Kevindale

My proximate question is about the SLX stickers. I recall that @T-Mar mentioned that the original SLX sticker was in used from 84/85-88, and then was changed. I think the first version was the one with the thick red band at the bottom with 'COLUMBUS' in white letters (like the blue version of what I think was the SL sticker of the early 1980s). I assume it then switched to the version with a thin red border. Is that correct?

More broadly, is there a good chart or website that documents the various Columbus stickers, and what years there were available? I find bits and pieces of that info, and I also see contradictory info on a few of these.

T-Mar

Columbus SLX was introduced commercially, as a tubeset, for the 1984 model year, though many manufacturers didn't introduce SLX models until 1985. Previously, there had been an SLX seat tube to deal with with issues related to under and overheating the seat tube when brazing front derailleur tabs.

From 1984-1987 inclusive, SLX (and SPX) was issued with a red border frame decal with Columbus printed in a wider band, at the bottom of the decal. The fork decal was the standard, blue border, SL/SP decal. In 1988, the decals were revised with the wider band and Columbus designation at the top and a new fork decal, with a red border. Of course, depending on the amount of old stock on hand, and decal stock rotation practices, pre-1988 decals could have been used in 1988 and possibly even later.

Edit: I should also mention that dating via tubing decals is complicated by the relative fragility of these decals and the widespread availability of reproduction decals. Owners often inadvertently use the wrong style of replacement decal.

jiangshi

ITALIAN CYCLING JOURNAL: Columbus Steel, Tubing for Frame Building

Kevindale

Awesome, thank you. Glad to know I was fairly close with what I remembered, and I hear you about the replacement decals. I still need to get some replacements for my Tommasini, and I'm pretty sure I'll be using the correct ones (not SLX, of course).

I saw that blog entry. It has a nice variety of photos, but unfortunately no hint of when any of them were introduced, etc. And interestingly, I don't see the original SLX frame decal shown. It really is a bewildering variety of tubing types, and that's just Columbus!

repechage

In the 70's it was a challenge as some were self adhesive foil type and some were varnish fix... My view at the time it was what the mfg wanted - got.

qcpmsame 

https://https://cyclesroland.wordpres...-timeline/amp/

Try this link Kevin, its not totally complete but its close to being all inclusive. Hope this helps you.

I have some eBay sellers I use for decals, send a PM if you want to discuss what I have found for Tommasini and Columbus Tubi decals.

Bill

Kevindale

Thanks for the link, Bill (I fixed your typo; if you click on the word 'link' you'll see the site). I'd found that site in doing google image searches, and I wrote it off as having errors. @T-Mar and other experts -- in the linked site, a Columbus SLX decal is noted as having debuted in 1980 (not 1984), and the text states that in 1984 the decals changed to the later style with 'COLUMBUS' at the top of the decal. These two statements seem to be off by 4 years.

Also, Bill, you sent me a link to a good source for early 80s Columbus SL/SP decals. I've just been lazy about pulling the trigger. Looking at that link again, I have a question for anyone with the answer - the second and third entries look almost identical, except that the second set has purple lettering and border, and the third has dark blue. Which is correct for a 1982-83 SL tubed bike? Bill suggested that it's the third choice (as I recall; his PM to be was a few months ago), but that choice is listed as being 'quite rare' and I would assume I'm looking for a decal set that was actually pretty common.

qcpmsame 

I figured you had discarded the seller's link we swapped as not accurate. I took the SL sticker listed as rare for my use, but I recently discarded it as they are not durable ink. It began to fade on the border for some reason. I also disliked the raised effect the vinyl adhesive gives.

The water slide are getting a chance now. Possibly the purple color for the border is in their software or the ink they chose. The third match the current ones that were placed last weekend, and as best as I can deduce from pictures they match up, but that is a crap shoot with my eyes. The fragments that were on the frame seemed to be the darker blue border, using Flash2070's pictures in his Tommasini Lounge post.

I need to send you a link for the ones I purchased from a gentleman here in Florida, Gus Salmon. He has both water slide and adhesive backed vinyl in many cases. I believe you are correct about the purplish border not being correct, the edition I selected is more uniform in border and letter color, and its the blue for both letters and border. As I said, these are water slide, I like the quality and appearance, taking my time to correctly apply them and allowing 24 hours for them to set properly gave them a nice result. Now for some decal clear set over them (Testor's Model Master.)

