pkrumhansl

I recently acquired a bike from an estate sale of an avid cyclist who had live in Germany for 30 years before returning to Canada. He had told people it was a racing bike and he had toured all over Europe with it. It is a 57 cm square and has been painted blue, possibly over white. It has no decals or pantographed features, so it is a mystery what it is. It is a very nice looking lugged steel frame. It has Campagnolo dropouts at the rear, Zeus on the front fork and an RGB bottom bracket. The crankset, downtube shifters, brakes and derailler are Campagnolo Both sets of wheels have Dura Ace hubs, 6 speed casette, Ambrosia tubular rims, 22c tires. 3T stem and bars. San Marco saddle. It weighs 22.5 lbs with pedals
It rides quite nicely, reasonably stiff and controlled. It needs new tires and an overhaul.

The only distinctive feature are the head tube lug cutouts which have sharp V shape and an unusual cutout on the side of the top lug. The fork crown is simple with a flat top. The fork is a little stouter than normal I have seen on other bikes of that era. I have been searching for similar bikes and have not found a complete match.
Any ideas? (My first post So no pictures yet)

machinist42

If you post pictures of some size in Your Album, some kind soul will convey them over here for the Viewing Pleasure of The Members.

pkrumhansl

I don't know how you did it but thanks for putting these up

clubman 

Guiseppe Limongi sometimes used the triangular cut-outs.

unworthy1

I also don't know how machinist42 found those thumbnails, cause I see no pics in your album pkrumhansl and thumbnails are very close to useless for the details we need to see.
For example the cutouts in the BB shell which are very unusual, but I can't tell what I'm looking at.
If you can go to your public profile and upload full size pics in the "album" there, then we can do some better guessing.
I don't think the headlugs tell us anything, they look to be stock items like Bocama Competition or similar

pkrumhansl

I put photos in an album. The thumbnails are cropped but when I click on them they expand.
They do look like the Bacama Competition lugs, Any list of who would build with them in early 1980's?
The cutout has a bit of a stylized V to it also. Sharp corners and a little dip along the top (see Vstyle pic). That style is on many of the lugs and inside of fork crown.
Thanks for your help.

machinist42

Sorry, you are still only uploading thumbnails. Please try again?

OP's New Album: Mystery Bike 1980

juvela

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lug note -

set used to construct the Limongi posted above is a Prugnat product, possible of the S serie

set used to construct subject frame appears to be BOCAMA Competition 83 with cutout nr. R1





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P!N20

So while we wait for higher res images, is that an abstracted 'K' on the bottom bracket shell?

unworthy1

good guess but sure would help to have bigger. sharper pix...still waiting...
But riffing off this guess, my mind goes to Jim Redcay.
I don't see any details that would bolster this blind guess, but then I don't see enough details, period.

Redcay did seem to favor a "shot-in" fastback seat cluster, plus other custom touches not on display with the OP's frame.
And if it's a big "K" it's nothing like the one seen in BB shell of some higher end Japanese frames such as Nishiki Superbe and a few other models made by Kawamura.

For grins and skittles here's a pic of the K in a BB shell that I once posted to the well-thumbed "Show us your Drain Holes" thread (and not likely any JP frame would use BCM lugs, so this is only an "interesting tangent":

pkrumhansl

I am having trouble uploading higher res photos, because I have reached a limit. I would like to delete the earlier pictures but can't get to a place to edit or delete.
I see others have this problem. I am on a laptop
I can save the .jpegs full size but they are 2 mB a piece. There is a large also which does about 300 mB

About the Mystery bike. The chainstays are not crimped and the RD cables stop is a brazed on bead. Also the derailler cable routing is under the bottom bracket. When did this start? 70's bike had the little channel on top of the bottom bracket.

I will look at Limongi. I actually have a 1980's Limongi too

fabiofarelli

Kalkhoff?

pkrumhansl

Mystery solved. I contacted a friend of the original owner and he told me the whole story. David and his friend had frames built in 1979 by a German frame builder Gunter Krautsheid, an ex racer from the German national team. He started a frame building business for racers and tourers with the name Krabo in Bochum Germany. He built many frames over the years, many of which are for sale on ebay in Germany. There is still a bike shop there, run by his son, building custom bikes.

David built his bike up with Campy and Dura Ace parts. Later he had it repainted with no decals which he preferred. David and his friend toured around Corsica, then Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. There are pictures of happy friends on the bikes.

I have started to refurbish and ride the bike and am getting to know its character. I enjoy riding it on short rides and it has a nice controlled feel, stiff enough not to be springy and fairly efficient on climbing. It has 22m tubulars which are new to me, and once I pumped them up to 135 psi the bike seemed to come alive. A nice road feel.

The value of the Krabo bikes are not too high, but I will clean this one up and may do a repaint for fun. I found some new Continental sprinter tires and will enjoy the gluing of tubulars for the first time. Another enjoyable project.