Re: [CR] was: reverse brake mounting, and an unusual Colnago

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Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 09:32:17 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
From: "Marc Boral" <mbikealive@dslextreme.com>
References: <14b.1c4ef956.2b8cfcf0@aol.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] was: reverse brake mounting, and an unusual Colnago


Mark,

I've seen a couple of those Colnagos. At one point, I was trying real hard to buy one that was outfitted with Mexico'd components and some ICS modified components. It has been so long that I have totally forgotten what that bike was called. If I remember correctly, Marcel Calborn (ex-Colnago importer) had some involvement in those bikes. But I don't put too much faith in anything that guy says.

I also seem to remember Chuck Schmidt might know something about this model Colnago. I could easily be wrong, but I seem to vaguely remember Chuck attempting to buy that same Colnago I was interested in. Am I recollecting correctly Chuck ?

Timeline on that frame, I believe, is early/mid '80s.

Marc Boral Long Beach, CA

-------Original Message-------

From: FujiFish1@aol.com Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 9:09:15 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR] was: reverse brake mounting, and an unusual Colnago

Up until yesterday I was somewhat behind on reading my CR digests, so this thread has died off. However, there is more to be said on the subject...

I purchased a Colnago road bike on Ebay set up with both front and rear brake mounted on the insides. This is the small (51 cm) white Colnago with the possible Campagnolo Super Record Modified (milled flat sides so that bike manufacturers could pantograph their names on it) seatpost that was discussed here last month. The set was repainted by CycleArt (decal on the left chainstay). There are some features that I have never even heard of, let alone seen before, and I have yet to contact Jim Cunningham about it. The fork crown has NO brake mounting bolt hole coming through to the front. The headset is clearly of a smaller diameter than the usual 1", perhaps 3/4" or so. The TTT (Colnago panto) stem tapers at the bottom of the

quill to accommodate this, and is black top to bottom. The two main "lugs" of the bottom bracket have a doubled effect, like a lug inside a lug. (What do you call that connection, if not a lug?) The internal routing for the rear brake cable emerges on the drive side of the bike, seemingly in accordance with the reversed Campy caliper placement (recessed allen head, by the way). The frame's main tubing is perforated four times along the length,

to sort of square it off, and the shifters are mounted back to back on a podium, on top of the top tube, with the wires running directly into the frame, and then emerging again at the bottom bracket. Like I said, the fork crown has no evidence of a bolt hole in the front. The decals Jim put on it are very cool too, IMHO. There was no tubing decal applied with the repaint. The brakes also look like the ones sold on Ebay that began this "assbackwards" thread (Triomphe?). But, the brake pads are actually marked "Super Record" in the rubber (that's not really Campy, is it?), and the flimsy aluminum tabs have club panto's. The steering is indeed limited just slightly when turning to the left, because of the rear-facing brake. The seatpost's clamp, cradle and bolt do look to me, exactly like Super Record, but the shaft is quite short, allowing only about 3.5" below the modification, and there are no markings. This kinda looks like an after market cutoff. It is interesting that the shaft bore looses its center near the end, and becomes somewhat offset. Perhaps Campy was unaware that the bores were slightly crooked? Super Record cranks with Colnago pantographs and "Mexico-like" rounding are dated 1981.

Since nobody mentioned Colnago in the discussion, I'm wondering if this frameset is on or off topic. It does definitely have some CR timeline parts on it though. Was this set designed for time trialing like the other bikes mentioned that used the reverse brake mounting? Was this a normal thing for Colnago, or something rare? Is there any way of confirming the Campy seatpost? And what about that tiny steerer threading, and the double "lugs"?

In my cold dark basement shop (not dank though, heaven forbid, lest I grow green seat padding like Mark Ritz?...) I snapped about 15 pics, and have them in a zip file to send to anyone interested in helping, or just viewing. I do

not have a picture hosting service, but I'd be glad to let someone else post

them and share the link with the list. They are far from good quality, and a

bit too dark, but they will get the point across. I'm looking forward to reading the thoughts of the Colnago masters out there!

Thanks... Mark Agree Oak Park MI

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