Cozumelo

I purchased my Pinarello Montello Frame in 1988-9 new from dealer. I cannot remember when I purchased it, whether it was 88-89, so not sure of the year it was made. The paint scheme is from 1984-85?( celebrating Alexi Grewal's Olympic victory. However the decal on the downtube is celebrating the Pinarello win in 1988 Olympics. Serial number is low teens and all this is very, very confusing. I think the dealer had this frame sitting around and put the 88 decal on it. I am not sure if the 84 or 85 had the top tube recessed brake line, but mine does.
Stats:
Pinarello Montello 1985 or 88 or 89
Head stem has pinned metal logo plate, not sticker.
Campagnolo 130mm chromed dropouts, Columbus SLX, Mavic crankset with Chainrings(53/42), Mavic Front and Rear Derailleurs, Mavic headset, Modolo Brakes, Pinarello stem, Mavic hubs, Mavic MA40 rims, Turbo seat, Cyclo Man handlebars, American Classic Seat post, Regina Cassette (13-21), Shimano PD-6401 toe clips, Sedis chain.

I wish to restore my Pinarello Montello to original paint and decals and hoping other members can suggest solutions in my search of quality Campy Chorus, C Record or any other model Front/Rear Deraileurs, Cinelli stem, Campy or Pinarello seat post, Campy rear cassette. I have not been able to find decals which match the set on my frame.

Please seem attached images. Hope someone can help. I only rode this bike for about 2 years before a car accident. It's been sitting in my basement all these years and now I want to repaint add some Campy gear and ride for a couple more years.
Thanks

luker

I bought an 85 in 86, used like almost every bike I've ever owned. It was as you describe, except for a one color, transparent blue over white undercoat. It was pretty, stiff and fast. The last race it saw was in 1994. I foolishly sold it to my daughter's boyfriend in 2001, and have missed it ever since. Fwiw, it was equipped with da 6 speed, but since it came as a frameset, any contemporary parts group will do. My fav from that era is still super record, but you could go heavier, more complicated, and lots pricier with c-record...

bikemig 

When this color scheme first came out, I didn't think too much of it. It has grown on me over the years, . Nice bike. Why do you want to swap out the mavic parts that came on the bike for campy? Mavic was every inch as good (and in some respects better) than campy. The modolo brakes were highly sought after as well even though I didn't think they worked as well as campys. The point I'm making is that you have super fine parts on the bike. People didn't have the mania for having just one group on a bike. Shimano pioneered the idea with their non-interchangeable parts but that makes no sense for a bike made in an era where people mixed and matched parts.

repechage

The transfer indicates a 1988 Tour de France win and other previous victories, such as the Olympics.
The paint as you present is pretty good, unless the chrome is toast, if so, then just rechrome the fork.
Alexi rode Shimano EX Dyna Drive cranks and pedals and his bike was mostly Shimano, I think Campagnolo hubs, maybe brakes.

The curious thing is that Pinarello at their museum does not salute this his Olympic win. Maybe that the Eastern block did not attend, so not a complete victory?

RobbieTunes

I had an '89, because of Big Mig, and it was red.

Almost all original Pinarello decals fell off, anyway, so whatever was put back on could have been a replacement.

bikemig 

He's not me; or should I say, I'm not him. He's Basque; I'm not. There may be a few other differences as well . . .

Cozumelo

To Ex Prez, I am new and cannot reply to Private messages, as I need 50 to do so, so I am replying here.
Yes I figured that and did post a new thread, thanks very much!!
Sourcing old vintage bits, will have to try and narrow down the search somehow as there is so much.
Any suggestions as to buyers of higher end Campy components that have good records?
Thanks for the advice!!

Cozumelo

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have the 6 sp as well. I would like to get the C Record more for the look and how it Campy does look beautiful on a great frame like the Montello.
Lots for sale out there, just have to take the plunge and grab something.
Cheers

Cozumelo

Yeah neither did I, it was the only one left in the shop, so I took it. Only saw one other like it back in Ontario. I like the Mavic set up, and never had issues with it. I just never could afford to get the Campy gear back then and always wondered how it would have rode and felt. As far as from an aesthetic point of view, I do like the look of the C Record though. Italian on Italian looks nice.
I will keep the Mavic group and can always change it out later.
Cheers

Cozumelo

Yes the paint is not bad, but many scratches and does need a makeover. The chrome is perfect, no rust and no dings. I was actually thinking of having it stripped of paint and polished with new decals, I saw one years ago and it looked amazing with Campy. Interesting comment about the Boycott... perhaps.

frpax

This is my grail bike of grail bikes!

