1988* Olmo Sintex

I bought this Olmo Sintex off of CraigsList from a guy in Orange County about ten years ago and sold it five years later for roughly the same price - $350. That was a steal, and I truly wish I would have kept it. It was a 60 cm frame made of Columbus SPX tubing - slightly thicker-walled for longer tubes, but otherwise the same quality as SLX. I don't remember the original brake brand, but I added a set of NOS black Modolo Equipe brakes that looked nice and worked very well. 

The rest of the components were Shimano Dura Ace, if I remember correctly, but the wheels were aero Rigida rims that were heavier than bricks, but looked cool. :)

Ever ridden an Olmo? Chime in with your story, and send photos to vintageracingbicycles [at] gmail.com.

* Year is approximate...but close. 

*** *** UPDATE *** ***

I just bought the bike back from the old friend who bought it from me eight years ago or so! Only a little worse for wear, considering how many miles he put on it - 40 per day commuting for a year or so. Am looking forward to cleaning it up and shining up the components. :)  I feel like PeeWee Herman getting his bike back. :)

Campagnolo - 'nuff Said?

Campagnolo C-Record Cobalto Calipers

Photo courtesy of Sheldon Brown - Perhaps the Web's best cycling resource.

I'm a Campagnolo fan, and proud of it. While Japanese components can be equal, in many ways, I'm attracted to the nostalgia surrounding Campy heritage. I don't own any Campagnolo gear newer than 1990, and have no real interest in building up a bicycle with any of their carbon components - not now, anyway. I do have a minty first generation Chorus group, two pair of C-Record Cobalto brakes and levers, and the Campy set that's on my Bianchi Superleggera. I've also got my eye on a Campagnolo "Sport" derailleur that I spotted on CraigsList yesterday, although it may be gone before I get the opportunity to purchase it on Monday. 


I'll be talking more about Campagnolo gear in future posts - just wanted to start a conversation on the subject to fuel the discussions to come.


Do you own any Campy gear? How does it compare to Japanese or other brands? What's your favorite Campagnolo model line?


Send photos and I'll post them on this blog. vintageracingbicycles [at] gmail.com

1980* Cinelli Super Corsa

I bought this bike for $300 loaded with period-incorrect Shimano 600 components and then decided to get creative with the color-matching golden levers, yellow cable housing, bottle cage, and seat while converting it into a single speed. 


I'm not certain of the year - thus the asterisk in the title of this post. If anyone can more closely approximate the year from these photos, please comment below.


The ride was classic steel - no surprises. Stiff, upright angles made this bike a little harsher than I like for tooling around town, but hey - it's a classic! Those bars are 44cm - my favorite width and not easy to find these days. 


The chrome took a lot of polishing to get it to the condition you see here, and this isn't nearly as nice as I've seen on other Cinelli SCs. 


Regretfully, I sold this for $350 just over a year ago. Not enough room in my garage, and I wanted to make room for a Fuji Cambridge I had my eye on.


Ever own a Cinelli bicycle? Chime on in and tell your story. You can email me photos at vintageracingbicycles (at) gmail.com.

Bertelli Bicycles - New York City

Came across Bertelli Biciclette Assemblate while browsing for new old stock components. This guy builds fixed gear bikes out of older components and some of these bikes look amazing. Small production bike builders can create a loyal following if their prices are right, and as is the case with Bertelli, their results are stunning. 


I'll write more about the "fixie" revolution in future posts. I'm currently converting my 1997 Klein Quantum Race to a single speed using a single speed conversion kit from Performance Bike. No, it's not vintage, but I may still post some photos. 'Cause... it's MY site! :)  


Ride a fixie/single speed? Talk about it in a comment. 

1981 Bianchi Super Leggera

Ahhh... Bianchi. I purchased this Superleggera in September 2011 from an eBAY buy-it-now sale. The seller lives 85 miles south of me, in Del Mar, CA, so my son and I made an early Sunday morning road trip out to pick it up. The seller buys used bicycles all across the US, and this Superleggera came from one of his clients in the Midwest. From what he told us, this bicycle was kept in a spare bedroom for two decades. It's immaculate, and a the closest thing I have to a "show bike."


It has Campagnolo Super and Nuovo record components, although I'm hard-pressed to distinguish the Nuovo record items - perhaps a reader can chime in on the differences between Super and Nuovo on the two-bolt seatposts, brake calipers (if there are any differences), headset, hubs, and pedals. Yes, the bike came with Campy pedals, as well - although they are not shown in the photos. Also included were the original Silca celeste frame pump, and the water bottle cage. The wheels are Mavic GP40, where the bike would have originally come with the sew-up equivalent, the Mavic GP4.


There were only a few, small spots that required touch-up paint, so I purchased some Celeste touch-up paint off of eBAY and mixed it with some Testors model paint - a little green and blue to match the frame color on this older Bianchi. The original gum rubber hoods are deteriorated, but still intact, so I'll leave them for now. OEM replacements are upwards of $75, so this will have to wait until they split wide-open.


The frame size is 58 C-C seat tube and 57 C-C top tube, which is 2cm shy of my ideal frame size of 60cm, but with the longer stem and the seat set far back, the ride is comfortable enough. I took off the original Selle Italia seat and bagged it for safe keeping, replacing it with a vintage San Marco Condor from the mid-80s. Interestingly, the rails on the Condor don't match perfectly in-line with the Campy seat post rail guides, so there's a tiny bit of play in the seat. This, of course, will just HAVE to be remedied somehow before any long rides.


Do you own a vintage Bianchi or have anything to add? Leave a comment below. Thanks!