Just won a this lovely looking frame off eBay tonight for a sweet price too!





I'm also pretty close to buying this set of Campag Delta calipers to go with it - also off eBay.




A mixed '05 Centaur/Chorus groupset, FSA bars, headset and stem, and Vento wheels currently sitting on my damaged aluminium beater will also go on this new bike with just a few new parts (seat post, bottom bracket, chain, front mech) to be added. I also have a Regal saddle to go on.

I will eventually find a more retro looking stem and bars - any suggestions in this area?

Build pics to follow in the next week or so! My first foray into steel doesn't look too bad...

Hmmm..... Battaglin's are falling from the sky, it seems. Three weeks ago I never heard of them, and since then I bought one for my daughter and now you show up with one.

That is a very pretty frame - do you know what model it is? The one I snagged was a Giro, which is second from the top.

BBM,

Both looks like nice frames, and I'll offer my worthless assessment from the little I can see.

The frame looks to be as nice, if not a step up from yours. Chrome fork and chainstay on both.ekimeno's seems to have nicer lugwork, though you'd have to see them up close to tell. His seems to have longer points on the lugs, a bit finer...but one picture, who knows.

It also has a Columbus tubing sticker on it. Aelle, perhaps? Also the fork crown is a different, yours looks a lot like a Cinelli Unicrown. It looos like both bikes feature the cyclist panto'ed on the frame/fork.

I very much await a ride report from both bikes. It looks like it may be a nice 'budget' Italian frame.

I think both of you will be very pleased with your builds

Please don't sell your daughter (there are laws, you know), sell the bike! I don't need an adolescent female, I need a 48-49 cm bike!

PS- Did you get the Jimmy Reed Vee-Jay Years collection yet?

3-19, but 3-07 is one of my favorites.

We'd be dukin' it out for that bike--but I think BBM's daughter would beat us with one hand tied behind her back .

East Hill

No doubt she'd kick my ax all over, you look pretty tough, though!

I'm sure that it's going to be a nice bike, but whether it is going to be a "budget" bike depends on your perspective. When I was planning the build with a cast-off Sora group, it was going to be very inexpensive. When I changed my mind over to 10sp Campy, it got a bit more expensive.

I'm trying real hard not to add up the receipts on this one, but a new Specialized Dolce or something similar was going to cost me $800 or so anyway, so at least for around the same money she gets a custom Italian "one-off" - or close to it. I've done A LOT of riding and organized rides in the last 3 years, and have never seen a Battaglin yet. I'm sure they're around, just not real common and hard to spot in a sea of Treks.....

Bigbossman, I've seen your bike too - also, a very sweet looking frame.

I saw a pic of Stephen Roche somewhere riding the Giro (1987?) on a Battaglin the same colour as my one. Not sure if it was the same frame, but looked mighty similar. Where does one obtain info on these old frames?

The one bigbossman has passed through my hands first. I looked it up too and didn't find much info at all.

A ebay completed auction search turned up #150190856530 which is a NOS Giro frame in Germany that sold for $400 USD. Seller called it a 1989 model.

As BlankCrows says, there is not a lot of info floating around on these. The best I've seen is the catalogs that are here: https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/

Not much, but something.

When BlankCrows found the bike, he called me with it in hand so I could Google it before purchase. I found next to nothing, and almost passed on the deal because of it. Then, I came to my senses and gave him the green light.

FWIW, I LOVE your frame, and wish I could find one like it for me! Question: Does it take a braze-on FD, and is there a model designation anywhere? Also, is the BB shell Cinelli?

And now there's just a little bit more knowledge .

East Hill

Yeah, I was really unsure about this frame, but when I saw that Roche used one, I was sold. Big SR fan. It hasn't arrived yet, but when it does I'll be sure to check the BB and I'll be taking more pics of the build.

Looks likely that I'll not be getting my mitts on the Delta's...

My LBS guy is quite adamant that he wants to build it for me - apparently he has loads of 'old campag stuff' lying around in his garage from his racing days as a continental pro in Belgium in the late 80's/early 90's and said he'd give this bike the treatment. I couldn't argue with that!

Dang! I don't think there's too many of us here who would turn that down . Can you send him to Kent, Washington, when he's done with yours?


East Hill

He might agree - he currently lives in Kent, United Kingdom!