Bimdapogs

What ever happened to this project? I recently acquired a Treviso with identical components and I believe mine is 85 or so. Did you refresh the decals? I'm gathering info for restoring mine. Mostly the frame, really as I'm not hard enough to ride with DT shifters.

Dave Mayer

I have a Montello from 1986. Highest quality of frame workmanship I have ever come across.

Since I ride all of my bikes, a few changes were made in order to improve the functionality and ergonomics. The Syncro 1 downtube shifters (worst shifters ever?) were replaced with circa 1996 Record Titanium 8-speed Ergopower shifters. This gives integrated brake/shifting. The first generation C-Record rear derailleur was replaced with Record indexing model from 1995.

I replaced the Regina freewheel and Sedis chain (both terrible) with a 7-speed Campy C-Record cassette hub. Yes, Campy did make a 7-speed cassette hub. Shimano IG70 (sorry) chain. The first generation C-Record crank is intact. Shifting is great.

The Cobalto brakes were sort of OK, but nothing great. So they were replaced with some Record dual pivots from around 1995.

The wheels are still tubulars - Campagnolo Record Crono rims. Because clinchers still suck.

redcolnago

Man up and get rid of the integrated brake/shifting

PeakFreak

Well, it has been a while since I have been able to peruse any sort of forum, but I am back and I would like to update how my restoration is progressing plus some advice for those looking at getting new decals via internet suppliers.

Firstly I have decided to just keep the bike frame as is with the exception of having a vintage bicycle restorer just touch up the paint scratches and re-decal it with new Pinarello ones that they will reproduce. The new SLX decals for forks and frame that I received are great and to size.
The forks only need a bit of touching up as well.
All the Mavic and Modolo components will be cleaned, greased and tuned where necessary.
I couldn't find MA40 rims as mine were really badly dinged up and so purchased some G40s which were in much better condition.
I went with black Modolo brake lever covers which are not as nice as the original white ones(basically just crumbled to pieces) but a lot less trouble to clean.

For those that are wishing to restore decals I have a bit of advice regarding decal print quality of the new decals(Not the dismal, absolutely terrible, poor adhesion and flaking quality of the original transfer/decal itself( that's a story in itself that all those that own vintage Pinarello's know).
I purchased all new decals from 2 online suppliers. I will not mention them. These decals are not up to print standards of the originals. By quality I mean the printed visual sharpness of the decal, especially the fine lines and strokes. Much of the fine detail is either missing or has filled in with blobs of ink.
And many of the decals are actually larger than the originals by 10-20%!! Also the font has not been properly recreated. Some serif components are thicker, shorter, longer, thinner.. etc.

To avoid lousy decals I suggest go and study the letters of the logos closely on your bicycle... take pictures, then go to the the online decal supplier and see how close these decals are to the ones on your bicycle. I know, I know, a bit anal, but Hey you want it done right... right? If they look ok online, then call or email them and see if they will give you the exact measurements that you want them done to. I do understand that quality and branding guidelines were not even worried about by some companies, and judging by looking at old vintage Pinarello publications, there was some leeway taken by some of the printers(just like today).
So please measure all your decals(Letter Cap height, Kerning(Space between letters), measure total Pinarello logo width(All letters), Width and height of all other logos, awards, wins, etc, along with the year of your bicycle, and then send this info to the decal manufacturer along with photos of your bicycle and placement of these decals, to make sure they don't send decals you cannot use. If they cannot do this then find one out there that will. If you happen to have a printed catalogue or poster with the logo that was current for your build, then have that scanned hires at at least 300 dpi and send it to the decal manufacturer. Most would jump at the chance to to use a proper logo instead of a poorly redrawn one!!

My Pinarello Montello should be done by Christmas and I will post pics when it's finished.
Cheers and good luck to those restoring as well!!

