This Conti Designer 84 frame I have had since it was new in the 80ies. It immediately got black powder coating to be able to endure the wet winters in the southern parts of Sweden – where I went to university at the time. I got the frame at a liquidation auction at a price fitting my student budget. Stripped the paint myself and the powder coater gave me a very good price for the black (edit - and very thin and nice - for being a powder coat) paint job. Did the silver lug lining myself, filled in paint in the Italian flag on the top tube and added a genuine Columbus SL/SP decal.
The original paint scheme was bright red with a white “net” or “ribbing” on the main tubes. Very flamboyant and not at all in line with my, at the time, “less is more/Sartre and black coffee-approach”. Today I would love to have that original paint back…
This frame served me good. I equipped it with Campagnolo Record/Nuovo/Super in different combinations thru the years. I used it until around 1989 when I got my Colnago Master Piu.
Later it was used on a trainer for some years and/but eventually it ended up, stripped of all parts, in the back of a storage room for many years. I have had a bit of a conscience about it.
I also had most of an early Chorus group laying around. And some other bits and pieces. Thought it was time to put it together again.
Started with a good cleaning and some wax. Considering its winter use and later neglect it is in splendid shape. No rust and the toughness of the powder coat have held scratches and small chips to a minimum.
Considering the Chorus group set it might seem strange that I started building it up with a Record headset. I did it because I believe this frame, in a far future, might get a complete Record/Nuovo Record group and I do not want to change headsets too often… And I believe the chrome headset goes nice with the chrome on the frame.
Did a quick mock-up build with dirty parts just to see if it was something I liked.
Then some days ago a lot of cleaning took place.
And an old ad from the time and place (Sweden)
To be continued.