Hey there, I noticed a post a few weeks back about a piuma, yellow and blue one with daytona components and foco tubing. I have an opportunity to buy a very similar bike (not allowed to post photos or link due to being new here). I am just wondering what to expect compared to a newer bike, and if anyone knows about ambrosio focus rims. Are those campy brifters high maintenance? Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

What kind of riding do you do, or anticipate with this Marinoni? How does it match up with those needs/wants?

I absolutely love my ‘87 Marinoni SLX Sports Tourer, with its Ergo brifters! Points of appreciation: Italian design with North American paint (and full chrome under the paint in this case) quality; built by an individual, not a factory; room for tires up to 700x32 under short reach brakes, or fenders with smaller tires and also with the 650B setup. There’s a special feel about it that makes me want to push a bigger gear, ride farther. Haven’t felt that on other bikes, except maybe the early 70’s Masi in my racing days back then. The Marinoni is the perfect complement to my style of riding.

Have you watched “Fire in the Frame”?
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/marinonienglish

As for comparisons to a newer bike - something CF or aluminum will surely be lighter in weight. But around here on C&V, we love our steel frames for so many different reasons, not least of which is that they continue to be satisfying for decades. Only you can say whether the many attributes of a given bike suit you well, or not. FWIW, I loved my aluminum Klein for many years, but I prefer the much less harsh ride of the Marinoni as well as those qualities mentioned above.

Very importantly, my current, larger frames fit better. That Klein was too small as I lost flexibility over the years. Does this Marinoni fit you?

Campy brifters are in my experience lower maintenance than alternatives. They tend to hold up extremely well and are relatively easily rebuildable when necessary. My wife and I have been using Chorus-level Ergo brifters for about 60,000 combined miles over the last 25+ years. One of those sets was on my then only bike, the Klein mentioned above, for about 35,000 miles, so those miles aren’t spread out over many bikes. In that time I’ve rebuilt (only needing to replace “g springs”, an inexpensive part) four Campy brifters. And one of those rebuilds wasn’t really necessary. OTOH, the front Dura-Ace 9-speed brifter on my son’s bike with maybe 5,000 miles decided to cease shifting. And that lever isn’t used much! That may have been an anomaly caused by its low usage. It would probably function again with a WD-40 flush, but rebuilding Shimano brifters is a far more difficult proposition. They are usually just replaced. We ended up just adding a DT lever for his rare front shifts.

There are other points about Campy versus Shimano indexed drivetrains that deserve mention:

1. Campy rear setups seem to be more sensitive to cable adjustment for proper indexing. Certainly doable, but might need a rear shifter cable tweak more often than Shimano. The prolific Shimano RD’s of any quality level are easy to adjust and stay in adjustment longer thanks to that Centeron upper RD pulley, judging from the many donated bikes I’ve rebuilt for Bike Works in Seattle over the last five years.

2. Campy front shifting, however, is just the opposite, since their better brifters are basically a ratcheted variation of friction shifting. I’ve successfully used Suntour FD’s in a Campy setup, but slightly prefer the Campy Racing T FD’s. Whereas Shimano brifters require matching road FD’s and careful initial adjustment for the indexed front shifts. .

Like to think of my Sachs New Success shifting as the “best of both worlds”, with easy-to-set up Sachs RDs that have a floating upper pulley like Shimano’s and Sachs Ergo shifters (Campy Ergo with a different rear ratchet spacing, same parts used in rebuilds); 8-speed only, but I’m fine with that. No longer made, so I’ve got a collection.