I recently acquired an ‘84 (I think) Pelizzoli Microf C 40 “Electronic Control” frame set in just my size. I’d like to get it back on the road and see what information this awesome community has to offer… like any ideas on the “r. gemi” on the top tube? It’s a stunner with barely a speck of rust inside or out. I’ve cobbled together most of an ‘80s Super Record gruppo, and it came with a Dura Ace 7400 headset installed, but first I need to tackle the frame itself.



Electronic Control ⚡️ Don’t get zapped!

I picked it up from Ron Boi. Now, I am truly the freshman in the school of vintage bikes and did not recognize the name when provided. I understood upon meeting him that this was no ordinary bike guy, but time was limited. We had a brief chat about the Pelizzoli, which he was selling for a local collector and didn’t have much provenance info on, and he gave me some quick maintenance tips for my Zeus. Lo, a few hours later I looked up the legendary Chicagoland frame builder of the RRB Cycles brand. He was a real pleasure to meet, and I wish I could’ve stuck around for a longer chat. I intend to keep in touch.



Be still my heart!

Now the good stuff. The frame and its white paint are in great shape under an original gold flake clear coat in less-great condition. The clear is crazed and flaking, which Ron suspects is due to a lack of UV protection. After detailing with an extra soft toothbrush and the care of an art conservator, the decals remain almost completely intact, and the resulting patina is quite appealing. As any real riding wear is certain to result in further flaking, I’d like to somehow protect the existing clear from further damage. I’m not ruling out a full refinish in years/decades to come as I intend to enjoy this one for many years, but that doesn’t seem like a necessary expenditure at this point. I’d rather preserve the beauty of what’s left for now while also being able to ride it.




Haven’t cleaned la forcella yet, but I’ll bet those letters are bright yellow.

In chatting with Ron he supported the idea of a second clear coat to stabilize the flaky situation. I have experience with spraying but not really in the field of frame coatings and would welcome any guidance. My first thought was something like KBS Coatings Diamond Finish, which is supposed to bond well with existing finishes. Anyone ever used it or a similar product for such a purpose? Just curious — I’m also planning to get on the blower with a local painter/powder coater when they’re back from holiday, but if anyone can recommend any pros in the Chicago area, please inform.

In the meantime, it’ll be safely stowed for the winter, well away from the salt on the roads. I appreciate any advice or information y’all provide!

-Charlie

Nothing to add except that this is a seriously cool frame, kudos on the score. Those seat stays are interesting.

Welcome to the club!
Never seen stays quite like that before, please give us a full ride report when it’s completed.

I also have a Pelizzoli, rode it this afternoon! They are pretty rare.

Thank you for the welcome! I saw your name and beautiful bicycle come up a lot when I was attempting to research this one (to little avail). Mostly found Ciöcc-badged cousins without the flourishes.

I am also puzzled and fascinated by these seat stays. There is no indentation in the seat tube and, despite my skepticism, by some geometric wizardry it comfortably fit the 700x28c I tested with the tightest clearance being on the chain stays. I’m tempted to do a quick build just to take it around the block, but the salt! Argh!

Now that you have pictures of the entire thing, it’s even cooler than I thought it was. Awesome little frame!

Cella Ciocc says hi to her cousin.

Oh? Its Pelizzoli not Pelosi ...




Nice Bike!

Thanks Dave, and ciao to Cella!

now that's a wild ride, indeed! But '84? I'd think that early would be even more rare, my guess is it has to be just a bit later.
For example I have a fork with that same crown and it's marked Ciöcc but AFAIK that fork is from late '80s.
And I think the "spoiler" Cinelli BB shell as well as the Columbus tubing decal (SLX?) with red border were from '85 at the earliest, but could be wrong...

Pelizzoli wowza! What a cool frame indeed. Definitely reads as late 80s to me as well. I think it’s going to be a struggle to maintain that striking patina. I have a bike with similar paint crackling— actually my most frequently ridden bike, my commuter. I find myself in a constant, never-ending, and losing a battle with surface rust. Are you sure it’s gold clear? My guess would have been white base, with a gold overcoat, and a very thin, now almost nonexistent, clear. Good thing it’s mostly rust-free now. My instinct would be to clean it really well and then apply a new clearcoat to preserve what’s left of the original paint. I’m not a professional painter, so take that fwiw.

Please keep use updated on your progress.

Interesting! You are more than likely correct, as I based my ‘84 guess on little more than the serial # (visible on the BB shell) ending in “-84”. I suppose the sensible next research step is to try reaching out to Pelizzoli and see what information they have. Thanks for the info!

Good call. Ron Boi seemed confident it was a clear coat without UV resistance and compared the look of it to some old Treks prone to UV damage he’d experienced in his shop. The previous owner apparently never built it up, but it’s clearly been well-ridden, so entirely possible a thin clear has worn through exposing a more easily damaged gold overcoat. All things considered, this is certainly an n+1 bike that will only come out for casual, clean road riding in beautiful weather, so I may try my luck with leaving it as is for now.

I love the patina as is Charlie. Eventually with deep cleanings, you might get down to the white which seems to be no slouch primer coat, but an actual coat. It can only be originally painted by Mr. Ciocc once! (Well since he is back at it, I guess it could be painted by him twice!)

She's smiling...

def try to connect with The Man himself (or his Son who may now be running the Shop), I believe they are used to fielding emails from English-speaking customers and also have Social Media presence, if you go in for such novelties.
I never have seen a frame like this one before so I bet they'll remember it and all the details!

