Kommisar89

Hi All,

I've been reading some previous posts on identifying old Bottecchias. I owned a Special back in the early '70's myself and am pretty familiar with the brand but I'd like some help pinning this one down. Here's a description:

The "normal" stuff:
* Standard early '70's paint/chrome/decals (looks just like my old Special which I think was a '73 or '74)
* No braze-ons, 'REG' brand cable clamps and Campy cable guide at the bottom of the seat tube
* Forged Campy drop-outs and fork ends
* Standard Carnielli stem/bars
* Universal center-pull brakes
* Campy Nuovo Typo hubs
* Stronglight (Model 49D) alloy cotterless crankset (though I thought Bottecchia usually used Nervar)

The "oddities":
* Suntour barcons
* Suntour rear derailleur
* Crappy Campy Valentino Extra front derailleur
* Steel 28 x 1 5/8 rims (old designation for 700C)
* No model or tubing decals

Even my old Special had Fiamme yellow label alloy clincher rims with stainless spokes with a big 'R' logo (Rigida?) in 27" size so the steel 700C's and 'no name' spokes don't seem to fit. I also seem to remember that it said 'Special' in gold script on the top tube so I would have expected some model designation but there doesn't seem to be any. Same with the lack of a tubing decal. There's 'Made in Italy' decal near the bottom of the seat tube that's almost gone so perhaps the decals wore off. I'm sure the Suntour stuff was added later and I don't know where the Valentino extra front derailleur came from. It would be nice if it's an old Giro. I could picture somebody replacing the original tubular rims and putting on the Suntour derailleur later in the bike's life but who knows? I can upload pictures later if it helps. What do ya'll think?

-Derrick