Steven- Thanks for the outing of those very cool frames. I especially like the liberal use of chrome and nice paint jobs. I couldn't help notice one interesting thing regarding the tubing material used. They are made with Columbus Chromor. From discussions here on the list. I was informed that this material is bunk. But why would a frame manufacturer go out of their way to make such beautiful frames using such "lower-end" material? I could be wrong, but I would be surprised to see many takers on the list for such a frame.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that these are lower end frames. I just have never seen any demand for such constructed frame from folks on the list here. A poignant example from the past of about 5+/- years ago, were some Gorgeous Bottechia frames that Mario Girasa was selling. Drop-dead Beautiful they were, made from Chromor, and I bet that any racer of the day would never shy from using them. Yet they sat with Mario for a lot longer time that I suspect SL or 531 frames would.
In the economic parlance of supply and demand, its clearly the customer that has the final say as to whether or not to buy such frames. However, I have to ask myself---and I do so with confusion---Is the manufacturer wrong in assuming such frame material is worthy of such extra appointments, or is the customer wrong in assuming a less than favorable and possibly undeserving attitude about Chromor?
Moreover, if these Chromor frames are truly worthy of the attention to detail that the manufacturers have done to them, why would the consumer "be wrong". And yes, I did read the article in Bicycle Guide about various Columbus tubing from about 6 years ago. Cheers Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT
In a message dated 12/21/2003 7:48:42 AM PST, themaaslands@comcast.net writes:
There is a fellow who is selling three NOS Carrera Columbus frames and forks on Swiss Ebay. I asked the seller about the sizes and he sent me the following information:
The red and purple ones are both 55 cm c/c or 56.5 cm c/t with a 55.5 cm top tube The green one is 56 cm c/c or 57.5 cm c/t and he did not indicate the top tube length to me.
The Carrera frames are generally quite nice. I am not sure of the exact production date but I would guess from the 80's.
http://tinyurl.com/
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Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