Absolutely lovely frame and obviously visually similar to a modern Kirk, no disrespect to Ron Boi but this crazing/cracking might not be a U.V issue as genuinely U.V resistant clear coats would of been very rare back then. It’s much more likely to be one or even both of the following :- the clear [possibly being a quicker drying finish ] was applied over the white before it had fully cured ,so the white was still ‘off-gassing’ [releasing solvent] or/and the two finishes [the white base and gold flecked clear top coat] were two chemically different types of paint, I’ve seen similar crazing when a 1k paint is applied over a 2k and vice versa, the solvent in the 2k can sometimes ‘re-activate’ the 1k ,.

I’ve looked up your Diamond clear but couldn’t find any data sheets as to its chemical mix so no idea as to if it would react with either of the frames original finishes, what ii would like to do [but i am approx 4000 miles from you] is dab each of the two original coats with cotton buds dipped in my workshops various solvents, a 2k paint won’t dissolve again [2k has a catalyst so once cured it’s a kind of plastic] whilst 1k generally has cured via solvent evaporation so the correct solvent can soften and dissolve it even decades latter, apologies for the essay

Good to know — I’m off the social media but shall reach out directly soon and keep the forum posted on what I learn. I also happen to work closely with an Italian expat, so I may ask him to help with some translation work to really get in good with the Pelizzoli fam

No apologies necessary for this extremely helpful and informative tome! Thank you for taking the time. I know the Diamond coat stuff is a 1K, and I am wary of putting anything on this frame without first doing some thorough testing. I’ll be asking around at the reputable vintage shops in the area for local frame painters who know their stuff. If it does come down to a refinish, I’m bracing myself (and saving up) to bite the bullet and ship it to the man himself, or his son, in Italy.

Very intersting. I wonder if the Electronic control refers to the Mavic Zap electronic shifting system?

Personally, I'd try a wipe on poly to preserve the current state. Test under a chainstay or other inconspicuous place.

As ExPres says maybe try a poly[polyurethane] carefully , polys are odd as in they def contain solvents as I’ve known them to react/wrinkle/pickle 1k paints but despite not needing a catalyst they generally dry to a very durable finish that in itself doesn’t dissolve again with solvents so very similar to a 2k .Despite my misgivings about aerosol and spray gun clears [by nature the paints have to be diluted via solvents in order to make them thin enough to spray] maybe give the DiamondFinish aerosol a go,technique and prep will go a long way here ,clean with an alcohol based panel cleaner [some whiteboard cleaners will work ], maybe beforehand very very lightly key up the surface [2000 grade wet/dry paper or 3M copper coloured ScotchBrite pad] then when spraying amend the traditional technique by ‘dusting’ the first few coats on with ALOT of drying time allowed ,at this stage you ar'nt even attempting to get a gloss finish it will be very dry and matte and all you are doing is ‘sealing’ in the original finish ,once you have complete coverage leave for at least a day before applying more gloss coats but again still spraying lighter than normally and again leaving a long time between coats [30-40 min ] the later coats solvent content can still eat into your initial ‘dusting’ coats ,apologies again

the only brand I ever encountered that had a "Diamond" finish was a Varathane waterborne PU intended for wood and especially flooring, plus it was never sold in rattlecans AFAIK so brush strokes would be a major concern and counter-reco'd for that reason. I have had much better results with General Finishes water-borne PU (better than any Varathane product and certainly better than most Minwax cr-p) but again those are brush-on only and pricey!
Never used any Varathane rattlecan PU but they DO sell one water-borne "Ultimate" but it might be only available as semi-gloss and also labeled "Interior" so mainly a wood finish...the plus is there will be NO solvent interaction with this or any other water-based product.
but, Durable?
YMMV

Note my one exception to Minwax revulsion is I have had good results with their Wipe-on Poly (oil-based) and so give them a thumbs-up but ONLY for that one product. I would NOT reco it for a top-coat on anything I have not tested very carefully beforehand (aside for clean sanded wood) cause the solvents used in that stuff seem especially aggressive!

The frame is probably from around 1989-1995.

I wonder if the painter the Pellizolis used simply sprayed a clear coat of Varnish-Based clear, and this is why it has yellowed and cracked ?

Don't remember hearing any Italian frames ever using anything "sophisticated" in their finishing - acrylic enamel and acrylic lacquers color coats.

My reference to the ‘diamond’ clear was in response to a brand mentioned by the OP earlier in the thread .Ive known 2k clears go slightly yellow with time but I agree it looks like the frame was sprayed with a generic garden centre varnish BUT the frames clear having the gold tint in it points to them using one of the ‘candy apple’ type systems where the metallic element is added to the clear and depth of colour is achieved via how many coats applied ,I started looking up sprayable waterborne paints as a lot of industries have gone the way of very low VOC paints but the clears all seem to have some solvents [VOC] in them ,personally I think the frames deterioration would of happened very early on [my money is on the flecked clear being on top of a still outgassing base ]and is now pretty stable

Per the advice of stefthehat, I performed a delicate but thorough wet sanding with mostly 2000 grit 3M paper, 1500 to smooth out the edges of some especially flaky areas and 2500 for some final polishing over decals. Wiped down with a pH-neutral cleaner and after some testing on the underside of BB and chainstay ultimately decided to try my luck with Everbrite, a self-leveling liquid clear coat.

I finished coating the frame and fork last week and am very pleased with the results. I’ll post some more/better pictures once it’s less painfully cold outside. For now, here’s a sneak peak of the test fitting — yippee!



Featuring a BB, crankset, stem, seat post and saddle from the inimitable jdawginsc, plus brake levers and pedals from degan and an RD from road195. Many thanks and high fives to all for making this build possible!

-Charlie

PS: Inquiry email sent to the Pelizzoli shop in Bergamo, still awaiting response.

That looks super, Charlie...! Did the seat-post polish out nicely? The clear coat looks great!