Cinelli vs 3TTT
 

What the heck, I keep seeing 3TTT parts on Columbus tubed bike. I thought Cinelli was king. Was it simply a cheaper brand at the time? I see they are 1/2 the price on eBay.

Think again.

Cinelli was the dominant stem and bar source and but you shouldn't be taken aback that there were other Italian makers.
Think Volvo-Saab, Rolls-Bentley, red apples-green apples etc.

the 3ttt Record stem is one of my favorites! I don’t think they are that much, if at all cheaper

The problem with Cinelli bar/stem is that they painted themselves into a corner with the 26.4mm clamp diameter.
3TTT made a lot of awesome stems and bars though, especially later in the Ergo era. Were they ever considered second tier to Cinelli?

Before I got my Dura Ace stem, it was Cinelli. Still use Cinelli bars (Giro d’Italia). 3TTT was down the ladder in our shop, although I concede it could be a Ford/Chevy thing. Or maybe a Campy/Shimano thing?

They also made stems in 26.0mm.

I don't think the proprietary 'painted corner' ended up as a bad thing. Few here wouldn't buy a nice 26.4 Cinelli cockpit and there's many to be had. Cino had a shiny reputation to help sell a lot of premium components.

Plenty of famous Italian builders opted for 3ttt vice Cinelli for their bar/stem needs on their built-up bikes. Bianchi, for one:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bc3974624d.png

Quality stuff:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6571d3eb50.png

Colnago switched from Cinelli to 3ttt sometime in the 70s; I've heard tell there was some sort of beef between he and Cino, but have never found anything to back up that claim. Lots of stories back in the day that turned out to be completely false...

DD

^^^ Yea I "heard " the same story, who knows. The pantograph stem and bars on my Medici are 3ttt and I think were optional in 1982 when the bike was made.Other bikes I own from the seventies were originally spec'd with the 3ttt Record stem and handle bar set and they weren't cheap bikes in the day , Mondia Special and ItalVega . Maybe they were cheaper than Cinelli but I couldn't afford either one back then so for me it was the Japanese SR Champion. SR worked well but didn't have the panache of the Italian stuff, I didn't care , I loved my Kabuki Diamond Formula anyway! I rode it as if it were just as good as anything out there.

A lot of the 3TTT bars have a formed "bulge" in the center of the bar (as seen in the image above) that is said to eliminate the creaking that can sometimes plague bars like Cinelli's that use a separate sleeve over the center.

...

Did someone drill those bars, :eek: or did they come that way?

....

Both 3ttt and Cinelli made some great products. As others have said, the great product from 3ttt was the Competizione and Superleggero bars with the bulged reinforcement…and it was far less likely to creak when climbing for example than the Cinelli bars with the external reinforcement sleeve. Sometime in the 1980s, the Columbus group purchased 3tt. They sold it off sometime about twenty years ago and all of the subsequent products have been from the Far East.

3ttt also made stems with clamp sizes other than the 26.0 Italian (other than Cinelli) standard. So they came stock on things like Raleigh Pros in the early 70's. Probably helped them broaden their market share.

I have both on some of my bikes, and the fit and finish of 3TTT units is as good or better than Cinelli.

I think 3TTT made some nice stuff, and there was certainly no shortage of their products on pro race bikes. For me, personally, Cinelli was always the gold standard, not only because of the quality parts, but because of the history and mystique as well.

Pretty much a tie, IMO
 

As long as they both match.

Cinelli: I prefer the 64-42 bar with a 1R stem, 70mm.
I like them polished, but that's a lot of work. I still do it.
There are a lot of Cinelli variations I do not care for.

3TT: I like the curvy stem (cap is a must) with the Forma bar.
It's the only 3TTT bar that fits my hands.
You can get polished 3TTT items.

I prefer the engraving on the Cinelli and 3TTT items over the later screened 3TTT stuff.

By the way, 3TTT is still around as 3T? (I don't know.)
I have some of their carbon wheels (Orbus 35 Stealth).
Nice engineering; threaded hub adjustment, locked in by 3 set screws (rear).
3T is also selling frames and complete bikes, too.

It appears there is now some involvement between 3T and Vittoria. Not sure.
I bought some Vittoria Team Black wheels, and they are amazing alloys.
I ordered 3T and the Vittoria's showed up.

Excellent customer service from both.
Both sets came with brake pads, a nice carrying case for parts, and through-axle converters.

Colnago and Masi both switched to 3ttt about 1973 or so. At some point? Returned to Cinelli.
Masi obtained brand stamping on the bars and the Falerio signature stem was worked in, and M decorated 3ttt saddles.
the 3ttt saddles were not very popular, a bit hard and a different enough shape from the Cinelli that they were often swapped out.
There are a number of Peugeot UO8's sold by the shop I worked for that sport M embossed 3ttt saddles.

For me is was finding the bar shape I liked, The Merckx bend 3ttt in the SL was nice but not available when I wanted it.
The Cinelli #63 became my preferred road shape.

3TTT is similar to ITM in terms of quality and market volume. With 3TTT being slightly more common on Italian C&V high line bikes.
I think both brands are generally considered to be slightly below Cinelli when it comes to desirability as both companies make fine quality components.

The 3TTT stem and bars were used on some of my favorite racing bikes, the 7-11 Eddy Merckx bikes.

Wouldn't it be more of a Shimano/Suntour thing?

Not that I'm anywhere near the target for these components- I've viewed 3ttt as on a lower tier than Cinelli- and that's just how I've interpreted the way I've seen it regarded on forums and such.

That being said, I have seen 3ttt stuff used on Class A machines and wouldn't kick that stuff out of bed for eating crackers.




Or maybe I would- that would be really unnatural for a stem or bars to be eating anything...

Thanks, I have a 66-40 that creaks occasionally and knowing it’s just the sleeve saves me from untaping it looking for the source of the creak.