Norm,
A great story. As much fun as it is to find a mint example of a period bike, the opposite thrill is a bike with prominence and "patina". The fact that it's nearly all original is really nice. Another vote for the "no restore" as was the case (unanimously) with a Cinelli a month or so ago.
Gary Watts Vancouver, WA USA
________________________________________________________________________ _______________ Subject: [CR]Cinelli pictures and story: Beyond Patina
I recently acquired a '69/'70 Cinelli SC from the second owner who bought it used in 1973. It had seen 36 years of hard use and neglect and
was scary rusty. But it had most of its original parts and the price was
right so I bought it hoping it could be saved..
It came with a NR drive train, 36 hole low flange Record hubs, Nitor seat post, Unicanitor plastic saddle ( no leather ), Cinelli stem with 7
mm expander bolt and 10mm hex head binder, Giro D'Italia bars, Universal
Model 61 brakeset. Supposedly the only non original part was the Pat 73 NR rear derailleur which replaced a Record steel derailleur.
Owner #2 gave me the name of owner #1 who is still an active racer in this area. He was easy to find and was eager to tell the story. He was a
racer in the Philadelphia / New Jersey area as a college student in the mid 60's when he became involved with Fritz Kuhn of Kopp's Cycles in Princeton, N. J. He described Fritz as a mentor. He got this bike through Fritz in 1969 or 70. He confirmed That it came from the factory as a complete bike and that I did indeed have the original components except for the steel derailleur. He also talked about a few of the races
he did with this bike and how he placed. Given this partial history I guess he was pretty good.
1970 1st Fitchburg Longsjo 1971 3rd Quebec to Montreal 1972 3rd US Nationals 1972 Olympic trials.
I thought it was fun finding an original bike with a bit of history.
Now anyone have any stories to tell about Fritz Kuhn and Kopp's Cycles....their sticker is still on the Nitor seat post.
Hope this link to my albums works.Click on Cinelli I think it will show what I mean by beyond patina and why I plan to have it refinised.
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/
Norm Lafleur
Ashfield, Ma