Sorry no pics yet!

Craigslist provided a nice Miele- I'd love to find out what actual model this thing is... details:

lugged road frame, bright red, right chainstay chromed
serial number on headtube 4E07466, no number on BB
Suntour Pro dropouts
SR seatpost and Sugino Aero Mighty cranks date to late '83 and early '84
decals- downtube "Columbus Acciaio Speciale" (no other type info)
forks "Columbus Forcella Originale"
large "Miele" with Italian flag on down tube, "Miele" and "cicli" on seat tube

headset is a Tange Ritzy- probably not original?
gruppo & brakes are obviously-not-original Shimano 600

Any ideas anyone? Is T-Mar still around?

thanks for any help!

Photos?

T-Mar will be back in the morning .

East Hill

Pending photos, my best guess would be an Elite.

I tried desperately to get that one before it was snatched up. I've had no luck lately being quick enough on the draw with craigslist sellers. It was a beautiful bike, i'm glad it went to a forum member at least.

OK, here's the pics- Purevl, I'm a definite craigslist-listing loser, so I figure this one was meant for me . Pre clean-up...

Dang, links not working- I'll fix ASAP

Here's a start:

OK, sorry- newborn in the house so things are a bit hectic...

Beautiful bike. Is this the same miele that makes vacuums, refrigerators, etc.?

Nope, that's a German (?) company- I have one of their dishwashers and a vacuum cleaner- they're both great. The bike company was/is a Canadian company with Italian heritage...

The best candidate would appear to be a 1984 Miele Elite, though I have no literature for that year. While I cannot provide a definitve statement, the serial number is a standard format and suggests a 1984 model (and likely either from weeks 9-10 or May), while the cables routed over the bottom bracket also indicate pre-1986. Some of the components also suggest 1984, but their level is not typical for a Columbus SL frame and their are probably non-original. Furthermore, the dropouts suggest it was likely originally SunTour equipped and slightly later, mid-1980s versions of the Elite were indeed SunTour equipped.

The placement of the front derailleur clamp on top of the columbus decal seems to indicate this as well.

Thanks, that really helps- I knew the ders/brakes weren't original since they were too new...

Where was the Elite in the Miele lineup? When you mention the component level isn't typical for an SL frame, you mean too low? I suspect the owner at the time was all excited about that new-fangled indexing...

T-Mar - if there was a unit called Bicycle CSI, I'm sure you'll be a top candidate.

Actually, 600 Ultregra would not be too low for an SL frame but these components are no older than 1988 and are obvious replacements, probably for the indexing update, as you suggest. My comment was aimed more at the crankset and post which had ages appropriate to the frame.

As I stated previously, I do not have any 1984 literature and cannot provide a definitive answer. However, Miele typically offered their high end frames with both a Japanese and Italian component group, to cater to both market segments. Given the era, the Italian equipped frame would probably have been the Camapgnolo Super Record group, which would have been above the Elite. There is also the possibility that they may have offered an SLX frames, as 1984 was the first year for that tubeset. As a result, the 1984 Elite was probably either 2nd or 4th in the lineup.

Ok- I see. I didn't mention it before but thought it odd that the left and right cranks are dated several months apart...

Aahh. Interesting.

Thanks... I agree with Unagidon about your superlative investigative abilities!

That is not so odd, when you think about the production process. There are lots of chances along the way that could cause this sort of variation. When a company manufacturers cranksets, they do so in as a large production run as possible, to minimize the time cost involved with multiple tooling setups and teardowns. Consequently, both arms are not necessarily produced concurrently. The left arms could sit waiting in large bins while the right is manufactured and/or goes off to the assembly department to have the chainrings attached. Both could sit for a while longer awaiting manufacture of the bottom brackets. Eventually, they will be pulled out the bins, mated and put in a crankset box, but that would only be if intended for retail sale or by a reletively small volume manufacturer.

If the crankset is intended for a large volume bicycle manufacturer, they would typically be shipped in separate, large cartons for the left arm, right arm and bottom bracket. Individual cartons for mated cranksets are an extra cost, as is the time to pack the parts in a separate box. At the bicycle manufacturer's end, the time cost is doubled by having to unpack the mated crankset and separate the parts, as the person who assembles the bottom bracket may not install the crankarms and there may be even different people for the left and right crankarms. It's most efficient, and therefore cost effective, to keep the parts separate from manufacturing, straight through to the assembly operation.

The bottom line is that both crankarms are not necessarily produced at the same time and immediately paired. There are lots of opportunities for one of the parts to experience delays before it gets paired with its mate and assembled onto a frame.