placido

Hi, my name is Placido and a few days ago I bought this bike,It's a size 52.5, I can't identify the frame. it has a Columbus Kl sticker, Cinelli bottom braket made in france 35x1, ends forks and frame campagnolo the tubes measure 25 diameter the horizontal, and 28 the vertical and the diagonal, sorry for my english, any help is appreciated, greetings and thanks for your time.

I don't have 10 post for upload the photo, any help?

Thanks¡¡¡¡¡

unworthy1

Upload pix in a "gallery" you make associated with your profile.
These can then be viewed and attached to this thread by those of us with more than 10 posts.
Columbus KL tubing is pretty rare stuff...

machinist42

OP's Album.

machinist42

OP's Album.

placido

Thanks for the photo¡¡¡¡
Any help is welcome¡¡¡¡

unworthy1

Looks nice! And if the KL decal is legit you have something rare (and lightweight), but...nothing ringing a bell with "RA" on that Bocama forkcrown and serial numbers seem to match between frame & fork so whatever RA stands for that's got to be the name of the frame.
Could be a question for MauriceMoss



Can you measure the Outer Diameters (OD) of the 3 main tubes so we know if this tubing is metric (vs Imperial)? If it is then that probably nails this as made in France. BUT you never want to rule out some anomaly: are you and this frame in France or Spain, or...?

non-fixie 

Late seventies, French, high end. Subscribing!

bulgie 

Yeah I wish I knew, sorry I'm not helping. Just wanted to say the "S.C. FRANCE" cast into the bottom of the BB shell means the tube sockets are metric, 28.0 mm ST & DT and 22.0 c-stays. The shell itself was made in Italy. I have a couple of those shells that will probably go with some circa 1980 753 tubesets I have hoarded, from back when 753 only came in metric diameters.

KL tubing in metric has got to be a rare bird. I've heard of it, know it existed, but have never seen one.

I hope you find out the builder. It's a special frame for sure. Be careful with it, such thin tubing is easy to dent...

I've asked Norris Lockley to look at the pictures; I bet he'll know immediately from his many years in the bike biz, especially importing French stuff into his native England. He's a framebuilder himself with an eye for details, and knows everyone in the French bike biz personally, lives part of each year at his place in Sancerre France.

Mark B

verktyg 

That's one of the few if only Columbus KL frames that I've seen. KL is made of 4130 Chrome Moly steel that Columbus started calling Cyclex in 1980.

KL Tubing Wall Thicknesses:

Main Tubes - 0.7mm in the butted ends, 0.5mm in the thin sections,
Chain Stays & Seat Stays - 0.5mm
Fork Blades - 0.9mm
Head Tube - 0.8mm
The 1978 Published Weight for the bare tubes was 1710 gr.

Those thin walled seat and chain stays have to be very prone to denting and would make for a whippy frame in larger sizes.

The brazed on aero shift lever mount on the down tube dates the frame to ~1981 or later. Shimano and Suntour made that style of levers when the aero fad was big.



verktyg

CV-6 

Indeed a light frame. Frame weighs less than my two 753 frames.

placido

Thank you very much for your answers, I will continue investigating to find out whose frame it is, when I bought it it had poor quality stickers from Gios, as I have asked in Spanish forums it could be a Razesa, but I cannot confirm it.
Again, thank you very much.
Greetings¡¡¡

P!N20

The RA cartouche looks more like a rider's initials rather than a marque - typically fork crown engravings were logos. Could be wrong though.

I think the MY in the serial could be a clue...I have no idea though.

Nice looking frame!

placido

i can’t write to Maurice, i havent 10 post to write him.

jdawginsc 

Unworthy is paging him with the mention.

KL was meant for time trialing only I think. I have never seen a KL frame, so super cool.

placido

Hello, if I have searched for MY and I can't find any brand with those letters
Thank you

placido

Hello, if I have searched for MY and I can't find any brand with those letters
Thank you

Doug Fattic 

That is an incredibly light frame. The frames I've built out of Tange Prestige (tubing I probably bought from Bill Davidson when Mark B. worked there) with .7/.4/.7 mm wall thicknesses weighed about 1700 grams. I have build a frame out of Columbus KL for a small woman but I never weighed it. I did build a frame out of Ishiwata 015 for myself in the late 70's. That tubing is designated as .6/.3./.6mm. I think it also weighed about 1500 grams. On that frame I did everything I could to make it light. I should also mention that tubing is never exactly as it is speced. It will be slightly thicker or thinner than what it is supposed to be.

placido

Thanks for you asnwer¡¡ This is a small frame, size 52x50.

Regards¡¡

unworthy1

Could be, but in most examples I have seen that's not where you see owner's initials (or Racer's names/initials on a Team frame) they usually get painted on the top tube.
Also this panto/engraved RA was done prior to chrome plating, FWIW, so while still in the hands of the builder.
You have grabbed the attention of a LOT of our heavy-hitter experts in this forum so the sharpest eyes and brains in the biz are watching but still no conclusive ID made...this one may be a stumper!

smd4

RA = Really Awesome?

placido

Hi, it wasn't my intention to make such a fuss, when I bought the bike it came mounted on a campagnolo super record, everything except the headset and brake levers, 3TTT seatpost, 3TTT superleggera handlebar and 3ttt stem, Mavic red label wheels for tubular, but with some Gios stickers, I know it is not a gios and when I disassembled it to review it, I realized that it weighed very little, therefore, being able to identify the frame to be able to identify it well.

The strangest thing is that it has a titanium bottom bracket but 70mm for a 68 bottom bracket.

I really appreciate your time and effort.

verktyg 

The frame is most likely a one off custom built and you may never find the pedigree...

Pobre pequeña bastarda o pobre pequeña bastardo... so just ride it!

It's a beautiful well made frame.

verktyg

unworthy1

Is that a Campagnolo BB with FR cups but a titanium spindle (axle) that's intended for an Italian BB (70mm width)?
BTW, this is not a "fuss" for most of us, we actually enjoy the mental exercise!

placido

Hello¡¡
yes it's a very strange, when i can upload photo, i show them.
other thing, i can show the restoration here?
Thanks¡¡¡

placido

Ride it, of course¡¡¡¡