Originally Posted by ollo_ollo (Post 20181104)

Good job on the hanger restore Mark. Now that you touched a Frenchy frame, are you infected enough to move on to that classy Rochet that's hanging around the corner?

Andy, Vertyg says the 70 series stellas used Columbus SP, 1.0 mm ends and .7 mm body. Mine has those same lugs, but they aren't chromed and my lesser (probably Durifort) non-Columbus fork didn't get the long re-enforcement tang on the inside of its leg. Mine does have Campagnolo dropouts front & rear though. So I have just Columbus "Tre=Tubi" main frame, so got the triangle decal while the full Columbus frame sets have a rectangular Columbus decal on the seat tube plus the little, oval Columbus decals on the fork legs.

I sense we need a "French Bike" gathering: Bastille Day, (July 14), is on a Saturday this year, would that be a good day? I'm going to sound out some locals to see if there is a low or no cost gathering spot in or near Salem. Don

Originally Posted by 73StellaSX76 (Post 20181421)

I'll post a couple of pictures of my '73 for comparison. I bought it used in 1977 and had lots of braze-ons added and repainted (it was a light sky blue) not too long after that. It served as my college bike and is the bike I toured across the country with. It has many of the earmarks of the subject Stella bike: wrap around seat-stay cluster, really long fork crown tangs, main tubes Columbus, Campy dropouts. Mine has heart shaped cutouts on the lugs though. I have the rectangular Columbus sticker but I think to be more correct I should switch to the triangular 3 tube version, will have to track that one down.

My older brother turned me onto the brand when he brought one home from school in Santa Barbara. I knew little about bikes then. It hasn't been since the advent of the interwebs that I learned anything about the brand. I've always assumed mine is an SX-76 model as the catalog indicates Campy/Columbus. I'll be riding it at the Eroica California ride, hope to see many of you there.

Originally Posted by ollo_ollo (Post 20304568)

Those numbers seemed strange to me, so I looked up a chart for Columbus SL/SP. Supposed to be 28.6 ST/DT & 25.4 TT, my eyes are old and the lines are fine, so we may need help from Gugie with his tubing micrometer. Don

Originally Posted by 73StellaSX76 (Post 20305554)

Top Tube - 26.1mm
Seat Tube - 28.3mm
Down Tube - 28.2mm
Seat Post - 26.4mm

Originally Posted by ollo_ollo (Post 20304518)

Just re-read this thread & realized I never followed up with a tubing measurement on my Stella for Andy.

Outside dimension on all: Seat tube is 28.5 mm, Down tube 28.3 mm and Top tube 26.3 mm, not sure how much of that is powder coat and clear coat. Don

Originally Posted by ollo_ollo (Post 20304568)

Those numbers seemed strange to me, so I looked up a chart for Columbus SL/SP. Supposed to be 28.6 ST/DT & 25.4 TT, my eyes are old and the lines are fine, so we may need help from Gugie with his tubing micrometer. Don

Originally Posted by Wildwood (Post 20305084)

Not to derail thread, but:
Does anyone know what metric 531 (main tubes) would have measured??? Still talking early 70's.
28.0 for ST/DT??? TT = ?

Originally Posted by ollo_ollo (Post 20305670)

The chart was labeled "late seventies". Don't know when Stella had the fire & shut down, most accounts just say "in the 70's", but I would guess (due to bike boom+ fire) most Stellas are more likely early 70's than late 70's. Looking forward to Bastille day.