other forum members. Fwiw I drove a total of 7 hours and paid $350 for frame, fork, headset and bb, and I considered that a steal (and worth my time). $500 for a nice build in this market seems very reasonable, although I didn't know anyone rode bikes in Phoenix... jk... sort of.

polymorphself 

polymorphself 

Being mid-late 80s the top tube would have cable routing brazed on if the current drilling was DIY, no? Although the consensus seems to already be that the internal routing is indeed original.

zukahn1 

Around this time the nicer Italian stuff was changing from top eyelets to internal cable routing so the internal cable routing is likely original.

albrt 

From my research I believe it is original, but frankly it seems like more of a gimmick than a real innovation. I don't think that little stretch of cable inside the tube makes the overall bike any more aerodynamic.

But hey, it rides beautifully! Still available, and we are open tomorrow from 9-12.