I agree along a similar line with Charles Andrews,Decent photos or not the bike in question is in no doubt a 1970/71 at the latest,the forks are the most easiest point of reference,these found on the late 60s up to 1970/71 then the fork crown changed to the type seen on the recent dark blue Colnago that sold for $1600,a pity the seller did not show a pic of the bb to determine whether it had drilled holes or the start of the club cutout design, I suspect a drilled out BB which may have brought out more bidders including me!!,the panto bits George were not around on Colnago`s at that time the begining for that was on the Pantografata model which was previewed in `72 at the New York trade show on Mel Pinto`s stand,restoration on this bike is not that expensive to sweat off all braze on bits ,repaint, redecal, chrome forks etc all up $1000 would see an excellent job done,well here in Australia anyway,chasing up clean period correct bits may take the longest part of the restoration project,at the end refurbished or not you will have an extremly rare and desired early Colnago and for $700 it is a steal,like the Pantogarafata they are getting hard to find let alone have one ,the only question I have on that bike is what is that bulge line on the right chainstay at the bottom of the rear cable guide?,also it was I believe a 56cm frame!! oh well I will keep looking,lucky the seller did not offer world wide shipping otherwise it may well have ended up in Queensland. Regards John Murray Caloundra, Queensland Australia [Home of the early Colnago`s] ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Hollenberg" <ghollmd@gmail.com> To: "Charles Andrews" <chasds@mindspring.com> Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 4:57 AM Subject: Re: [CR] recently ended 1971 colnago on ebay
> Hi Charles:
> Yours is an interesting analysis. However, the photos published of this
> bike
> were so poor that a solid determination as to its real age would be hard
> to
> make. Whether the poor photos were published by accident or design, I know
> not. All the commentary published with the sale put me off even more.
> But, let's put the matter in context. If one desires to do a quality
> (quality is the operative idea here) restoration, the frame would have to
> to
> be stripped, the braze-ons removed, any other damage repaired, the fork
> chromed, the correct decals obtained (varnish type), and a very good
> painter
> would be needed to do the repaint. The appropriate parts would have to be
> obtained ( a complete set of original pantographed parts would be very
> expensive and tough to find), and if engraving of other period, but
> non-engraved parts is desired, that would have to be done by a qualified
> engraver.
> The expense of doing this correctly would be over $3000, perhaps much,
> much
> more. In the end, you have a pricey replica (or whatever name one
> likes)-with an overall investment of more than $4000-nearly the price of a
> similar unrestored bike. As you know, the current sentiment among some
> American collectors doesn't favor this sort of restoration-in fact they
> hold
> such restored bikes in contempt.
> In short, I agree that there are great classic bikes out there, but I
> can't
> tell whether this was one of them.
> Regards,
> George
>
> On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Charles Andrews
> <chasds@mindspring.com>wrote:
>
>> with regard to:
>>
>> Anybody follow the recent auction for the (much re-worked/re-painted)
>> 1971
>> Colnago on eBay?
>> eBay item # 300343941251.
>> If the winner happens to be on The List, please contact me off-list!
>>
>> Matthew Bowne
>> Brooklyn, New York
>>
>> ********
>>
>> that bike was a steal, atmo. correct paint, graphics, and a little
>> chrome
>> will run under a grand, all up, many parts are alredy there, or easily
>> obtainable. The frame was old enough that no panto'd parts are really
>> required to make it period correct, although a period fluted stem and
>> seatpost would not be out of the question. You could have had a
>> beautiful,
>> playing-card colnago in Molteni Orange for under 2K, all up. had that
>> bike
>> been a 55 or 56 c-t, it'd be mine now! Luckily for my budget, it wasn't.
>>
>> Never let it be said there aren't great classic bike deals out
>> there..there
>> are.
>>
>> Charles Andrews
>> Los Angeles
>>
>>
>> "everyone has elites; the important thing is
>> to change them from time to time."
>>
>> --Joseph Schumpeter, via Simon Johnson
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>
>
>
> --
> George
>
> George Hollenberg MD
> CT, USA