Thinning the stable - a dilemma - help?

deejay.

Greetings enlightened ones!

Haven't been on for a while - good to be back. I have a dilemma with which I could use your help. I'm looking to purchase a new bike, and have to thin the stable first, as though we're currently safe in the N-1 state, another bike would move us squarely into the N state, where N is the number of bikes which would precipitate a sudden, involuntary and catastrophic change in domestic arrangements :shock:

I have two vintage Colnagos, both of which I have been fortunate to own from new:

C40HP, Campagnolo Record 10v (2004) in Landbouowkrediet Colnago team colours (Red/White; flash of Blue) - on Bullet Ultras - has a few chips and scratches - still rides beautifully.

Master Olympic in AD2 (pink) with Athena 11v (silver alloy) on 2004 Neutrons - all silver alloy finishing kit with a 3TTT quill stem and Record threaded headset.

Sorry about the lack of pictures - can't seem to get linking to work, and the pics are not up to scratch anyway - I'll remedy that when it stops raining!

So here's the dilemma. I have to get rid of three bikes (two are hacks, no problem) to get this through, so one of the Colnagos has to go. Why am I doing this? Where I live, the roads are awful, so I would like to have discs, clearance for bigger tyres (28mm please!) and EPS/Di2 - I am going to be out a few quid for sure, so a certain amount of falling on one's sword is required.

Note: this is not a clandestine advertisement - I'm not in a hurry to do this, and am struggling mightily, as I don't want to sell either of them. Nor am I posting this just to show off - this is a genuine dilemma burning a hole in my brain!

Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions all welcome!

Many thanks,

deej.

Alejandrosdog

tricky tricky

not far off being acceptable for an eroica stye event.

Id be brutal and ditch them both. brownie points AND cash. Im down to just three bikes now and one of those is a brompton. so plenty of room for something i can bikepack on.

cougie

I'd keep the Olympic. It's a classic.

me-109

Seconded. Keep the Master.

ex-pat scot

I'm in the throes of the same sort of challenge.
I do need to get rid of stuff I am realistically never going to use.
I also need to have a think about the level of redundancy I have in my kit.
I have a 1994 1st gen Trek OCLV which has served me well these 25 years, with early racing highlights and a faint aftertaste of my glorious (!) early adulthood. Similarly a 1991 Pace mtb that is perfect in every respect, save that it never actually gets ridden.

My more recent workhorses are less easy to justify from a heartstrings perspective, but still useful from a "my son will grow into it" or "its coming on a family camping holiday" or "emergency my main bike is kaput and I need to race to the station" use case.

There are considerable brownie points to be gained, even if I will never be in credit.

Sorry I can't resolve your conundrum. I would suggest keeping one.
My general approach would be to own the absolute best classic you can, one of, for Sunday Best. High days and holy days use. A vintage heirloom. (that's my plan for my 2014 Look 695, and I'm wavering a little on whether the 1994 Trek should sit in the same category)

angry_bird

Me-109 wrote:

Seconded. Keep the Master.

What this guy said.

deejay.

Thanks everyone for your considered replies - now I know what I must do...keep the Master Olympic and let the C40 go, hard as that will be. I’ll probably put it up on the classified ads here first - watch this space!

Cheers,

deej

matt_n-2

Personally I’d keep both, but then I’m a Colnago fan!

However I’d sell the Master Olympic, you can still buy a new Master should you wish to again in the future but you’ll struggle to buy another C40 as they’re getting rare now and even more so in the right size.

deejay.

Matt_N wrote:

Personally I’d keep both, but then I’m a Colnago fan!

However I’d sell the Master Olympic, you can still buy a new Master should you wish to again in the future but you’ll struggle to buy another C40 as they’re getting rare now and even more so in the right size.

I hear you - the C40 was always a little on the small side for me at 58cm (at the time, I didn’t appreciate how Colnago size their frames) as I really need a 60cm; the Master actually fits me a little better.

Of course I’d rather keep both, but it’s just not realistic unfortunately...

veronese68

I was hoping you were looking for volunteers, keep them both but hide the Master in my garage. I’ll love it as though it was my own.
Unfortunately as this may be an impractical arrangement, if I were you I’d go with keeping the Master.

deejay.

Veronese68 wrote:

I was hoping you were looking for volunteers, keep them both but hide the Master in my garage. I’ll love it as though it was my own.
Unfortunately as this may be an impractical arrangement, if I were you I’d go with keeping the Master.

I like your thinking, but you are right, from a practical perspective the idea does suffer from one or two fairly serious flaws...

veronese68

Oh, well. Worth a try.

matt_n-2

If the Master fits better than you’re more likely to ride it I guess so keep that, also AD2 is a rare colour.

Are you on FB? There is a really good ‘Colnago for sale’ group, you have to request to join but it’s got nearly 8000 members and will give you a good audience to sell the C40.

deejay.

Matt_N wrote:

If the Master fits better than you’re more likely to ride it I guess so keep that, also AD2 is a rare colour.

Are you on FB? There is a really good ‘Colnago for sale’ group, you have to request to join but it’s got nearly 8000 members and will give you a good audience to sell the C40.

Thanks a lot - I’ll take a look!

term1te

Mount the Master on the wall in the living room, and call it art. That's what I did :-) even have a Daliesque mount to hold it. OK not in the living room, its on the basement wall, but N doesn't include artworks.

cougie

Genius.