Bottecchia Equipe (?) / i need a new bike like another hole in the head
 

Sooo.. I just picked up this little gem.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...g/DSCF4497.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...g/DSCF4499.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...g/DSCF4500.jpg

I'm trying to determine the model. Nothing on CR or on Mark Bulgier's pages. The paint is similar to Ray Dobbins' 1992 Bottecchia Equipe, but there are some key differences, namely:

-Mine is SLX, his is TSX
-Mine has lug windows and longer point lugs, his does not have lug windows. His bike has Cinelli lugs
-Mine has a Carnielli 80th anniversary decal on the dt.

btw, I'm serious about not needing another bike. This is marked "49", which is the st length. The tt length is 52 c-t-c. There's a slight tt dent and some paint chips, but it's otherwise lovely, if a little dirty. I'm sick. Please help me.

Sorry. It's 2 cm too small for me to even consider helping.

That's a real find. No shame in not being able to pass on that one. If you find one like it in 55 cm...

Bellisima! Damn I love that frame. Not my size alas :( Wish I knew more about them - I assume Equipe means "Team" in Italian. I've seen some similar frames in other colors from a guy in Finland or Sweden I think that were SLX and were called Squadron. Sounds like "Team" too. Anybody know Italian? I suspect SLX frames are from the late 80's and TSX frames are from the early 90's but that's just a guess.

[edit] I see that's an '89 from the Carnielli decal.

Maybe T-Mar can help us out.

I saw one like that at T-town this past weekend. Could that be it?

nope - i call canadia home, and I wasn't at t-town :(

and now for some pron:

ray dobbins' equipe
http://www.raydobbins.com/bottecchia/photos/photo1.jpg

a "boat" i found on wooljersey... this one is columbus sp
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/IMG_0957.JPG

i gave the frame a quick wipedown, and it's an great shape - good paint, near perfect chrome, except for the underside of the fork. Someone please save me before I build this up and keep it!

Usually I ride a 52 cm ST 53 cm TT, but that might work...

I also don't need another bike though, and have 0 parts to build it up.

+1, it's a 1989 on the basis of the 80th anniversary decal. In 1989 the US distributor was simply naming the model on the basis of the tubeset and component group (i.e. Bottechia SLX C-Record). This practice carried on until 1992 when model names appeared, with the SLX Chorus being called the Equipe and the TSX Record model called a Spago.

The model names could vary depending the country, if they were left up to distributor, but I am not sure. Suadron may be a Scandinavian term as I usually see Squadra associated with Italian models. I believe Equipe also means team in both French and Italian.

I have a similar SLX model, however it does not have the cut-outs on the side of the head lugs and the seat lug is not chromed. Also, mine has a pump peg, but the OP's may lack this simply due to the small frame size.

t-mar to the rescue!

well, I think I'll build this thing up, and hope I can get it to fit. I've had many a bike that's been too big for me, but none that have been too small. All the pros seem to be riding with 140mm stems and seatposts that stick out a foot from the frame, and I'm nothing if not professional...

the parts will probably be a bit of a mishmash, as I can't seem to remember where I left that darned NOS c-record gruppo. maybe in the shed, underneath the van goghs. Gipiemme tubulars, mavic starfish cranks (I knew thos would come in handy!), campy brakes and levers, cinelli bar and stem, record derailleurs, blablabla.

Moki
I´m living in Sweden, perhaps it´s my Bottecchia you guys have seen. You can see detailed photos of it on www.chainedrevolution.com. Equipe is French and Squadra Italian and both means Team. Basically it´s the same frame. They also used to come in matte black/white. Mine is from 1990 when I picked it up, custom built for me with SLX tubing by Carnielli´s Reparto Corse who built all the old Bottecchias.
Your frame looks to be slightly older than mine or Ray Dobbins, perhaps built in the late 80ies

Actually. a Mavic crankset would be very apppropriate. In 1989 Greg Lemond won the Tour-Day-France (that's just for you Bob :D) riding for the ADR-Bottechia team, which just happened to use Mavic components. Now I'm sure a lot of people will point out that the frame that Greg rode for most of the stages was actually a TVT and that he favoured the non-starfish crank and that the team bicycles were painted yellow and purple, but what's etched into our minds is Greg riding the final TT on the red and white, steel frame, with the starfish crank, to take the Tour by 8 seconds over Fignon.