The typo must have been in the copy/paste actions, the link was a straight transfer that way, sorry for the snafu. I used the link after finding it through Google, but I failed to check it in my reply, ooops.

Bill

Oldairhead 

Bumping this thread to see if there is any new information out there. The previous link is broken and the Italian Cycling Journal link does not really contain a timeline. Thanks for any input.

Lonnie

P!N20

Try this: https://cyclesroland.wordpress.com/2...ecal-timeline/

This may help a bit too: https://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/col...cat/index.html

T-Mar

Some of the dates on both those sites are pure folly. SLX wasn't available in 1980, let alone the late 1970s. I was competing at the time and would have been aware of it, had it been commercially available. Also, if you look at the extant, confirmed, Italian marque catalogs prior to the 1984 model year, SLX is nowhere to be found. As I stated previously, it wasn't widely spec'd the first year but two who did offer SLX models in 1984 were Guerciotti and Eddy Merckx. But here's a piece of objective evidence that should put the matter to rest. It's the Columbus advertisement introducing SLX. I folded back the page corner so you can see that it appears in an April 1984 magazine. Of course, some SLX frames will turn up with late 1983 serial numbers and it was probably being tested by some pro teams during the 1983 season but it was commercially introduced for the 1984 model year.

Oldairhead 

I've contacted Columbus to see if they have a complete timeline that they would share. If I get a response I will post the result here.

So much of what I can find online about it is either speculative or incomplete. It would be nice to have comprehensive and accurate list from 1978 on.

randyjawa 

What year would this sticker represent..?

Markeologist

Early 70s...solid red bird in red oval generally (nothing is ever universal with bikes) was 1960s and the all caps, block “COLUMBUS” script across bottom comes in 70s. I think there was a year or two (71/72-ish) where both these traits occurred on same decal.

T-Mar

Pre-1975.

T-Mar

Below dates are model years of the commercial release of the Columbus C&V (pre-2000) road tubesets. It does not include track, ATB, BMX , tandem or specialty/rebranded tubesets developed for bicycle manufacturers, such as Gilco for Colnago, Tenax for Schwinn or SBX for Bianchi. It also doesn't include options such as Over Size, Megatube and the various size and shape options that Columbus started to offer in the 1990s.

Actual commercial introduction may have taken late in the previous calendar year and testing with pro team riders would have taken place even earlier.

SL: exact date unknown but significantly pre-dates 1970s

SP: exact date unknown but significantly pre-dates 1970s

Record: 1975

Aelle: 1978

KL: 1978

Zeta: 1978

Air: 1981-1984, exact date unknown

Aelle R: 1984

GT: 1984

SLX: 1984

Matrix: 1987, renamed Cromor

Max: 1988

MS: 1988

TSX: 1988

EL: 1991

Genius: 1993

Thron: 1994

Hyperion: 1994

Neuron: 1995

Brain: 1996

Altec: 1998-1999

Altec 2: 1998-1999

Aluthron: 1998-1999

Foco: 1998-1999

Nemo: 1998-1999

Gara: unknown

CyclesMakaron

A small addition (mainly Eddy Merckx frames):
- Matrix: already used at the end of 1986 in the Strada model
- Thron: already used in 1992 in the Trekking model
- Hyperion: used in late 1993 in the De Rosa Titanio model
- Neuron: used in 1994 in the Arcobaleno model
- Brain: used in 1995 in the Strada OS model
- Altec: used in 1995 in the Alu model

randyjawa 

Thanks for chiming in T-Mar. Based on his list, my guess/hope is that my Marinoni is pre-2000. That is really good news to me. I thought the bike to be post 2000...

T-Mar

The list is only introduction dates. Some tubests had a long production life and Foco continued to be available into at least the early 2000s. You should refer to your serial number to determine the exact date of your frame as Marinoni typically used the first numeral to indicate the year.

Oldairhead 

Thanks for that! I will keep that for my records and edit for any new information that I receive. Can I ask how you compiled this list? If this is off the top of your head then I am quite impressed. Heck, I'm impressed anyway!

Lonnie

T-Mar

The list was compiled from a number of sources including trade show announcements, Columbus catalogues, Columbus advertisements, road tests, etc. The 1970s and 1980s dates were in my head but I went back to my literature for verification. When/if you hear back from Columbus, don't be surprised if a lot of the dates are one year earlier. than I've reported. They seem to like to gain an extra year by reporting calendar years, as opposed to model years. The tubesets were typically formally introduced at the autumn Milan trade show.