Which model could this be? I'm not a colnago specialist but I know there are a lot of fake ones around.


Thank you

Did you find any semblance of a serial number on the frame? Just something that is going to be asked by the learned council of elders here. I won't venture anything, I have no experience with Colnago, other than lust towards them every time I see one here.

Bill

Yes it has been painted or powder coated.

It looks like a genuine 1982 Colnago super. Mine doesn't have a serial number.

Fork looks genuine, as do the seat stay caps. But there are some things I'm wondering about.

1. Fork has no drilling for a brake. The crown isn't the right shape for a track frame, so...
2. The last picture shows bulges at the leading edges of both head lugs. The Prugnat lugs Colnago used did not share that funky shape.

We need more photos, to be honest. How about a pic of the BB shell and the dropouts? And a pic of the inside legs of the fork; what kind of detail is to be seen there?

DD

For those that don't know, Colnago's of that vintage don't have SN's. They do have numbers but their purpose is yet to be known. I have one that has a number on one DO and USA on the other. The number does not indicate year or frame size.

The way we kinda know what year, +- a couple, is the features of the frame, DD pointed out some area's that help identify a real Colnago. Some examples are the seat stay caps (flat, fluted, rounded - year dependent), the tapered seat stays, lug cut outs, lug supplier, BB cut out, shape of the clover, tube to DO configuration (crimped in the back), DO manufacturers (Colnago and Campagnolo), sometimes but inconsistency of the clover on the brake bridge mounting block, 2 cable retainers on the top tube.. did I miss something? Fork crowns (flat and sloping) and reinforcing tabs/tangs on the inside of the fork. Tubing is always Columbus and as such, the steerer should/might have a dove embossed on it. Well, thats a beginning anyway.

Model identification is another fun exercise. Often the configuration of the tubing helps such as shaped tubing that is not round but "dented" on a number, not necessarily all tubes on the frame, having a chain stay bridge or not, and chrome application. Superissimo's usually have the head tube chromed. Forks usually are chrome even if they are painted fully, some have "socks" some don't have paint. I speculate that models are the same frame with different paint scheme's, but don't quote me on that, i.e. Super's vs. Superissimo's.

Another characteristic is that most of the frames of this vintage have pins in the lug/tube interface. It helped keep the frame aligned during brazing to reduce assembly time.

I am no expert but that is a summary of what I have learned reading what others have shared here.

My guess is that if yours is a Collage, it is earlier than 1983 because of the flat crown (maybe) and the fluted seat stay caps.

I hadn't noticed the lack of brake bolt drilling in the fork. I wonder if someone has filled the hole?

Normally the numbers one will find are stamped on the driveside rear DO and a matching number will be on the fork steerer. The speculation is that these are batch numbers, intended to keep the correct fork with the correct frame.

If this is indeed genuine - and there are features that seem to point to that - it appears to have been perhaps repaired at the front. That seems to include both head lugs and perhaps the fork (a repair could be why the brake hole seems to have been filled in).

Btw, that's not an early-80s track fork, in case you were wondering. Track forks had a completely different crown shape/engraving:



DD

Didn't track forks have round legs?

It looks more like powder coating to me, and not very good powder coating if the stamping in the seat stay should be crisp and defined.

They were pretty much round, yes - not the best pic to illustrate how rounded the outer portions of the crown are.

From directly overhead the difference is obvious:



DD

How about some better photos of the whole bike. Rear dropouts?

Branding on droupouts? Rear brake bridge? Top of both head tube lugs and top side of seat tube lug.

Many of the older Colnago frames did not have serial numbers, especially those intended for the European market.

If you search "Alife Cycles" per the head-badge sticker you will find a shop in Spain that does some "fixie conversions" among other bike "culture-y" stuff. So that's probably what's going on with this old Nago frame.

Funny you mention that - I plugged the same name in this morning and it took me to an FB page; said the shop (in Mallorca) is now closed

DD

the headlugs look like they MIGHT be Bocama (BCM) and not the typical Prugnaut lugs Colnago used....therefore this smells a little fishy.

It looks like it was genuine 70's Colonago that has been butchered by fixie shop, ground off braze on's filled in in holes that really shouldn't be filled in heavy powder coat with so/so modern parts, I would be hard pressed to say it is a true Colonago in it's current state. If you give us a pic of the whole frame set and some details like bb, and dropouts someone here can ID what model it was.

The front lug has an strange shape! I haven´t seen a colnago with a non-flat lug on the front. I hope to receive the photos of the bb and dropouts soon.

I agree that headlug looks strange. Could a 70's or early 80's have this lugs?

the whole bike

Ok, so you have a SS conversion. I think those are stock horizontal road dropouts, and not vertical track dropouts.

I can't tell if the previous cable routing on the BB and cable stop on the chainstay remains.

I don't remember seeing Colnago using a pump peg.

Detailed clover/club photos on the lugs would help verify the identity. I can't make heads or tails of the seatstay.

Newest pic shows the extent of the Drewing: top tube cable guides and downtube shifter bosses are gone. Hopefully the rear derailleur tab wasn't cut off as well. Interesting that a pump peg was brazed on after removing the other stuff - I thought the conversion crowd didn't like all those extraneous little bits

The gear cable routing could probably go either way, tho I'm betting this probably had them underneath the shell. I wonder if the chainstay cable stop was removed, too?

DD

Unless it is a 70's Colnago, it's probably better off spending the rest of it's days as a fixie, if it has indeed had braze-ons and derailleur hangers removed, and brake holes filled. I'd say it would not be worth the effort to restore it to a road bike. here's a great guide to Colnago frame details over the years. The fork is '76 or later.
Velo-Retro: Colnago Super Timeline

The earliest Colnagos didn't have the shifter bosses or cable guides. Also no water bottle bosses.

But, by the time the seat stays had the Colnago script, and the script on the fork, I think they all had them.

With the bad pictures of frame, the fork appears to be genuine Colnago, but so far I'm not convinced the frame is actually Colnago. There may be a club in the first photo, but it isn't that clear.

It's not mine but I was for sale in my area. I thought tha frame was a bit funky. The person thant cut that derailleur hanger won't goto heaven!