Guerciotti Authority
 

Hi. I'm looking for someone who knows Guerciotti. I have a frame coming which I purchased just because I thought it was beautiful. I don't see any reference to this frame anywhere so I'm reaching out to see if anyone "in the know" knows anything about the frame. I can't get to imgur here at work so I need to upload a picture from my phone.

https://i.imgur.com/YGrCVF3.jpg

Very nice frame! Probably from early eighties. There is a similar frame on the steel-vintage. com website. Search for Guerciotti. It is the red one. Very nice hidden shifter wires on the downtube.

Here is that red aero Guerciotti.


Not sure how many Guerciotti authorities are around. That is so blinged out it may have been a show bike. I remember seeing quite a few shiny gold bikes at Interbike, but not many in real life.

At any rate, Super Record + 3TTT would be correct. Don't think I ever saw a vintage Guerc that wasn't SR equipped. The original parts were probably all custom pantographed, milled and drilled.

Guerciotti an company is still running, in Italy.. today..

non round down tube and edge mounted down tube shifter suggests aero was the theme ..

80’s for sure. Looks like TSD style decals.

I saw the red one at SV. One main difference is mine utilizes Columbus AIR for the tube set. The bike came with 50th anniversary Campy. The person I bought the frame from got the bike for the components. I'm normally a Bianchi guy, but the more I looked at this frame the more I wanted it.
Super Record is in the works. I'm going with Cinelli 1R and Criterium though. The Super Record cost is refreshing having just built up a bike with C Record.

Found this on Columbus Air:

Columbus AIR:
"Columbus Air was the Italian manufacturer's initial attempt at an aerodynamic tubeset. It dates from the early 1980's. The intial version used a teardrop shaped down tube, seat tube and seat stays in conjunction with an oval top tube and chain stays, and a round head tube. Later versions had teardrop shaped chain stays. The tubeset was designed primarily for time trials and aerodymanic efficiency and therefore it is not practical to compare it directly to other round, Columbus tubesets. However, based on tube thickness, the seat stays were equivalent to KL and the chainstays, seat tube and top tube were equivalent to SL, while the down tube was equivalent to SP. Due to the teardrop shapes the resulting frames weighed more than SL, but had less strength. The rear triangles in particular had a reputation for being whippy, due to the thin seat stays. However, this was considered acceptable given the intended TT use and aerodynamic advantages.Of particular note, the seat tube came in two versions. One with a standard round top end, to accept a normal seat post and another which carried the teardrop section right to the top, requiring a teardrop section seatpost. If you have the latter, you may have some difficulty finding a seatpost, unless it is being provided with the frame.Regarding componentry, most frames built with this tubing were outfitted with Shimano Dura Ace AX, or less likely, 600AX. Campagnolo did not have an aero group at the time and the Italian farme builders did not want to miss out on the aero bandwagon, in the event it turned out to be the latest craze."

This, coupled with the fact that your frame has an FD boss, puts the build at no earlier than 1983. The "oro" look was starting to give way to "aero" by this point, so this would be one of the last of what I like to call the "bling bikes". Yours appears to be in fantastic shape. I wonder if it is actually gold plating or something else that's allowed it to survive so well. Most of these things lose gold plating if you look at them wrong.

Personally, I'd build that up with NR or SR and ride it like I stole it. I don't know if these later "oro" bikes are as desirable as the earlier ones (Colnago, Ciocc - Guerciotti did an earlier one, too); certainly they don't pop up in big enough numbers to make any kind of accurate assessment.

You'll have to post your riding impressions, let us know if they match the review above.

The missing info was that it came with a 50th anniversary gruppo. It all makes sense now. That dates it to 1983, or more likely, 1984. It explains the gold plated finish. IIRC there were a few special edition bikes that were made to go with the anniversary group.

Funnily enough, they didn't sell all those box set groups right away. I kinda remember them being blown out at a discount in '85 or so. I was at one point tempted to buy one, but thought the gold trim was kind of gaudy.

If the decals are OEM, it's no earlier than 1984. I'd place the red one 1982-1983. Different cable ports on the gold one and it looks really kludgy around them and the shift lever mount.

Complete bike on ebay, didn't sell, once for $3900, then again for $3500, with Campy 50th Anniversary group.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Guerci...-/273072530001

I’ M aware of that. Doesn’t really answer my question. I’m looking for any “official” information regarding the frame set.

Thanks for the help guys. None of this information is new to me. Believe me, i've been searching every which way to try to find any info.
It seems there may be a misunderstanding. I'm not looking for a value, I know the value, what I was willing to pay. I just Naively thought I may find some reference to the frame. I've looked in Guerciotti catalogues on the net for that period, nothing. Heck they don't even list the AIR tube set as a material used in any of those catalogues. It is what it is. For me it's a cool frame and will be a welcome addition to my small collection.
If anyone ever finds some information please drop me a line.

That will clean up nice. I don't believe the other guy tried much of anything. Unfortunate split as there probably was some history to that bike if its that difficult to source and $ won out. Keep digging. Check on steel is real and other places.