DoubleA

Just picked up this Marinoni Special with full Shimano 600 groupset & Columbus SP steel, on behalf of mikemowbz, who could not do it himself as he is 5000 km away. This was too good of a deal to pass up. I imagine he'll fill you all in on the details.

Sorry about the images; I'm new to posting and couldn't quite figure out how to insert them in the text. Don't know if this is easier, but here is the flickr feed as well:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7697099...in/photostream

Ed in Toronto

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸Beautiful Bike!¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

Ciufalon

Yes, a beautiful bike and a great gruppo. I have the same gruppo on my Ironman Master, which coincidentally, has a similar paint job.

mikemowbz

So happy with my diligent helper 5000km east right now.

Yeah, stumbling upon this bike was pure luck...and a little bit of obsessiveness. Of some import here is the fact that while I'm currently living a quick ride from the Pacific in Vancouver, BC, it turns out that I will be moving back to take up my old haunts in Montreal, Quebec, for the next 6 or 8 months. Having sold my old Norco upon leaving almost two years ago, I obviously need a ride.

Up late the other night, I happened to run a few term searches on craigslist and kijiji (a CL clone, actually much more used in Quebec, especially by French-speaking Quebecois): Marinoni. The ad for this bike (in English, with dutiful velobase links for the groupset...and the bar tape) was dated back to late February. I figured: 'what the hey, right?' - the ad's still up, maybe it's still kicking around.

Turns out the owner posted it back in the snowy months, and hadn't bothered to repost the ad. 62cm frame: there must not have been any tall guys whiling away their indoor hours looking at the listings that week, and the ad got buried.

I got a quick reply the next morning, the seller (very cool & enthusiastic guy, a volunteer at the Mile End bike coop in Montreal) informing me that the bike was still around, and available. I did not waste much time getting my diligent helper (and girlfriend) in Montreal the relevant contact info and a promise to send a full reimbursement post haste. She met the guy up at the coop, and he was helpful enough to ride the bike back so she didn't have to walk both the new bike and hers all the way to her place. Sounds as though some folks at the coop were thinking it a bit funny that a 5'4" buyer was working out a deal on 62cm frame...

Anyways, it seems this one was a custom job for a guy in Longueuil, a southern suburb across the Saint Lawrence river from Montreal (iirc from what I was told), seemingly a fellow of more or less my size and stature: 6'2 1/2", 240lbs. A big guy, in any case. Hence the 'stout' Columbus SP tubeset. Full Shimano 600 Tricolor, right down to the headset, seatpost and pedals (and not even a little road rash on the knuckle of the RD). Paint is pretty impeccable. Marinoni bottle cage included. Rims are Ambrosio 19 Super Elite...should take all comers.

One all-too-perfect additional detail: the M/M pantographs, one on each shoulder of the forks, happen to represent my initials...so this top-tier Canadian-made beauty is essentially monogrammed for me. And that makes for a matched pair with the bike I'm building my girlfriend - she has one of those French-Canadian hyphenated first names, A.-A., thus making a sort of monogram of the A/A pantographs on the fork shoulders of that plum Atala, which is to be found in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/790824-1983-Atala-build-birthday-bike! You can also see that pretty chromed & pantoed fork shoulder in the avatar of DoubleA (see the OP, above).

A perfect pair - and both purple bikes to boot.

A particularly big Canadian bike day for me, as I also happened to pick up a Reynolds 531c Proctor frame and fork on a jaunt to the West End of Vancouver this evening...a frame built in Edmonton, Alberta. But that has its own story, and will be getting its own thread.

mikemowbz

Oh, and Marinoni straps for the pedal cages! I actually missed that picture first time around. Nice buckle...

Orrery

Really nice pickup! I've been interested in Marinoni recently since I picked up a steel Argon 18 frame that likely was made by them (still trying to research/confirm this fact). That one you got is a beauty. And great work by DoubleA!

The Thin Man 

I agree, nice touch. Marinoni seems to do a nice job of adding just enough suitableness that you find it days, weeks, months after you've purchased the bike.
Awesome score! I'm anxious to see her deloused!

mikemowbz

I don't know anything about the possibility that they may have built your Argon 18, but have noticed a variety of claims about Marinoni building for other makes.

The seller of this particular bike apparently told my girlfriend that he had not long ago seen Marinoni himself (who has to be about 75) ride in to a bike-related gathering at Mont-Tremblant (outside of Montreal), having cycled a good 80km (including some very fast descents) to get there. I also hear he was still making frames at that point (a year ago?) Maybe still is? I don't know.

He was also, apparently, briefly an apprentice to Mario Rossin at one time:

https://www.canada.com/montrealgazett...a-e3ef22e91d56

And they do still make some gorgeous, fairly traditional, steel frames (as well as the more snazzy stuff for the 'Roadie' set). About a thousand bucks a pop for the new ones, though, F/F only. I think I saw a nice, simple, sporty floor model in the window of La Bicycletta (sp?) on Broadway in Vancouver tagged at about $2000 (plus tax) the other day. Lower-end, I guess

mikemowbz

And reading this in the above-linked Montreal Gazette article about Giuseppe Marinoni makes me even more grateful that this one was still available after the ad was up six weeks:

"even secondhand Marinonis from the 1970s, '80s and '90s - the 'real steel' classics - are a hot commodity these days, snapped up within minutes from online classified sites for close to their original price"

A little journalistic hyperbole, perhaps, but not so far from the truth (at least in season)...

