Hello folks - trying to decide whether to keep a Pinarello Montello frame I recently acquired. 55cm, no rust or dings, pretty sweet overall, but there are some issues. It was described as a chrome frame and it is fully chromed, but it appears that aside from the fork and stays, the rest was originally painted and since has been stripped to the Chrome. The chrome on the main tubes shows scratching from what was probably a scotch guard pad and one can see that the finish is rougher in general where filler and paint were probably originally used. There is red paint in the bottom bracket shell. White (or primer) on the shifter braze ons, not sure if there's a third color. No decals except one blue Columbus sticker on the fork, which is why I think it's early - SL, not slx. Anyway, I paid 575 for the frame, thinking it was more of a rarity, and well, it's not. The seller takes returns and with no other option, if he refunds my shiping expenses, I'll send it back. Still, I'm entertaining the idea of repainting it and keeping it if he makes me a good offer. I'm posting pics with two questions - whaddya think it's worth and more importantly any idea exactly what the model is? I'm not even close to a Pinarello expert - only reason I'm 96% sure it's a Montello is the chrome stays and fork and the combination of SL tubing with the top tube brake cable routing, which I don't think was available on the early Trevoisos. Any info or opinions would be a great help. Mike

Several chrome plated bicycles did not feature full polished chrome. The fork socks, and stays socks and head tube lugs were often polished, while the rest of the frame was unpolished. The polishing, incidentally, takes place before any plating begins. You can't remove the scratches, based on my own experience with several bikes.

+1, the scratches aren't due to the paint removal. The scratches are under the plating. The subject tubes weren't polished because they were going to receive paint over the chrome. Polishing the entire frame would be very costly and is detrimental to paint adhesion. We all know that Pinarello decals will fall off if you look at them the wrong way - who wants paint of a similar nature?

There's no reason to believe that the frame is not SLX. The blue border SL sticker was used on the forks of the early SLX frames. This is because SLX was not a full set. The forks were standard SL and the SLX treatment was only used on the down tube, seat tube and chain stays. Some customers felt that they were getting ripped-off and Columbus changed the fork decals to a red border, to match the SLX decal.

This particular frame is circa 1985-1987. To ease your mind, check the ends of the tubes inside the bottom bracket shell. SLX will have five helical ridges (see pic). Sometimes, they can be hard to see, as they are only 3.5mm wide by 0.35 mm thick, Use a good light or feel for them.

All I can add to T-Mar's excellent post (as usual) is that the factory did use white primer on several period frames I have seen. When deciding if you will take a deal offered don't forget to the painting costs $50 for decals.
A low cost refinish by a frame painter will mean you are going to need a serious discount on the price paid to be better than returning and keep looking.
As to your situation with the seller, if it was Ebay, I would try to argue that the frame being stripped of paint should have been disclosed and therefore the frame is "not as described" and seller must pay return shipping.

Thanks - very helpful. I was thinking that myself - there wouldn't be an SLX fork, being that.the helical treatment was just for the main tubes. I'll check the bottom bracket. Then I'll see what the seller is offering.

It was ebay - reputable seller. My guess is he will cover shipping both ways - he had assured me it was the original finish. I'm hoping for a discount that would cover a pro repaint instead.

In Portland and Tucson the cheapest you can probably get "pro" paint/decals for is ~$350, good enough but it will not be Joe Bell quality. Either way, getting paint or finding another frame you can't loose, these are nice riding frames.

Well, he's offering either a $75 refund if I keep it or a full refund, both ways shipping refunded. I've seen these go for under 500 with paint intact, so I'm leaning toward returning it. What do you think?

I think you are wise, patience will pay off. I will put money that the seller will never get 500 for this thing if they clearly state that the frame was stripped.
Another thing to watch for on well priced Pinarellos is the terrible decals. I ended up repainting an Asolo as the residue left after the decals disintegrate is impossible to deal from what I can tell, maybe by a restoration genius it can be done but I could never find any reasonable technique.

Thanks everyone - returning it. Gonna wait for one that isn't an overpriced project.

Good call, disappointing it wasn't chrome but you would be getting into a money pit and it would be a non original re-paint in the end.

If you decide you want to pickup another Montello I have one I would part with. Again, like most Pinarellos the decals are shot.

Yes, definitely a Montello, has the telltale BB shell. I don't think they came in chrome, but I used to have one in smoked chrome, or chromonegro. That is similar to chromovelato, semi-transparent paint over polished chrome, and would look like full polished chrome after stripping.

You'd think they could get the decals right after how many years?
I may be interested - have some pics?