Bottecchia Help
 

To whom may have answers,


Well, from my looking here, there..everywhere, there's always gotta be a HELP! next to the name Bottecchia. After intense web-diggings, I have to say I've hit a road block concerning a few seemingly uncomlicated questions about mine.

From what I understand, the bike I possess is a late 80's Bottecchia Campione Del Monde/Italiano. Rainbow world stickers to match (last date being 1986 for Mondo) as well as a "Handmade Carnielli" one. The bike includes the Campognolo Triumph Groupset, Cinelli De Rosa Stem and Cinelli bars.

Now onto the questions...

The bike is all white. Every bit of it excluding the decals and the red painted B on the top of the forks. In all the research I have done I have never came across one like this. Has anyone seen this without the chrome accents on the forks or the seat/chain stay?

I see that most others have the Super Record Groupset. Should the Victory be the correct set on the bike? Other than the fact that it was made in the 80's, my suspicion was that the Super Records made them more valuable, hence throwing them on instead.

I've looked into stems and bars for this bike and Carnielli quill stem was, I believe, the one that came on the bike. Pretty much impossible to find a nice one. Does anyone know the correct bars? I was thinking of just going with a Campi or 3ttt quill stem/bar combo OR find a non De Rosa Cinelli stem and keep the Cinelli bars I already have. Any suggestions?

All in all I am trying to figure out what this bike needs and should look like to be period correct. I apologize ahead of time in case my thread etiquette is in poor form. I am quite new to this, but would appreciate the help. I'm sure ol' man Bottecchia would appreciate it himself.

Best,

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ps.

In the sunlight, looking hard enough, there's this extremely light blue/teal type color showing through the white. I've never had anyone call it out unless I point it out myself. Is there anyone knowing what this might be? Redone paint job.. primer showing through.. I sure don't know. Looking forward to hearing back.

If you can post photos, from the drive side of course, that'd be very helpful.

There will be experts along shortly to provide really good info for you here; but since any bike could be built up from a frameset, unless you're really out of line with a low-end bike and a high-end groupset, or vice-versa, groupsets will vary *a lot* - so that's not something that I'd get too hung up on, if I were you.

Enjoy tearing it apart and rebuilding it however you want! Keep it Italian, make it a mix, make it functional, make it modern, keep it period-correct... so many directions you can go.

Welcome to the forums. Based on the Campione del Mondo decal, your Bottecchia frame was manufactured sometime during late 1986 to late 1989 (when Bottecchia won their next World Championship, with Greg Lemond), That would make it a 1987 to 1989 model. However, since you do not mention a Carnielli 80th anniversary decal, we can eliminate 1989.

Carnielli manufactured a full range of Bottechhia models from entry level to high end. Campagnolo Triomphe components, if OEM, would indicate a lower mid-range model. However, it has a DeRosa stem, so the components may not be OEM. The next step is determine the level of the frame itself. The lack of chrome, in conjunction with the era, does suggest no better than mid-range. However, there are two more definitive indicators. One is if there is a tubeset decal on the frame. The other way is via the stampings on the bottom of the bottom bracket shell, as during this era Carnielli typically included a code to indicate the tubeset.

The Super Record equipped models that you've seen, with the chromed forks and stays, are all high end models and most likely slightly earlier than yours. Bottecchia from the period in question were typically equipped with 3TTT bars and stem, though even at the mid-range level Bottecchia offered bare framesets, so we can't rule out the possibility of it being a custom built bicycle. FYI, the Bottecchia model with Triomphe during this era was the Comepetizone, with a Columbus Aelle R tubeset.