I picked up what I think to be a steal-of-a-deal today. The frame has the remains of Columbus tubing decals on it, however it lacks any other identifying stickers. The bottom bracket has a four-digit serial number. There is internal cabling into the top tube for the rear brake. Finally, the seat cluster is lugged, but the seat stays appear to be very smoothly welded into the lug so that there are no lines that show through the paint.

Pictures of the bike are to follow, it's in the shop right now for light maintenance, but any help you guys can provide would be much appreciated.

as promised, here are the pictures:

Internal Routing & Seat Cluster


Whole Bike


Mavic Brakes


Sachs Components



Campy Rear Hub


Look Pedals & Shimano 600 Cranks


Spidel Downtube Shifters


Headtube Lugs


Fork Lugs

is it possible that it is a gitane team pro from 1984?
https://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984_pg2.jpg

Definite possibility! Given the Columbus tubing and remants of French Spidel group, it could be...I'd like to see a detail of a known Gitane's seat cluster to compare. At first I was going to guess it might be some high-zoot American builder given the finesse of the SC and the fork crown, but the head lugs look a bit too "production" to match that realm. A good shot of the brake bridge will help ID it, that piece looks distinctive. Whatever, it sure looks like a great find, congrats!

I know what that is............

It's NICE! I'd Ride that SOB!

J B

My Bikes

Here is a shot of the bridge, as requested. Hope it helps and thanks again!

yeah that looks special for sure, but I can't ID this one. Check out the seat post size, the specs for '85 models show a Columbus Aelle model used a 26.2 post and the Team Pro used a 26.4 (tho it's 531 for '85) so it seems that Gitane was still building with Metric sized tubesets back then. If it's a 27.2 then I'm going back to my guess that's it's a top USA builder...as yet unknown to me.

Thanks for the help unworthy1. Here are some more odds and ends for you to ponder:

Front Wheel: Maillard Made in France Hub laced to Rigida 700C wheel with Spidel QR Skewer
Brake Levers: Campagnolo Levers and Hoods
Handlebars: Cinelli Giro D'Italia on Cinelli Quill Stem
Headset: Stronglight Made in France
Rear Wheel: Campagnolo Record Hub laced to Weinmann 700C wheel with Campagnolog QR Skewer
Other Oddities:
-Notice that strange nipple poking back out of the head tube?
-Remnants of Columbus Tubing sticker are the repainted version, like so:

-There is also remains of a Columbus sticker on the fork.
-Just removed the bottle cages now off the downtube and seattube and found interesting star bosses, like so:


Quite a mysterious bike!

The nipple on the back of the headtube is a pump peg. 't's a nice-lookin' bike, my friend.

Really? A pump peg? Wow. I suppose I'm just used to seeing those gross hook-like contraptions on Peugeots.

That said, does that qualify this as moreso of a touring bike? Am I looking in the wrong place?

Yeah those bits aren't distinctive enough to nail it, but indicate a high-end bike, for sure. I'm leaning away from Gitane based on the internal cable routing shown on all the shots I can find of the Team Pros from '84 and '85 does NOT look like yours (yours looks nicer, IMHO), The brake bridge looks a bit like a Cinelli arch I have on my Ciocc (and used on various Italian bikes) but still different...might be a Cinelli bit that's been reworked a little. Big clues will be: seatpost size to detemine if it's metric tubes, the BB width/threading, and how about the rear dropouts, French or Italian or...?

no calipers here for the tube measurement unfortunately, but a rough measure with a ruler definitely puts the seat-tube wall-to-wall at 26 point something mm, and not 27mm. and here is a picture of the rear dropout:

It sure does look like a Motobecane to me... a nice one!
Looks pretty small, what's the size?

Is the front hub Malliard and you just can't make it all out?

for my .02 worth: "Hello Moto"

That's correct, it's a MAILLARD. I wiped off the grime and was able to read it more clearly. From my research, the Motobecanes that had columbus tubing did not have lugs and instead had what they called 'inexternal brazing.'

https://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/mot...motobecane.htm

Looks like the choices are narrowing. Those semi-vertical dropouts are very reminiscent of Motobecane, and the catalog from '84 says that the TOP model (Team Champion) is lugged, it's the next models down with lesser Columbus tubesets that are "in-externally" brazed...which, BTW looks very much like what we'd call fillet brazed and in Britain is called bronze-welded. Also a lot like the fastback seat cluster treatment on this bike, too. Maybe somebody has pics of that Team Champion model around the '84 time period that would clinch the theory...and the BB threading still could help you, sometimes the info is engraved on the adjustable cup, like: 1.37 x 24 if it was BSC (which is doubtful). I'd start a new thread asking for pix of early-to-mid '80s Moto Team Champs.

This was my '83 Motobecane Team Champion ...

https://www.geocities.com/swingbikegallery/mototeam.html

Bob

looks like an itm seatpost for what it's worth. Only time I have ever seen one exactly like it was in a french bike. Pull it out and check the diameter.

Plot thickens! Bob Hufford's '83 is completely different: different DOs, cable routing, seat cluster...so either my eyesight was jacked when I looked at the pics in that '84 catalog, or they really changed details in '84. Or...?

Investment cast lugs

Columbus tubing transfers, with no mfg. info...

fastback style seat stays, with fillets, too much work for production by this time.

extra worked seat stay bridge, and fork crown, stay ends.

The head lugs are incongruent with the balance of the workmanship

If English or Italian threading I would say aspiring/journeyman USA framebuilder.

very small chance of a front end repair by a less qualified torch.

I don't know what it is but I like it.... my 80's Cramerotti has some similar elements
https://www.flickr.com/photos/traffic...7594137033651/

yes seems like a frame from a small builder..
the low serial number might reinforce that.
nice workmanship on the fastback stays

the head lugs seem consistent with the seat lug to me.. just a little bit of thinning...
and the brake bridge seems like an off the shelf investment cast piece

the seatpost diameter would help determine the butt thickness on the seat tube

Food, what mightl really blow this open are two simple-to-acquire facts: 1. Pull out the seatpost and read the numbers on it. 2. Take a regular metric ruler and measure the bottom bracket shell width, paying close attention to whether it reads 68mm or 70mm wide, measured from edge to edge of just the shell, and read any numbers that appear on the BB cups. Give us this...

Those shifters are rebranded Simplex retrofrictions. There is no better friction shifter.

More clues:
Seatpost 26.8
BB Shell 68mm