September 2016, just before Labor Day, we had the remnants of tropical storm Hermine blow thru here. No rain, just wind.

Enough to blow over one of the pines out back.

Next day I was out with the chainsaw cutting it up and lucky me, I took a step back, and stepped right in a groundhog hole. Heard a snap and down I went. That was the end of my cycling season in 2016, and I'm just now getting back into it after a year plus and 30 pounds. I like to cook and eat, too.

I have several project bikes out in the garage. I'm sort of multitasking, working on a Molteni Orange match for the Colnago, picking up the garage a bit, and putting the Cinelli together.

At the moment, I'm stuck as I need to find a reasonably priced source for the gray cable housing like Campagnolo used back then. The real Campy stuff is very expensive. I'm also on the fence on finding a color for the bar tape.

I had found a pretty good match for the Dusty Rose Cinelli used. It's a 1957 Cadillac color, but for the time being I'm holding off on the touch up. Not sure I want to do that with this bike.

It's also taken me the better part of this year to locate all the correct parts, and I have just about everything I need except for a saddle.

So here's a shot of today's progress.

a "trust account" guy in my old club bought one new in 1973 in this color, always got attention.
High flange, four cross, straight block freewheel... That last part pushing the flatland flyer / show bike goal.

Breaking bones is never fun, a nice reward for health and recovery here.

Holy crap, so cool! Very glad to here you're getting back after it.

Seems like its always something, I was about to get back on the bike after rebooting racing motorcycles at the dragstrip back in July. This last weekend was to be the last and of course I came off and cracked my pelvis in 2 places. Won't be back on any bikes for awhile which sucks as I hadn't been riding much while trying to campaign the drag bike and was planning on getting after it while the weather was perfect to run me into the wet stuff and beyond. Like I said always something.

Fantastic frame and project...

My thought pattern on frames like these is that simpler is better...the star is the frame, so bar tape should compliment the frame, but not draw attention. Black.

The corncob is just for show. At least till I get a lot of miles under my belt.

I was thinking the same thing myself. Either that or white.

White. The team leader had white tape.

FWIW...here's my somewhere around 73' champagne...black tape.

Beautiful bike. Porkchop bmx has a gray housing. Not sure about the match to old Campy but worth a look. They call it gray-silver but it's mostly gray by my eyes.
https://porkchopbmx.com/lined-bicycle-brake-cable-housing-5mm-gray-silver-per-foot/

Classy ride!

Every time I think about white or colored bar tape, I remember how much anything but black shows the dirt.

Nice looking bike, glad you were able to recover and getting back to it.

Damn that's a gorgeous bike - love the color (rose is my fave Cinelli shade). I like to match saddle with bar tape, so I'd lean towards black/black. I don't think white saddles were yet a "thing" when that bad boy came out of the factory.

I see why the Colnago will take a back seat for now. I hope you find some grey housing soon, tho, so you can finish this one up. It's kinda sad that such a seemingly small detail is holding up getting this one on the road

What saddle are you thinking of topping off with?

DD

That is going to be one beautiful bike when you finish up, that gray cable housing can be a bear to find at a reasonable price. I watched for it until a listing for a complete set up of housing and Campagnolo inner cables came up, seller probably didn't realize what these usually sold at, and I managed to snag them with a BIN that was too much to pass up on.

There are some "close" replicas and aftermarket gray housings, I have some in use right now, but they aren't the same exact color and their diameter is just a slight bit smaller. Our LBS has a source for some of the vintage housing, in the correct diameter for those small diameter Masi and Medici top tube guides, I need to have him check for the correct gray.

Bill

Hey, thanks for the link. I think that will work. I just can't justify paying close to $100 for two pieces of cable housing.

At least it's a decent enough placeholder until you stumble on the real thing for a price you can stomach.

I'm working on a '74 silver Cinelli right now. The frame is a little bit small so I need a long seatpost (the original had been cut off extremely short). Unfortunately the 26.2 mm Cinelli size is unique and the Campy two bolt seatposts are generally short in any case. However, the one you have on there looks to be super long (unless you only have it inserted a couple of millimeters) and would be perfect for my bike. Where did you get it?

I just slid it in temporarily. Not sure of the length but it's not one of the really long ones. If you don't need it to be Campy, I do have an extra 26.2 post, and it's real long. Let me know.

Fi’zik “Classic Touch” white tape stays clean while having decent grip, although no padding. Don’t think that stay-clean virtue applies as well to other Fi’zik bar tapes. I’m surprised that the lack of padding in the tape doesn’t bother me.

Some types of tape can be cleaned pretty easily with a scrubber sponge and water, such as the “Evo” brand natural cork that I previously used.

Nice bike...I recently purchased a vintage NOS Modolo gray brake housing and cable set on ebay for $40. Might want to search for it??? The guy had several sets as of a week or so ago.

Thanks. I'm thinking of using a Unicanitor #3 saddle.

All this Cinelli talk has me riding mine to work this week.
Also noting the things I wish to attend to, shortening the cable housing, minor saddle change of tilt.
Thinking of a way to stiffen up the limber red Alfredo Binda toe straps, the strap does not keep its shape enough to allow easy foot engagement when starting off from an intersection. NOS pairs have gone crazy in price.

You're not kidding.

The other day I saw somebody trying to sell a very well used set (not red though) for $40.

There's a technique of hardening leather called Cuir Bouilli. I don't know a lot about it, but it might be worth looking in to.

very nice frame!