Potbelly1

So I have given this old velo I picked up at a garage sale a quick clean. I was thinking of painting it but the minor rust and scratches add character. What's everyone's thoughts?? Also the stem is a cinelli milano, is this worth anything? Thanks for your time everyone!!

daf1009

Had a Colner one time...good riding bike...sold it for $425...in the Boston market. It was a single speed bike...so...similar to your track bike. And, it was in perfect shape, no rust or "patina"

Giacomo 1 

Very pretty!

Colner's are part of the Colnago family tree, and while not quite as flashy, nor actually built by Colnago, they are quite nice and have a good reputation. Not as sought after as Colnago's, but they are made-in-Italy and in the Colnago family, so they have an automatic following. You were lucky to find one in a garage sale!

As far as painting, well, that's always controversial. It's only original once and a re paint would ruin it's originality, thereby you would lose some marketability should you want to sell. If that's not important to you and you want a mint looking bike, then a re paint would be OK. How about just a good cleanup and some new decals? There on e-bay. I think that might be the way to go.

Yes, I have never seen that stem, so I think it is indeed valuable.

My guess as to the value of this bike, I'd say 700 to 1000 cleaned up with new decals due to its rarity, age and Campy group. That stem is likely worth 200 to 300 on it's own.

daf1009

WHile I am no expert...and I defer to you...in the research that I did for my Colner, I found that it was built by Colnago...just rebranded due to some sort of "race team" sponsorship...or some such as that. It seems that Colnago could only sponsor one team...so they built Colner's to be used by one of their shops...at least that was what I read somewhere...

wrk101

+10 Stem alone worth serious money. If your plan is to cash out, leave it alone and put it up on the dreaded auction site, buy it now at a price you are comfortable with. Local sale here would be about 1/3 eBay pricing, just not enough buyers who appreciate vintage track bikes.

Bianchigirll 

A "quick clean" meaning all the bearings still need cleaned and regreased? If you want top dollar you should find someone to assist you or bite the bullet and have a competent shop do it while you search for decals.

Giacomo 1 

You are right that they were built to get around a rule that Colnago or any other builder could not equip more than one team at a time. It also got around a franchise rule that said something like, only one shop can sell Colnago's within a certain area, but you could place and sell Colner's within that protected area. I guess it gave Ernesto another avenue to boost sales.

I do however think that most of them were contracted out for build, but yeah, I guess some of them could also have been built by Ernesto himself.

My price evaluation comes from what I see on E-Bay, which usually always command a higher price than a private sale or CL...

FastJake

Please do not paint it! Leave it alone, that's a valuable bike.

What's the wheelset on there? Looks really cool.

Potbelly1

Thanks heaps guys! the wheels are not original, Australian made velocity rims with suzue hubs... I had intentions of selling the bike but the more I look at it the more I want to keep it!!