Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Early 90's Bottecchia

Hey People,

I finally had a chance to take some shots of my praying mantis of a Bottecchia. It's a hand-me-down from my dad. I've been riding it as a commuter from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn to Flatiron in Manhattan.

I tweaked it out, replaced the grips, grip end caps (made by yours truly), seat, seat post, stem, pedals, tires, brake pads.

I'm trying to figure out what model it is and what it's potentially worth. Any ideas, suggestions, critiques?

Also, looking for nice whitewall road tires/racing tires. Any suggestions? Right now I have Vittoria Rubino Pro's. As you can see in the pics, they turn yellow pretty quick. White wheels instead of tires, maybe?

There are a couple rust spots, nicks and scratches. Any suggestions as to how to restore, repair, repaint etc?

Very nice ! Not sure the bars are supposed to be pointing down though , but if you're comfortable that way it's fine.

Interesting colour - is that original? Certainly is visible! Cool bike though. How does it feel riding relatively upright with the thin saddle?

Not to be too anal, but the front QR skewer is not fully done up, and the dirt biker in me would rotate the rear one so the lever can't catch on anything and open inadvertently.....

Mark

Nice ride! I haven't seen one of those CX Bottecchias around especially in lime green. I'm sure one of the tifosi will be able to ID her.
I like the way it's configured for the streets of NYC, with the Campy mtb components.
As mentioned, the bar is inverted...may be placing more pressure on the wrists than needed.
As for rust and chips...
buy a paint chip prep, rust remover pen. The tip contains small glass fibers to dig out rust and prepare a chipped area for repaint. If the area is too big, Permatex Rust Neutralizer will stop the rusting. Then sand, and paint with a matching color. Testors hobby paints is a good choice with a wide selection of colors. Dab the paint and build up the thickness. Allow a few days to dry. Then wet sand the paint with a spot sanding disk until it's even with the old paint. Polish then wait a few weeks to wax.
Your father gave you one really cool bike!

It sure is a funky bike. The frame and Campy components are original.

For some reason, I find tilting the bars down more comfortable than normal position. Maybe I'm just weird.

Thanks for the comments guys. I will definitely try the paint retouching techinques WNG.

Wow, that's an unusual ride! I've never seen a Bottecchia like that. I'm not sure of the model but the Cromor tubing indicates it's a decent mid-range bike and it has a full Campagnolo group. It would be hard to put a price on it since it's so unusual. Bottecchia Cromor road style frames go for around $250 on the 'Bay and I've seen one complete Bottecchia Cromor road style bike go for $400 but that bike is quite a bit different from the standard road models. I can't say I'm particularly enamered of the color but that was popular at the time. Normally I don't like making a lot of changes but in this case I think deep-V white wheels would look pretty sharp on that bike (never thought I'd hear myself saying that!). The flat-bar style and lime green color has a very modern look to it that I think would lend itself well to that treatment. Then you could stick with black tires that won't get dirty and change color. I would probably also change that black seatpost to a silver one to match the rest of the components. You should be able to pick up a matching Campagnolo one from eBay.

Forgot to mention, most of the stuff I mentioned can be found in better autoparts stores. If not, Eastwood.com is a great site for info, tips, and stuff.

Note: I used to commute into the upper East Side from Woodside, Queens as a teenager during the early 80s. Kudos to ya.:thumb:

Very special looking bike. With that paint I´d say its´s from the early 90s. I´m interested in the black wire guide that sits under the diagonal tube, it looks odd, can´t you post a picture of it, please. Not the best place to run the wires with all the dirt coming up from the front wheel.

Do you mean this piece?

Please tell me you hung onto the other parts. Those parts are valuable... Personally, I'd strip the campy parts off and save them and use some shimano stuff because the campy is exceedingly rare.

Interesting bike. Looks like it was either a 'cross bike, or a tourer. I LOVE that color. With the cantilever brakes, the braze-ons, and that bright color, it looks like you've found the perfect commuter.

I want one.

I definitely kept all the other components. The only Campy parts I removed were the pedals. Everything else was Specialized. (saddle, seat post, stem, grips)

Interesting bike. Looks like it was either a 'cross bike, or a tourer.

I agree but I find the flat bar to be unusual in either instance although it appears original (matching Campagnolo flat-bar levers and shifters). That odd under the downtube cable routing makes me think cross bike since it's not unusual in that case to try to keep the top tube unencombered for shouldering and carrying. But who knows? As you say, it'll make a great commuter.

Where in the Hell can you get Campy shifters like that?

http://www.campagnolo.com/jsp/en/tech/id_5.jsp

I was not aware Campy still made shifters like this...

This interests me greatly...

I agree but I find the flat bar to be unusual in either instance although it appears original (matching Campagnolo flat-bar levers and shifters). That odd under the downtube cable routing makes me think cross bike since it's not unusual in that case to try to keep the top tube unencombered for shouldering and carrying. But who knows? As you say, it'll make a great commuter.The Bianchi Project series came with flat bars; maybe this is a similar concept. Another possibility is that it's a Bottechia hybrid, if there is such a thing. Seems like overkill for a hybrid, though, with that Campy mountain gruppo.

The Bianchi Project series came with flat bars; maybe this is a similar concept. Another possibility is that it's a Bottechia hybrid, if there is such a thing. Seems like overkill for a hybrid, though, with that Campy mountain gruppo.

Well, if hybrids existed that far back I'm sure Bottecchia made them. They have always made just about everything from childrens' bikes to city bikes to professional class racing machines (ok, you could argue just how "professional" they were but that's a discussion for another thread), to exotic time trial machines (it is my understanding that the red & white TT bike Greg Lemond rode in the '89 Tour was an actual Bottecchia even though the road bikes he used were not), to whatever. Maybe they've never quite been Bianchi but close enough. But like you say, that would have been one hell of an expensive hybrid! Absent a catalog or other reliable information from the period, I think that Bianchi Project series style bikes sounds like a promising theory.