BlueDevil63 

I don't think I have ever done a build thread. I usually just post pictures when I am done. But this is kind of special and I have lots of time on my hands so I am going to give it a try. But one one condition - no smart remarks about my messy shop! I am forced into my small heated shop during the winter and have too little room and too much stuff and during a project I have things strewn everywhere.

I have gone back into the bike buying/building/restoring/selling/keeping activities in a pretty big way after vectoring off into Italian motorcycles for awhile:



But I digress. Two serendipitous things happened recently. One was that I had the opportunity to buy a stash of Jon Williams drillium/millium (pictures posted in another thread). The second was that I was first to the trigger on a Colnago Profil CX that came up for sale on Ebay. The seller had bought it in an estate sale and knew little about it. I could tell from the pictures it was in excellent shape but also that the color was not one I had ever seen on a Colnago before. Upon receiving the bike I was thrilled to find that the frame had been refinished by Peter Weigle (JP Weigle). The color is a beautiful kind of sea foam green. The Profil CX was a sharp bike to begin with. A fully chromed Gilco/crimped tubing frame they were offered in a couple different chromovelato colors, bright red and blue as far as I know. But they all seemed to have a lot of paint adhesion problems and I have never seen one that wasn't flaking great big patches of paint off the chrome. The head tube lugs, fork (which is a special "aerodynamic" profile) and stays had the chrome exposed. So I suspect the decaying chromovelato is what motivated the refinish. It is a beautiful paint job with only a few nicks and scrapes. The chrome is also in excellent condition.












So my plan now is to kind of go all out on this bike. Combine the work of two great American craftsmen/artisans. I am going to use at least a couple of pieces of Jon's work on this bike. This will be a "show" bike - rideable but not very often.

First I completely stripped the frame, cleaned it, scratch-x to get rid of a few scuffs, bronze wool on all the chrome to remove any rust spots and corrosion, align dropouts and hanger, Boeshield inside. Clean, lube and reinstall bottom bracket (Campy) and headset (Campy).

My first thoughts are to use the smoothed shifters, the smoothed and mexicoed crank with the black anodized and drilled chainrings and the "morse code" stem.







I'll probably also use these lever blades. The World Champion color infill matches the colors in the Colnago head badge.



Super Record (black arms) FD, seat post and brakes. SL (black cage) pedals. Everything de-anodized and polished.

Black infill paint in the flutes of the seat post and drilled/milled parts of the stem?

First gen (black and silver) Super Record RD? Or second gen Super Record or One of the 80s NR derailleurs that are really shiny? Or a black anodized NR derailleur I happen to have? Not sure.

Cinelli Criterium bars? Black bar tape? What saddle (probably black)? Hoods? Cable housing?

Wheels? I have a couple of Colnago pantographed Record LF hubs I could build some wheels from. Dark anodized rims?

More to come. Suggestions/input welcome?

Alexbaker67

Ummmm... Messy shop?! That's a surgical ward. :-)

That is going to be a stunning build. I love the pairing of frame and components modified by American master craftsman. Keep the photos coming!

Drillium Dude 

Add me to the growing list of salivating bystanders. BlueDevil63 , I've been hoping one day we'd see a build thread covering a jewel in your collection; it looks like you're off to a fantastic start!

DD

DJH86

Will be following this one with interest. Awesome color scheme

repechage

Use the 80's Super Record mech.
fits the frame era.
While I am spending your money, a pair of Jim Merz machined and polished pedal dust caps.

I am fortunate as my life insurance has two interesting clauses, no motorcycle class driver license and no pilot license.
Decision made. But the Ducati looks nice... I really like the very recent V4 as an engineering exercise.
Super Zoom.

Gary Fountain

OMAS nuts and bolts,etc. ??

A beautiful frame and lots of mouth watering components so far. Cinelli criterium bars are a great choice. Personally, I like the deeper bends of the Cinelli Campione del Mondo bars at 42 wide but the Criterium bars have that lovely curve on the 'top' position.

BlueDevil63 

OK so everything back off the frame and time to start working on individual components. One of the special "tools" in my tool box is this heated aqueous parts cleaner. It uses a water based solution (I use Simple Green HD - which is actually purple and safe for aluminum) so it is fairly environmentally friendly. The solution is heated to 110 degrees which is what really makes the difference.