Could be - I just took a quick look at your site and saw the red/white Squadra. The ones I remember were 3 bikes - red/white, blue/white and black/white. I'll see if I can find the pictures. I saved them but I don't think I noted the web site anywhere darn it. I'm going to be in trouble if I ever decide to do my doctoral dissertation on Bottecchias since I didn't bother record the sources of all the stuff sitting on my harddrive. Oh well, I didn't need a phd anyway :D

BTW - I love the way you have it set up now - exactly what I want to do with one myself when the right frame comes along in my size.

Thank you, I´m pretty happy with the set-up of the bike today with the Ultra-Torque cranks, they are great. And the bike might look like a wallhanger but I´m using her every summer mainly for long-distance riding. And you´re right, there were also darkblue/white ones as well, and I´ve seen all red ones and fully chromed ones. A friend of mine has had a shop for over 20 years and he used to bring in Bottecchias and he has one built with EL-OS tubing in corsa red with white forks.

These are the bikes I saw:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...bottechia2.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...quadra-blu.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...uadra-nera.jpg

Yeah, the blue and black ones are from his shop. The black/white one is his own personal ride. Mine is the red one in an earlier build-up. If you want to see how she looks today enter www.chainedrevolution.com, enter MFC gallery and look at the first pic of the series. I tried to upload a photo here but they are too big it seems.

This one? Very nice. That's as close to the perfect bicycle as I can imagine. I'm jealous :D (Hmmm...looks like my size too.) As much as I love my '72 it isn't the most practical thing to take on a club ride with guys riding carbon fiber/STI equipped bikes.

Do you know what years the blue and black bikes are?

http://chainedrevolution.com/CS/phot.../original.aspx

Yeah it´s a very nice bike, perfect for long days in the saddle. And I have been lucky, I have´nt crashed it or anything which partly explains why it still has this nice finish.
The blue one is from around the same period as mine i e 1989-90 and the black one is a little earlier, 1986-87 if I remember correctly. Btw, could you explain to me how you managed to bring the picture over to the Forums?

Just put the URL for the picture inside the HTML image tags like this (take out the space between the I and M - I stuck that in there so the browser would show the string not the picture. That little square yellow icon on the tool bar with mountains on it will pop up a box for you to enter the URL and put the HTML tags for you):

[I MG]http://chainedrevolution.com/CS/photos/michele_francesconi/images/153/original.aspx[/I MG]

Kommisar, thanks for your help. Greatly appreciated. I´ll try to post other Bottecchia pics I have.

man, when things come together, they really come together. I just picked up a Mavic Starfish crank from a bike a friend and I are parting out. I don't have any other Mavic parts, and I'm disinclined to seek em out, as I have most of what I need to build the thing. I've been lusting after one of these cranks for a while now, and I'm pretty glad they'll play nicely with the frame. I've the opportunity to pick up a pair of Delta brakes, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for them.

Michele Francesconi's gggorgeous Bottechia seems to be pretty much the same frame as mine. The only differences are minor cosmetic issues - his lacks the 80th anniversary sticker, and the placement of the columbus stickers are different. I can't make out the tubing sticker on his bike, but I'm guessing SLX due to the similarities.

Picture? Pictures of it all. Especially the starfish crank since I never heard of one of those. :D

Moki, mine is built with SLX tubing and a Cinelli Spoiler bb. You can see detailed pics on the www.chainedrevolution.com site, in the MFC gallery, of the Bottecchia and other bikes. The Mavic crank is
really nice, a beautiful piece of componentry. Btw the Malvor-Bottecchia Pro team used Squadra/Equipe frames
with Mavic SSC gruppos in the late 80ies.

Hi

I saw you were posting a Bottecchia, is it still on your hand?

THanks