coleary00

Hi All, new to this forum, and helping a friend and widow identity and sell some of her late husbands vintage bike collection. I thought I would start with this 5 Speed Cinelli. I would love to hear from some experts as to what the model, vintage, rarity, estimated value, etc. is for this bike. It seems to me that it is all original campognolo and Cinelli components, down to the brake pads, hubs, pedals, pulley wheels, etc. The bike seems to be in immaculate shape for the age, although I did notice a "Paint and Graphics by CyclArt Ruth H. A. - Painter" on the rear triangle so assuming this has been repainted at some point. Insight into CyclArt is appreciate as well. Since this is only my first post, it won't let me send a link to photos, but I have included a few to this thread and can post more as well. I would like to determine what I have and the value before I look to selling it. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

PS - Wont let me share photos, as I am a new member, any idea how I can get photos attached?

machinist42

coleary00

Thank you machinist42 Happy to send more if it helps identify.

machinist42

You're welcome.

Photographs of other aspects of the Frame will aid in identification. Specifically, the headbadge, the juncture of the seat tube, seat stays and top tube, the lugs connecting the head tube to the down tube and top tubes, the underside of the bottom bracket: basically the entire frame. (Components come and go and are not really important.)

dedhed

I believe Cycleart is now out of business but was a higher end bicycle paint/restoration business.

Cyclart Customer Service

​​​​​​Is Cycle Art original paint on some bikes?

iab 

Mid 1970s Cinelli Super Corsa. Top of the line bike. Excellent restoration.

coleary00

Tried to upload additional photos of the requested, but still wouldn't allow me to upload.

iab 

A picture of the serial number on the bottom of the bottom bracket shell will determine if it was made before or after 1980.

machinist42

iab 

Aluminum head badge started in 1974. 5 digit serial number started in 1980.

iab 

Black knuckle on rear derailleur indicates 1977, first generation Super Record.

rccardr 

Whoever the deceased owner was, he kept his bikes in exceptional condition.
What else is there, and where are they located?

bikingshearer 

Absolutely gorgeous bike. For some, that would be the ultimate acquisition. This is very much a top-shelf bike for its time. I have two mid-1960s Cinellis and I love 'em both. They get most of my riding time.

As noted, the CycleArt decal says it was repainted by one of the best respray shops ever.

The best on-line resource I know for trying to date Cinelli Special Corsa/Super Corsa (both names were used) is the Cinelli timeline on Velo Retro. Here it is.

Using the Velo Retro timeline, I'd guess 1973ish. The presence of derailleur cable guides on the bottom bracket and the split allen seat post bolt, along with the absence of braze-ons for shift levers or top tube brake cable guides support this conclusion.

Again using the Velo Retro timeline, there are also some anomalies. Like the fact that there are no holes in the head tube lugs. And like the presence of eyelets on the drop outs. Both of these generally would suggest a slightly - but not much - older frame. But Cinelli could be quirky and you could special order from them, so who knows what anyone was thinking when this one was built. All in all I'll stay with my 1973ish guestimate.

You'll note that nobody asked for the serial number except for the number of digits, That's because Cinelli serial numbers up through the 1970s are pretty much useless for dating a frame. A higher number could be and often is an earlier frame than the lower number, and none of the digits correlate to a year. If there was system to this, I've never been able to figure it out, nor have I heard of anyone who has.

oneclick 

What does that tell you?

iab 

I changed my mind. I think 1965-1967. bikingshearer is correct about the lack of lug holes. While an exception is possible, I think it is far more likely to add the braze-on cable guide and use a later headbadge.

Either way, 60s, 70s, whatever, it is a nice bike.

coleary00

thank you, yes his bikes are fairly immaculate. The bikes are located in Salt Lake City, Ut. He is a range of cinelli’s, Schwinn paramount, de rosas, Bianchi’s, and more. All high end bikes. Slowly working through them all, any idea where the best place to sell is?

coleary00

thank you for the insight.

rccardr 

For best dollars, eBay. That's a worldwide market. I would avoid Facebook or CL for something this high end.

Another thing to consider is 'who did he know?". Most collectors at this level have a network of friends and contacts; they buy, sell, and trade among each other and ogle each others' collections. That's all part of the fun. If I kicked it tomorrow, Mrs. Doc would know to contact some of my bike-ish buddies. Would be worth going through his e-mail and online/social connections to contact these acquaintances to see if any of them would be interested in one or more of the bikes. You may even locate someone who will buy several to add to their collection.

Under any circumstances, you will have to ship at least some of them.

Spend a few bucks for a membership and post here - also on Classic Rendezvous, The Paceline and Velocipede Salon -with good pictures. There are enthusiasts with money on all of those sites.
Do some advance work and figure out a safe, reasonably priced shipping scheme using a combination of a local shop to pack them properly and and a shipping aggregator like Bike Flights or Ship Bikes.

iab 

Well, depending on the number of bikes, why would a non-enthusiast want to deal with it? Let's say your great aunt or great uncle left you their high-end large widget collection. You know nothing about these large widgets. Yes, you can go through the hassle of individual listings and the large pain in the ass of proper shipment and get top dollar through ebay. Let's be real, for high-end top dollar, ebay is it. This place and CR is mostly bottom feeders. I think Facebook is a better option than here.

Or, you take the wholesale price and save yourself a lot of time and stress. Depends on what you value more.

Bianchigirll 

I have nothing to add but to say that is a beautiful bike

repechage

but you know serial numbers on Cinelli frames are all over the place in the four digit era.
big dollars were probably spent on this frame and fork, chrome could well have been redone
$$$$.
the bike with eyelets and possibly a host of Super Record... headset, seatpost, rear mech...
not sure on pedals and bottom bracket...
more $$$
Nice effort, hopefully enjoyed, terrible as an investment.

repechage

You mean “thrifty”
money gets spent, just many are low profile about it.
Serious collection out of SLC...
not a lot of folk come to mind.
that is the sad part.

iab 

Correct. Not a "faithful" restoration but probably a lot of fun for the owner. Nothing wrong with that.

bikingshearer 

I respectfully disagree. The head badge, the lack of oil and drain ports on the bottom bracket, and the lack of the little hole in the right drop out for the unlamented Campy Sport derailleur-shaped object all argue for 1965-67 being too early. I'll stick with my 1973 guesstimate.

This is not to start a big argument, but mainly to show that this particular frame really is something of an anomaly. There are aspects of the frame that argue for it dating anywhere from the mid-1960s to the the mid-1970s. iab could be right. I could be right. We both could be wrong. We'll never know for sure (unless someone stumbles across the original sales receipt). But we both agree that this is a nice bike, whatever its actual age.

Bottom line, this Cinelli is something of a unicorn. I, for one, thinks that's very cool.

bikingshearer 

See posts 13 and 21.