old colnago
peejay78
Posts: 3,378
Comments
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V. nice... i saw a blue track version of that at Welwyn last night.0
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Leave it as is don't go fixing it!
Looks like a Mexico or a Super.
Was it expensive?0 -
it's a colnago super, there is no way i would ever covert this bicycle. i do also ride gears, so don't panic.
it cost £450. a total snip.0 -
Just noticed the gear cables... are the levers on back to front/upside down ?0
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i already switched it. they were the wrong way round...
very strange.0 -
I've got a Colnago that looks very similar framewise to this and I was wondering if anyone can tell me what model/age it might be. I'm guessing it is fairly low end (by Colnago standards) and maybe mid-90s or thereabouts.
Mine is a lovely shade of rich blue (not metallic) with white graphics - an extended cloverleaf on the top tube. The rear brake cable is routed internally and there is a braze on for the front mech. It has chromed lugs, right hand chainstay and chromed forks like the one pictured. The sticker says the frame is 'Columbus Thron Super'. The downtube braze ons for gear shifters are square, so it is at least from the era of indexed gears.
Any help appreciated.
PS it cost me £1.0 -
have a look at the rear mech, it often has a date on it.
there is another way of telling but i forget, i think the front chainset.
also the groupset can give clues.
mine is a 1979 or 80.
is the tubing crimped on yours? also, is the fork crown flat or sloping?0 -
Thanks for the reply.
It was not a complete bike when i got it. A chainset was fitted - Shimano 105, square taper, solid arms and there was a Campag Veloce front mech (braze on) which looked fairly new - The chainset is the more likely of the two to be original as a 105 headset was also fitted..
I do have another oldish bike in complete original condition (a 531 framed Halfords Carerra) which could be from around the same era as it has exactly the same chainset. It also has a Shimano 600 rear mech and Dura-ace non-aero brake levers operating single pivot side pull Weinmann brakes, . Does any of this kit help to narrow down the date?
The Colnago had a very strange (quill) stem fitted, like a double barrelled pistol, perhaps for some kind of tribar, but there were no clamps on the two forward facing 'barrels' for attaching any bars.
The main frame tubing is all round section and IIRC (haven't seen it since this morning!) the fork crown is sloping and much more round shouldered than yours, it has the cut out cloverleafs on the crown, but not the Colnago name. The top tube cloverleaf on mine is a simple airbrushed stencil graphic which looks relatively modern and, in plain white on blue, much classier (in my opinion) than some of the quite gaudy higher end Colnagos I've seen. The brake drillings are for allen key fixing brakes, which I guess is another factor that means its not 'very' old, so it's still a 'banger' not yet a 'classic'.
Yours looks older than mine in that nice 'classic bike' way, it is also in much better condition. My paint is quite chipped and most of the 'chrome' lugs are reddy brown.0 -
Ah, those were the days. I still say chrome on a bike looks better than black carbon
or semi shiny titanium. Shows someone cared when designing the frame.
Dennis Noward0 -
well, it sounds like one of the later models before they went over to gilko tubing, especially considering the shimano 600 details and sloping fork crown.
i hazard a guess at late 80's/early 90's.0 -
Given the paint scheme, which looks original, and the rear brake cable routing, I'd think it was more likely to be early 80s rather than mid or late 80s. It definitely isn't the 90s as the rear brake cable on all Colnago models from that era were routed through the top tube rather than along the top of it. They also went to straight forks in around 1988.
I had a 1987 Colnago SL which was a single colour scheme, all red, and had the top tube rear brake cable routing. I sold it and have regretted it ever since.0 -
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it isn't anymore.
when i got it there were some really funny quirks. i have ironed them out. the back to front gear shifters was odd.0 -
I meant to say that it had an internally routed rear brake cable, but the forks are curved - so mid to late 80's sounds about right.
Yes it was just £1. At the time, though sadly no longer, our council tip was run by a chap called Blackie, a local gipsy. The deal seemed to be that he was allowed to tot from the skips in return for keeping the site tidy and secure. In fact loads of people gave him stuff to sell on that otherwise they would have hoarded. It worked very well. Now the site is a Civic Amenity Recycling Centre run by a multinational recycling conglomerate who sacked Blackie when they took over and perfectly usuable stuff just gets crushed now. Is that progress?
Blackie priced the bikes based purely on tyre condition. So a £50 Magna Mountain bike which was so rubbish that it had never been ridden, so the tyres looked new, would fetch up to £15. A Colnago with no wheels wasn't worth much on this criterion, so it was £1. In fact it was in the skip for crushing and my eagle eye just spotted a rather elegant chromed dropout poking out betwen the mangled dishwasher drums and old barbecues. Imagine my delight at what I found and in my size too! Other bargains - I did LEJog on a £4 Dawes Super Galaxy and climbed Ventoux on a £3 Carlton Corsair!0 -
I like your one Peejay you got a bargain.
Try and find another for double that price and you won't!0 -
I've got a Colnago that looks very similar framewise to this and I was wondering if anyone can tell me what model/age it might be. I'm guessing it is fairly low end (by Colnago standards) and maybe mid-90s or thereabouts.
Mine is a lovely shade of rich blue (not metallic) with white graphics - an extended cloverleaf on the top tube. The rear brake cable is routed internally and there is a braze on for the front mech. It has chromed lugs, right hand chainstay and chromed forks like the one pictured. The sticker says the frame is 'Columbus Thron Super'. The downtube braze ons for gear shifters are square, so it is at least from the era of indexed gears.
Any help appreciated.
PS it cost me £1.
Your description suggests its a C95 (or 96 - same thing)
Roger0 -
Nice find PJ - was it local?
AidanAidan Searle0 -
This is the setup favoured on "the continent" I gather...peejay78 wrote:i already switched it. they were the wrong way round...
very strange.
Sheldon Brown says:Right Front or Left Front?
The usual system is to have the rear brake controlled by the lever on the side of the bicycle that corresponds to the side of the road that it will be driven on, i.e., right in most of the world; left in the British Isles, Japan, and other places where they drive on the left.
Nobody knows exactly why this is. My theory is that it is based on the reasonable idea that you should be able to have your primary braking hand on the handlebars while making a turn signal with the appropriate hand--coupled with the erroneous idea that the rear brake is the primary brake.
I prefer to set my own bicycles up with the front brake controlled by the right lever. This allows me to signal and stop at the same time, and also lets me use my stronger, more skillful hand for the more critical front brake. (I rarely use my rear brake.)
Since this is the opposite of the prevailing national standard, I would never set up a bicycle this way for a customer without a specific request to do so. I have an article on Braking and Turning which addresses these issues in more detail.0 -
i got this one somewhere deep on the essex marshes, i had to get a train and change somewhere foggy and wierd where they eat their young. i had a monumental hangover, in fact, i think i was still bitterly, torturously drunk. i returned to london with my new steed, managing to leave my mini pump on the train.0