Orrery

Cool, thanks for the article. Seems like a really cool dude, and a skilled craftsman as well.

Lea_Kim

Very nice bicycle! I love the colour. I'll probably have one of my Marinoni repainted one day. I guess you can't wait to try it in Montreal's streets! Be careful with all those BiXi! ;-)

mikemowbz

Definitely can't wait - and when I do, I'll have to take it out far from downtown where the BiXi bikes are less numerous...

bloom87

j'ai vu ça sur les annonces locales !!! eh bien !

i'm also a volunteer at the mile end bike garage. héhéhéhé !

one day i'll have a nice, classic, marinoni.

Lea_Kim

That's cool. I'm a fan on Facebook, but I never took time to stop by. I have some spare bike parts I want to give away. I should stop by...

It's a good time to buy one, but you have to be SUPER fast 'cause they're gone in a snap. For me, RSS feeds are the best way to found good deals.

mikemowbz

Serial number, under the dirt on the BB: 0285

So, we have a 1990 bike here, from what I understand.

mikemowbz

CORRECTION: 10285...which makes more sense. 5 digits, as is typical, one in this case hidden under the gear cable when DoubleA did a quick check previously.

So, 1991.

Was just cleaning up a bit, and stumbled on that while clearing some gunk out down there.

Ride report and more pics in due time...perhaps after I pore a bit more over the results of my tacky bar tape poll!

randyjawa 

Several nice old Marinoni road bikes have come my way, over the years. The keeper, of course, is my early issue 1976 Marinoni Quebec (my nick name for the bike) that is about to be refitted with a full Campagnolo Super Record (first generation) group...



Of all the Canadian bikes I have been lucky enough to own, the Marinoni is the one that tops my list.

gomango

Easy to see why.

That is a handsome bicycle, for sure.

Lea_Kim

Would it be disrespectful to ask how much you paid for a first generation Super Record groupset? I have seen some crazy asked prices for CSR. I have a 1980 Marinoni that I would like to mount on Super Record. (mixed Dura Ace for the moment).

element-82

Very nice! I like Marinonis, especially the ones in my size.

Pb

mikemowbz

Hopefully Randy will chime in (if he doesn't mind answering your question), but one thought I had is that you're perhaps most likely to obtain a desirable groupset like that at a reasonable price by purchasing a complete bike that happens to sport said groupset, and selling the frame (which is hopefully the wrong size, or otherwise unlikely to force a dilemma as to whether to part with it or not). You may find an affordable groupset somewhere, but demand (and therefore price) for vintage Campy just seems so out of this world, as you note. I have certainly seen (and, in one case, bought) Super Record-equipped bikes for prices that look awfully good next to ebay closing prices for those gruppos, though this is a strategy that requires some patience...

cyclotoine

I get weak in the knees when you show off that bike randy. Makes me regret selling my '91 Special... but I knew I would never put that many miles on it when I have "new steel". I still have my '81 pista special though and that I will not let go of!

noglider 

You Canadians have reason to be proud of Marinoni, among the very top frame builders in Canada.

mikemowbz

Just had to bump this thread for the first ride this bike has had in a full year!

It spent some time in a box at my girlfriend's parents' place before being shipped to me in Vancouver, and some time here in my furnace room (along with an excursion to the shop to fix up a rear dropout that was a little bit closed up, making it difficult to fit the axle without a struggle).

Cleaned up and re-assembled two nights ago, and replaced the stem last night - swapped the 130mm 3T, which was always a little long, for a 110mm Dura Ace. I had a matching 110mm 3T that I'd acquired for the job, but it turns out it's a 25.4 rather than 26.0 as required. The new stem gives a great position riding the drops, but handling seems a bit more twitchy on the tops - though maybe I'm noticing it more in contrast to my recently much-ridden Proctor and its slightly more relaxed geo. Also noticing the contrast between the 25mm Gatorskins on here (measured to ~24.9mm at 110psi) and the 27mm Challenge Parigi-Roubaix on the Proctor (which measure fully 30mm, if not fractionally more, fully inflated).

I'll ride the Marinoni like this for a bit, but maybe in the hunt for a 120mm 3T to match the original stem (hint, hint, if you've got one to trade ).

Nice sunny day for a ride in Vancouver today, if a bit brisk. Lookin' good, if I do say so myself:

randyjawa 

You won't like to hear this...

While out yard sailing one Saturday morning, I commented to my best friend, who yard sales with me from time to time, that it would be nice to find something nice. It had been a couple of weeks since I scored. Anyway...

At the next yard sale, a Marinoin was sitting, for sale, with a $50.00 price tag attached...





...I expressed my interest to a good looking woman of about 35 years of age. She said, almost sneering, that the bike belonged to her husband. I offered her $30.00 for the bike and, after a nano-second's thought, said sure and something to the effect that he (her ex) could go f**k himself, or something to that divorced effect.

As I was wheeling the bike to my half ton, I noticed the rear derailleur and suddently realized that I got a pretty good deal. Remember, most of my bikes, including this Marinoni, come from the Dump...




And, I agree with some comments offered here, by others. Marinoni bicycles are a cut above and very capable of competiting with anything from Europe or Japan with respect to quality of workmanship and beauty. Just my take on the situation, of course, since I am Canadian and married:-)