What I usually do a is put in a load of stuff before bed and by morning it is super clean. Tonight I put in a load of spokes and a front hub shell, but it is great at cleaning things like derailleurs that have lots of nooks and crannies.







I'll pull these out tomorrow and show you how clean they got. In the next few days I will polish the seat post and de-anodize the stem and brake calipers and get them ready for a polish.

BlueDevil63 

Seat post and stem polished and paint infill. Brake arms de-anodized and ready to polish.

pilep

The frame is absolute breath taking! I would love to see some gumwall tires on this colnago.

BlueDevil63 

Work on brakes, handlebars and wheels today. Polished up rear brakes:







Fit some 3ttt handlebars. The stem I want to use has a 26mm clamp and all the Cinelli bars I have are 26.4mm. The 3ttt bars are nice and are not anodized so they polished up nicely.





The polishing is accomplished with two pedestal mounted grinders. I have a stitched sisal wheel with black compound for cutting, another stitched wheel with brown compound for initial polish and a loose wheel with red for final polish. Then I finish off with a simichrome polish.





Gave the shift levers a final Simichrome polish:



Considering these wheels with Record low flange hubs, Mavic G40 rims and a 6 speed Regina CX freewheel.





Finish work on brakes next.

unworthy1

The 3TTT bars (and for that matter a stem) are what Ernesto would want on this cause he had some beef with Cinelli and would not have stomached that stuff in/on his machines. But you get to break his rules as you wish! Wonderful bike, wonderful project (and I'm far from being a Colnago fanboy)! Looking forward to watching as this progresses.

merziac

@BlueDevil63

This is fantastic and while not a huge Colnago fan, I get it and think you're doing everyone proud here, especially Jon.
I just reread your first post again and was thinking we need a toolbox thread, you must be joking about the "messy shop".

This box is the least messy part of my mess, yours is just fine.

Sir_Name 

Ah, this will be fun to watch come together, thanks for the build thread! Interesting intersection of contributors. Curious if there are any tricks or jewels up the sleeves when it comes to the derailleurs.

bikingshearer 

Love the color. Great frame. It's going to be a stunning bike. Hell, it already is.

Thanks for sharing this build with us.

BlueDevil63 

Ok made some more progress today. Got the front brakes polished and mounted. Got the cockpit complete with levers and bar tape. Got all cables and housing run. Pedals and seat mounted. Did some dye work on some scuffs on the seat. Need to adjust bearings on one of the pedals and mount clips and straps. Coming together very nice.

Ended up using an FD with a cage drilled by Jon and a SR rear derailleur. I'll probably look for a new rear derailleur as this one is from the year(s) where they had a very flat black finish on the knuckles and i prefer the gloss black finish. The other SR RDs I have all have too much road rash for this build.

Rocket-Sauce 

Looking forward to this one.

aeshultz

Beautiful bike- I always love seeing your work. I believe that you bought my beloved '73 Italian Masi GC, and it certainly went through the right hands.
Enjoying this.

BlueDevil63 

Black rims? I have a set of Sun M13II black anaodized rims. They match the black anodizing on the chainring perfectly. I really don't like the early 80s dull gray anodizing that so many wheelsets have. I think either black or silver. The tire is just for the mockup. I wouldn't use that tie but there is the question of gumwall or black with the black rims.







Levers look good but maybe some new repro hoods.

repechage

Black rims, gumwall tires - my opinion.
But I would use black cloth tape. The padded just appears Michelin Man to me, understand for many it is a comfort thing.
Anodizing removed polished brakes do look snappy.

BlueDevil63 

I usually use cloth. Decided to try this but yes it looks too bulky. Thicker than I thought.

repechage

There do appear to be differences in the padding thickness of the Modern tapes.

SJX426 

I do like Colnago's and this is a stunning example! The bar tape is out of proportion with the rest of the bike, IMHO. Beautiful chainring too. I would like to have the same on my De Rosa. Provides nice balance.
I would stick with a tan side wall too.

I have been toying with deanodizing a Cinelli stem or two, thanks for showing that. The brakes do looks stunning (BLING, BLING) next to those lovely chrome lugs!

Kabuki12

That bike is looking beautiful. Someday I am going to do my ‘75 in more of a daily rider fashion. I love the color and the polished bits.

shuru421

Is this 126?

BlueDevil63 

Rear spacing? Yes.