Kent WA was named after Kent, in the UK. We even have the same White Horse 'Invicta' .

East Hill

Very cool looking frame 'ekimeno'.

If the original seller stated it as an '89 then I'd be inclined to believe it. The Columbus fork looks of that era, especially the "Foderi Laminate' columbus sticker on it. Its very similar to mine in the fork curve and the crown.

If this is your first classic steel ride, then you should love it, especially with the columbus tubes. The 'delta' brakes you are contemplating would be period correct and certainly look cool, and may even work okay, but I cant help from thinking how good that bike would look with the campy aero-brakes that replaced the deltas'.

just my thoughts

Thanks for your comments - boosts the confidence a bit

I'm hoping that my bike guy has some nice stuff available - he did mention some campy brakes (they're side pull have a blue nut???) and 7-speed mech that I've not heard of before lying around, a campy seatpost and Cinelli bars/stem... have to wait until the new year though

I'll be downloading groupset catalogs from this site in the meantime... and daydreaming......

Cobalto? They suck, send them to me before you hurt yourself.

Yeah, that was it. Quick search brings up this.... oooo, shiny! I'll take my chances...

Yeah, rots-o-ruck finding those



but you can still find these from time to time

He said he already has them!

Right! Get ready for the tour de blurry photos!

Finally got round to completing the build, but its not quite what I was hoping for. As soon as I can find them, I'll be replacing the following:

1. Wheels. Ventos work nicely, but some more traditional non-G3 looking wheels would be better.
2. Handlebars. Couldn't for the life of me find silver handlebars, although I have seen them on ebay - will get round to replacing ...
3. Seatpost. Ditto as with the handlebars - no silver around.
4. Hoods. Black hoods and white bar tape just look odd, so I've ordered a set of white Hudz for campy.

She rides like a dream, by the way - very comfy and surprisingly light and fast up the hills...





...and these were a little gift from my bike shop guy - no cobaltos unfortunately (either he'd sold them a while back or found them then realised how much they could go for on ebay!), but very nice nevertheless - a set of Chorus calipers from 1989 supposedly

I hate to a prick and potentially burst one of your bubbles, but the fact that the bike Roche was pictured on in the Giro said "Bataglin" does not mean it was, in fact, a Bataglin. Back in the days when lugged steel ruled the pro peloton, it was pretty common for the big stars (and Roche qualified) to ride frames built for them by their own personal favorite builders, which were then painted and decalled to match the finish of the team's official sponsor.

For example, any photo showing Greg Lemond riding for the Renault team in the first half of the 80's will look like he's on a Gitane, but I would bet a bunch o' dough that he was actually on a Della Santa in Gitane livery. Similarly, despite the fact that Eddy Merckx spent most of his career on bikes that had "Eddy Merckx" decals, he was actually on Colnagos and, later, after he had ticked off Ernesto with the Hour Record bike imbroglio, De Rosas. The frames sold since c.1980 as "Merckxs" really do come out of his factory, but the ones he raced on (at least after his Peugeot days) were built by either Ernesto or Ugo.

Having said all that, you made a great find there. The "Bataglin" of the frame's name was a pretty darn good Italian pro in the 70's and early 80's. (The Italian fans dumped on him - rather unfairly - for being one of the better road guys of the era but not as good Fausto Coppi or Gino Bartali, or even Felice Gimondi.) I have no idea if he actually builds the frames that bear his name - I doubt it, but I don't know - but I have seen one or two other than BBM's (seen that one, too), and they seem to be good, well-made, well thought-out frames. Congrats.

Thanks for that interesting info, but no bubble burst

Would still be interesting to find out whether it was in fact a Battaglin he rode... sure looks like it from the pics I've seen.

For information on the Battaglin brand try their web site:
https://www.battaglin.it/
Send them a photo and perhaps they can provide details?
I was just in their "factory" store in Marostica yesterday. Giovanni Battaglin was there overseeing the business. I can't speak to the older steel frames, but their current C-12 CF road bikes are produced in Taiwan, with top coat, paint, and graphics applied at their "factory". Having said that, their bikes are beautiful and I'm seriously considering pulling the pin on one for myself.
FWIW, they also are making quite a name for themselves in the MTB market.
Good luck.

So do I - send him to me instead!