Yup! He’s a happy guy alright. I mean who wouldn’t be? Great ending or beginning depending on how you look at it. I kind of have an east coast buddy after buying mine. I know my joy of riding the bike he sold me makes him feel good. We exchange riding pics between coastlines and it all happened around a bike and a new owner like your old bike and new friend . Good to see , thanks for sharing.

Was out there from around 2 to 4 PM and notice below when got into garage. Nice ride, but got a bit wet coming back.

What made you want to keep the new over the old Colnago?

In a word: fit. The newer Colnago Mexico is a 57cm frame and is pretty much my sweet spot. Back when I was more flexible than today I could ride a 55cm frame all day comfortably - even as recently as 5 years ago. Not anymore.

But, hey, other's have got it much worse and have had to alter their setups more than I.

DD

Thanks! You know, the more I think about the way the whole deal went down - and I mean from first meeting him when dealing with the Somec a few weeks ago now - it is pretty cool. The bike stays local, which is where I got it and had it refinished. Jon was just down the road in Oregon and I did my work on the parts here in WA. Best of all, since I have a two-year commitment to stay in WA I can serve as the bike's de-facto 'master mechanic' and help him get a feel for maintaining it. He's already thinking of a spare bar/stem/lever combo in a bit shorter stem/wider bar for use while retaining the complete original setup for show. Seriously, the bike is in very, very good hands

It's a little early into 2021, but for me, heck yeah, it's warm-fuzzy inducing. Much better experience than the dude who bought my Olympia, then took it apart and sold it piece by piece on Ebay the following day!

DD

Okay, thanks to everyone for your feedback and comments. I'd like to wrap up this thread by noting that I'm sure selling this bike in the way I did disappointed a few people on the Forum, but in the end my approach did win the day. The bike was delivered to an enthusiastic new owner and I never had to worry about the possibility of something happening to it on the way from me to him.

While I was willing to personally deliver on the west coast when I head down to Phoenix in a couple weeks, that would've only worked out had I gotten an offer during the short time the ad was up on my FSOT thread. Alas, the new owner came along and committed before anybody contacted me about that ad (the thread was deleted shortly after I updated it as "sold" - I might add this was not done at my request). And that's the rest of the story.

These wonderful two-wheeled conveyances! They come, they grace our lives - and sometimes they move on. Sometimes they move on to people we know, sometimes to people we don't know - and sometimes to people we're gonna get to know. In the case of the Colnago Super, option number three applies.

Enjoy the ride, folks



DD

The smile and the fit are great.
Enjoy
Perhaps a pair of orange gloves are coming to your residence.

I recall this was the well done but interaction fraught respray by Cyclart

I believe the one you're thinking of is the restoration by shnibop . Interestingly, he sold his a few years after completion - then bought it back 4 years later!

The subject frame/fork was restored at Elliott Bay Bicycles in 2009.

DD

I recall that nightmare for him, he sold it and may have repurchased it later?

I do recall you had one repainted by Elliot Bay.
I am pretty sure the fellow I sold a Masi to decades ago had them respray his after an arson fire damaged the paint by the melting plastic!

the paint on your sold machine looks very nice.

I have some that need painting... one is a tough decision- only the top tube needs it.
a Medici even, I might attempt to go to the auto paint store and match it, then spray a pump and see how close I can achieve.
if on target, repaint just that tube.

another... probably match and paint a loose tube, then the Fork and the offending tubes if good. Then I have others... they really pile up.
one is a total paint wreck of a Gios, I guess why I purchased it cheap. That one I am building up now and will evaluate how I like it.

Was that basically Davidson's shop, or was there another piece to Elliott Bay that did those kinds of things?

Yes, behind the retail/display part of the shop downtown. Both the metal work and paint were done back in the catacombs. Here's a shot of it in the frame building area after the first media blast (you can still make out some remnants of the Molteni orange paint on the upper head lug):



Of course, all these and more pics are in the Flickr album: 1973 Colnago Super

DD