Hi!
Took a close look at your photos...
First I gotta say...very nice and clean bike. Looks superbe!
1. None of the broken Benottos I was witness too ever had the early Shimano 600 stuff as pictured in your photos...they all had the mix of Miche, Modolo and other stuff and as you went up the line made their way to other Campy copy stuff.
2. While some had the same paint job as yours, most had the two tone paint and
decals common starting around 1984/85.
3. The ones that cracked explicitly had "Made in Mexico" decals.
4. Your BB shells seems different as the seatube and the downtube seem to merge more lug wise before entering the shell - moreso than what you see in Piwonkas pic...suggesting an older model material chain, jig setup, and assembly line setup and even location. The 850s, 1000s, 1500s and 2000s I dealt with seemed to share the same BB shell shown in Piwonkas pics including the very low profile seat lug portion...notice how small the seat lug portion is of the BB shell in his pic. Also the head tube lugs seem to be longer on your bike...
I'm inclined to say that your bike is 1980 or 81 and is probably as the sticker
says, "Made in Italy". I could be wrong...the "Made In" decal is critical for identifying early to mid-80s bikes that are crack prone.
I'll go 90/10 against yours being a crack prone bike. Hopefully that "Made In"
sticker is not a fake...that's the deal maker.
Once again...nice bike!
=8-)
Robert Shackelford Wheels By Fleming San Jose, CA http://www.mrrabbit.net mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net
Quoting Jimmy Livengood <jimmylivengood@hotmail.com>:
>
> Robert,
>
> I missed that Bikeforums thread, thanks for the additional knowledge.
>
> Everyone,
> Here's my Benotto 850 on flickr:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/
>
> Bought as my first roadbike, after my girlfriend first got me into mountain
> biking, then road cycling. She had this idea about doing Seattle-to-Portla
> nd and I figured a classic bike was the way to go for me. We're married now
> , with 6 more bikes in the basement, so I guess it worked out OK!
>
> Serial # R1U878 or possibly R10878
> "Benotto" dropouts, heart cutout in BB shell (with tubular cable guides), b
> ut crudely done to my eye.
> It had a "Made in Italy" sticker on the head tube, sort of a typwriter font
> on a papery sticker(not a nice plastic sticker). The decals and paint look
> good from twenty, but up close leave a lot to be desired.
>
> I bought it as "found in warehouse-NOS never assembled". The tires, tubes,
> and rims trips were extra dry and crackly, and the rims and pads had no br
> ake marks whatsoever. Bars were wrapped. Wheels untensioned/untrued.
>
> Sticker on rim reads "Benotto", then in smaller letters "Campeona Del Mundo
> ", that's all the marking I could find on the 700c rim. The original headse
> t is similiarly engraved "Benotto" with no other markings.
>
> Italian BB. No indication of tubing type.
>
> Dura-Ace 26.4 seatpost, 600 freehwheel, bottom bracket, brakes, shifters,
> derailleurs, cranks(52-42 "w cut" rings, pictures show a 38t I installed).
> Miche hubs. It came with a honey Brooks pro (hard as a rock), but in the pi
> ctures you'll see my broken-in black one mounted. Skewers may or may not be
> correct, I'm at work and seem to recall replacing at least one.
>
> The EA stamp on the cranks seem to indicate an early 1980 model at best, ba
> sed on vintage-trek.com's dating page. (The brakes are stamped OC -haven't
> checked the rest).
>
> Some time after the ride I bought an 84 Trek 760 frame (and built it off-to
> pic). Wow! the difference of that 531c ride! Still, though ride quality suf
> fers a bit, the Benotto is still my favorite handling bike that I own.
>
> No evidence of seat tube crackage yet, but it only has maybe 2000 miles on
> it. I'm 200lbs. and can induce a ghost shift if I try. Is this within the
> timeline of concern? Is it really a Benotto from 1980? Any other insight in
> to the component choices or anything else qould be appreciated.
>
>
> Jimmy Livengood
> Seattle, WA
> _________________________________________________________________
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