Hey all, First post intro time... I'm Ed Lutz, currently living in Loveland, Colorado. Been riding a bike...well pretty much my whole life and I just turned 46 a few days ago. I was one of those guys in Jr. high and high school that no one understood. I showed up in weird jerseys and wool shorts and guarded my bike like it was made of gold. Well, it was Italian gold! My first real bike was a Raleigh Supercourse. Anyone else ever take half a Raleigh International decal, and half a Supercourse decal and make an Interc... hmm, well I was young at the time. My teachers weren't too impressed either. After getting free of Jr. high my parents decided this bike thing wasn't all that odd I guess and they popped for an Italian steel birthday present. A Bottechia! Columbus tubing! Just the frame set, like I wanted so I could build it my way. It was heaven. I ended up not being able to afford the proper Campy parts and it had quite a bit of Japanese stuff on it, mostly Dura Ace though so it functioned well. That bike was my sole mount until I was around 32 years old. Yep, all that time and I loved every mile of it. A few centuries, some tours around Southern California, lots of trips to the beach. After I got married I treated myself to a nice new CF frame and the Bottechia was retired. The components were wearing out, the paint is rough, but its still my baby and will never go away. These days though I hardly ride at all, you see I found mountain biking and being the psyco climber I used to be I fell in love. Unfortunately I over did it and now my knees are pretty bad. No surgery, just pain when I ride. Sigh... My goal at this point is to just have fun on a bike and to either restore or rejuvenate my beloved Bottechia. I'm thinking restore but I'm not sure about the decals and how to replace them. I'm also thinking I'd like to build it the way it was supposed to be, with period components, but I haven't decided if I want that, or to build it like I had it before. Decisions decisions.
I'm also wondering just what model Bottechia this is as I never knew. The frame came to me used, and I think was built in the early '70s. I got it in 1973 I think. Anyhow, I'll get some pictures of the frame up on my web site soon and direct ya all there for comments.
Thanks for listening and I look forward to talking and learning more about real bicycles!
Ed
Loveland, CO.