83 vintage saddles
 

I'll be building up an 83 vintage frame. What were the typical "racing" saddles of the day. While I'm at it bars and rims? Were there any aero rims at the time?

Selle ITalia Turbo, Selle san Marco Concor,

Mavic GEL-330 rims

Cinelli Giro bars, Criterium bars also

What frame?

Yeah, Selle Italia Turbo probably was most popular, or a Concor.

Also:

Avocet Racing I, II or III
Avocet RS (actually a rebadged Turbo at that time)
Rolls. Maybe that was 84 when they came out? can't recall.

Pretty much covers it. Less choices then.

Assos aero rims had just come out. Sew up only. Special nipples.

There was an Araya aero rim of some sort.

Concor has a great look, but can be very uncomfortable for some. The Turbo was super common, and is pretty plush by almost any account.

I had a Concor on my Eroica bike, but just swapped to a Turbo I found in my stash.

I prefer the Concor for it's lines, and on a bike I really won't ride that much it gets the nod......but 70+ miles gets the Turbo.

One of my brothers had a Rolls in '84 on his Faggin with Ambrosio Synthesis 28 spoke wheels. I am pretty sure about the date.

The Cinelli Crit bars were sweet!

Ok, on stem sizes, and this is important.

Cinelli bars were a 26.4mm diameter (where the go into the stem) until the late 90's (prolly exceptions).

The portion of the stem that goes into the steerer is 22.2mm unless it's French, then it's 22.0mm

Make sure that all the numbers align! It's very easy to get stems with a 26mm clamp size, and 26.4 a little harder.

Some stems might be NOS for dirt cheap, usually it's because they are made for a French steerer. Double check everything. You probably already know this, but just in case.

As for bars, you can also find 3TTT on the Bay. I have them on most of my bikes. They use the standard 25.6 diameter too.

Thanks guys. Turbo or Concor it is.

By the way, I thought at first you were offering 83 different vintage saddles for sale. :-)

Bars - Cinelli were by far most popular. Some did ride 3TTT. Nitto or whatever else were ridden by frankly not more than 10% of the racing set.

Aero rims - To be blunt they were considered uncool, though a few did exist. Assos started to change that but it took years. Standard race rim if there was one was probably Fiamme Ergal. By 83 Mavic GP4 were starting to gain traction. Some folks liked Mavic or Super Champion. There was some variety here for sure.

It was the tubular era. Clinchers of the time were awful. Racing wheels were sew ups only. A few people would train on clinchers. Mostly not though, at least in my area.

One of my favorite saddles, the Selle San Marco Rolls, came out in the mid 80's I think. Not sure if it was around in '83 but I'd say it would be correct for that period of bike. :)

Yeah, I'm one of those that can't sit on a Concor. Torture device for me, and I'm pretty tolerant and can usually ride whatever. Turbos were way more popular.

1984 was the first time I saw a Rolls, pretty sure. Yep.

Avocet really had been the most popular for a few years at that time. Greg LeMond rode them. There must have been some licensing deal with Selle Italia that expired around that time.

A few retro heads were still riding Unicanitors. Leather saddles were out of style.

Oh yes. All of the above.

If aero frame then it is clear to me that Selle San Marco Concor Profil is the solution. It was manufactured already in 1982.