champion city

Hey C&V, I have been reading for a while here about all the fantastic catches that people here have made, and I've been fortunate enough to come across a catch of my own. It's a Colnago Sprint from somewhere around the late 80's or early 90's by my best guess, as the same paint is found on the 1988 Super Chorus seen here: https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/colnago-88/16.jpg.
The only numbers stamped on the bike anywhere is the '53' stamped on the BB shell on the non-drive side. It has Colnago DO's and Mavic MA-40 clincher rims. Tubing is Columbus SL Cromor.
The bike is fitted with Shimano 600 throughout, and I doubt that the frame was ever built with this group stock, so if anyone knows what this frame might originally have had as a group, I'd love to know.

kergin

Bella!

EjustE

Great bike!

and it could have been built with the tricolor 600 originally, since at that point, the italians were abandoning Camby components due to quality differences. Or it could have been sold as a frameset and fitted with 600 components at the shop. BTW, those are SL tubes and not Cromor (better than Cromor). Based on the components, late 80s is a good guess. You could look at the Shimano component two letter codes to get an exact component manufacturing date

Nessism

Colnago didn't sell bikes, so there was no standard group for that frame. As long as the group matches the year that the frame was sold, you can rest easy that the bike is legit.

champion city

Thanks for the info!

According to the letter codes, the components appear to be 1988, which is one of the first years that shimano produced tricolor 600 i believe.

gomango

I think you'll really like this bike. I raced a "Super" in the 80's with Shimano 7200 or 7300 series Dura Ace. (Can't recall which, I am getting old) Our team was not sponsored by Shimano or Campy. Just a local shop, and we bought everything at pretty deep discounts. We could choose our fav's at that point. I recall clearly, teammates stripping their bikes of Campy the second season I raced, and switching over to Shimano bits. Biggest complaints were brakes and shifters if I recall correctly. The 600 on yours is a nice gruppo, durable, reliable, and quite raceable in its day. Probably just fine now as well. I later had a Master Piu which was a nice red like yours, with World Champion Stripes and really nice chrome lugs. All Dura Ace. Looked great until it was stolen. Insurance replaced it with the same bike, except light blue in color. Again all Dura Ace. My brother still rides the daylights out of it. All of my Colnagos were purchased as framesets only, which was a great way to build the bike to your specs. I never switched back to Campy on my Colnagos, I still have Dura Ace on my 1999 Master Extra Light, and it is a delight. Again, great bike, I hope you enjoy it!


Maybe more helpful info:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/454223-colnago-sprint.html

christoph1

Very nice find and is isn't just a Sprint, it is a Super Sprint. The paint scheme is a popular one Colnago used in the late 80's-early 90's on their line up. It appears your bike is what Colnago marketed as a Super Sprint which had SL CROMOR tubing as well as chrome. See catalog; www.flickr.com/photos/unaesthetic/572928413/sizes/l/.
Then there was an enty level model called the Sprint made with Columbus ALLE, no chrome.
I also think the bike could have been made up with any group. But, I have seen a couple on eBay Europe sites that were setup with Campagnolo 980 derailleur/ shifters and various Italian cranks or brakes from Gipiemme or Ofmega and NISI rims.

RFC

Great find. That's the way I felt when I went to pickup a CL cherry Tommaso and also picked up a cherry 1985 Pinarello Record from the same seller. All other C&V experiences paled in comparison.

unworthy1

first I have seen or heard of SL Cromor tubing, looks like it was drawn by Columbus just for this model Colnago. Anybody know how it differs from standard Cromor, or if any other bikes were ever built with it?

christoph1

The Colnago catalog says it all Unworthy1, take a look; www.flickr.com/photos/unaesthetic/572928413/sizes/l/
SL CROMOR tubing