P!N20

It would be helpful if you did - not trying to 'boycott' any reproduction decal suppliers, but at least people can be informed and ask the right questions before ordering.

My Pinarello decals were purchased from Cyclomondo in Australia and although I don't have original decals to compare them to I was very happy with the likeness:



The only thing they're missing is the superscript (R) at the end of Pinarello, which doesn't worry me. Also worth noting Greg at Cyclomondo can usually adjust things to suit or chop and change to create a set - eg; if something is shown white he can do it black, or you need that particular Columbus decal with that model decal, etc.

Are you the OP? Pinarello serial numbers don't mean much, but can give you a rough indication within a couple of years of when the frame was produced. Interesting that the rear spacing is 130mm - did you have it cold set? I would have expected 126mm rear spacing up until the early 90's at the earliest.

PeakFreak

In fairness, I should have asked the suppliers I used about their actual sizes and dimensions of the logos. I assumed that these would be the same size as the original ones on my bicycle and they were not. So it was a lesson learned and I was just trying to let others know that they should measure every decal and ask the supplier to create those sizes you need if they do not have those sizes in stock.
The print attributes of the large Pinarello logos I purchased were not really noticeable unless you looked closely and as a graphic designer for over 30 years I notice things like that as it's my passion and work. But they are not the same sizes as the ones on my bicycle. The smaller SLX logos, 1984 or 88 Olympic win decals with olympic rings(which have finer detail and smaller text are filled in and are not as sharp as the originals) and the copyright ® is reversed out of a black circle rather than a black R with a black keyline around it. These new productions are the way they are because of 2 things.

1.
No one has the original artwork which the printers of the day used. Back then these where either hand drawn or typeset if just a specific font, then shot in a darkroom as a Positive paper or film at whaterever size the printer needed via a Stat camera and the paper would be pasted via Wax on artboard. A translucent paper overlay was colour marked up for the printer who then created printing plates and then used offset printing press to produce the final product.
OR
2.
If you don't have the original artwork then you have to redraw/recreate it in Illustrator or other vector based applications. This is extremely difficult if the logo is a custom font or hand drawn.You have to be a talented Typographer to be able to do this type of work. If you are lucky and have a 300dpi original printed decal or a large poster with the logo on it, then you could have it scanned on a drum scanner and have a production artist clean it up and reduce down to the size you need and save it out as a 300dpi pdf or jpg. But if you are trying to create a print ready file from a small scanned image, well good luck with that. Your final piece will always look fuzzy. Because a small colour logo in a catalogue is only printed at either 240dpi or 300dpi on an offset press and these images are made up of CMYK dots which are never as sharp as a B+W piece of artwork. So if an online decal producer is using artwork like that to create a decal for purchase his final output will be less than stellar.

Hopefully some suppliers would supply you with samples that you could have a good look at and see if they are the quality you wish. They will certainly get more business once forum readers start praising their handiwork. It's a win, win for all those who wish to have their pride and joy restored to to its former glory. And if they don't then source elsewhere.

Chombi1 

Reproducing decals without original masters gets pretty complicated when the only reference one might have are originals that are barely there and flaking off a frame. Worse yet, they are wrapped around frame tubes which makes it hard to get a most accurate measurement of.
I suspect that's why a lot of reproductions just get "within the ballpark" of being accurate to the original graphics at best.
What also does not help with 80's Pinarello is, the old decals tend to leave a permanent ghost on the paint where they flake off, so even if you apply nice, new repop decals on the bike, the ghost of the original might show past the edges of the new one.. So chances of doing a close to perfect decal resto could be a long shot.

PeakFreak

So true. Easy enough to do in my case though as most of the logos/letters were there and so all I needed to do was tape tracing paper to the frame and accurately trace each letter take the paper lay it out and measure the height and width of each letter, create an vector based template file using the measurements, create the letters to correct cap height and kerning between letters and send the new artwork to a decal supplier to create the new decal. The frame restorer said he can remove the ghosting, so that should not be an issue. And actually I am going to recreate all the smaller decals that did not look that great and send them to a supplier who will create new decals for me using my artwork!!
Hopefully all will be done before Christmas, but I won't hold my breathe.

repechage

not that easy for many.

PeakFreak

You are correct of course, being in the graphic industry does help.