[CR]Re: colnago carving styles ALSO: Pantografata Registry

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:49:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Raymond Dobbins <raydobbins2003@yahoo.com>
To: chasds@mindspring.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <30755994.1193098680546.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Subject: [CR]Re: colnago carving styles ALSO: Pantografata Registry

>From my reading of Charles' post, he agrees with Brad, that the Merckx style "carving" (great term!), is the earliest. I believe this is the same style that Charles refers to as "informal." This is what this it looks like:

http://www.raydobbins.com/misc/Merckx_style_milling_drilling/post.jpg

http://www.raydobbins.com/misc/Merckx_style_milling_drilling/stem.jpg

http://www.raydobbins.com/misc/Merckx_style_milling_drilling/stem.jpg

And of course there were variations of the fluting in the stem and seat post - wider or narrower flutes; shorter or longer; more or fewer flutes.

And talking about variations, somebody pointed out that the seat post on my 72 Super is a later version of the original Pantografata seat post. I checked, and sure enough, my post has shorter fluting. I've posted a couple of pics for comparison:

http://www.raydobbins.com/pantografata/seat_posts/seat_posts.htm

Can anybody confirm if this short-flute Pantografata post is pre or post 1973? I'm hoping to find that it's actually pre-73, or contemporaneous. If you have a Pantografata please check your seat post to see if it has the long or short fluting.

Which brings me to my next topic. I've decided to start a Pantografata Registry. Since these frames don't have serial numbers, the ID will be based on photos. So if you have a Pantografata, send me some pics so I can get the Registry started.

By the way, how long the pantografata was offered?

Ray Dobbins Miami FL USA

chasds@mindspring.com wrote: Brad Stockwell wrote:

All these rigs appear on post-'playing-card' bikes that have the club+holes or club/no holes crown, and with clubs in all 3 lugs, which suggests that the metamorphosis from rig 1 to rig3 ocurred entirely during the '72 '73 period -- I suppose at the rate at which premium-price bicycle products are dispensed, they must have all been on offer more-or-less simultaneously.

**********

In my experience, based on period brochures, catalogs, and actual bikes, there were three "formal" styles of Colnago pantographing, and one informal style. The informal style pre-dates the "super pantografata" of 1973 (give or take 6 months). the informal style consisted of milled flutes in seatposts, milled grooves in stems, countersunk holes drilled in the large chainring around the web and in the shape of the colnago club. Usually these grooves were enamelled black, or chrome yellow, and sometimes they weren't painted at all. Sometimes derailleurs were drilled in various ways and shifter levers were hollowed out. There were a few variations on this theme prior to the "pantografata" but that's the basic scheme.

Then came the pantografata as shown in the brochure ray posted. Early brake levers were drilled (not punched as with later SR), and milled with diamonds and the club. Seatposts were milled as seen on Ray's bike, as was the stem. Rings might be drilled as in the earlier manner, or milled with the colnago club and oval cutouts. there were at least two styles of the milled ring. shift levers were hollowed out as before. The brochure Ray posted shows all of this clearly.

the next style showed up, more or less, with the introduction of the Mexico in what? early or late 1975. Frame graphics changed slightly, and the pantographing changed entirely. You can see this style in a brochure I have--that I need to get scanned before Ray starts stalking me--early Mexicos are often seen with a fully panto'd group that included a Unicanitor or 3ttt saddle with the colnago flower-inside-a-C stamped on the side of the saddle and *COLNAGO* stamped on the back. Crank spiders/arms were sometimes milled out, sometimes reduced and polished in the "Mexico" manner. And usually both at once. Not all cranks were treated this way on bikes that otherwise had a full pantographed group. It was probably upcharge option.

Rather than describe the second style in detail--and since most of you have seen it, I'm sure--I'll just get this brochure I have scanned and up somewhere.

There were at least three different stem-panto styles at this time, and the chainring pantographing and milling varied in a few ways that I've seen too. The older style disappeared completely.

The final style showed up about 1979 or 1980. The pantographing was further simplified, probably to save money, although the milled-out brake-arms showed up about this time, usually enamelled in black. Seat-post, crank-arms and ring, stems and brake levers were all milled with decoration to some degree. This style of pantographing is easily seen in a Bikecology catalog Mark Bulgier has had on his site for awhile, for the Saronni-style bikes and frames.

And that was that. By 1986, or earlier, pantographing on Colnago bike parts as an option was gone.

Note also that it was possible to buy panto'd parts separately. I don't know how available the earliest milled and drilled stuff was, but the second style (1975) was available separately, by part, as was the final style. So, while a complete panto'd group is nice, it would be perfectly period-correct to have just one or two parts panto'd since that might have been all someone could afford, and they might have bought said parts after-market.

If anyone has any other questions about this, feel free to ask off-line. I have all these bikes with complete groups... It's always bothered me to see mismatched parts, or the "wrong" parts--chronologically speaking--on a given frame. Even though graphics were highly variable on 70s Colnagos, certain basic styles were fairly consistent. And consistently seen with a given style of parts back in the day.

Charles Andrews
Los Angeles