well i'm the new proud owner of an older bicycle!
i just started looking for a vintage bike to poke around town in and i found one!
i aquired it from a local fellow who said he bought the bike new, top of the line, in the early '70's.
he rode it around boston from '73 -'74. he was in the army and took the bike
everywhere with him. now it's been sitting for many years, is quite dirty, and i guess he
needed a few bucks. that's the history.
i'm only a few weeks into bicycles so bear with me...

the bike is a greyish color 10 speed.
most of the parts on the bike are stamped "Campagnolo"... the front derailleur,
the two clamp-on gear shifters, the chain guard, the rear drop outs, and some other stuff.
the rear drop outs say, "BREV CAMPAGNOLO."
the brake lines are clamp on, the seat post has a "minimum insertion" line,
the stem says, RECORD, 3 ttt, ITALY.
the handle bars say, 3 ttt and have the olympic circles.
the bike is a grey color, some of the pieces are chromed with black insets, and there is
an interesting red dot on the bottom of the bike.
front brakes are Gran-Compe
rear brakes are Weinmann
brake handles are Weinmann
rear derailleur is a Shimano Titlist (an accident apparently destoried the original one...)

i can not find a serial number, brand name, markings, letters.. numbers....anything on it
that would lead me to identifing what i've got.

pictures:






















can anyone tell me what i have?! or lead me in the right direction.
maybe some clues as to where to look for a number or name?!

i'd like to clean it up and ride it!

thanks for the help!!!

lance..

Interesting bike. Any chance you can find out more of it's history? The original owner should recall more about a bike that traveled the world with him. The real experts will be here in awhile. Those lugs are quite distinctive. Can't recall seeing any like that. Looks like 70's vintage. Be prepared to take more pics. It may be camera angle but that front wheel looks too close to the down tube. Handlebar stem appears to be over extended.

Hmmm...it does appear to have been a nice bike. There's a good chance it's Italian. Except for the crank and the rear derailleur the components seem consistant with a high end 70's Italian bike and cutout lugs too. Beyond that I can't say. The Nervar Star crank seems a bit out of place but not too much I guess. They were common on second tier bikes but I've never seen one on a bike that was otherwise all NR. The wheels might be replacements - the tires appear to be tubular which is consistant with the period but the hubs are low flange, I don't see the oil port band I would expect if they were NR hubs and the quick release that shows in the picture is curved like the post CPSC '78 and later levers. I almost hate to mention it because it recently nearly started a flame war but I'd agree with retyred, that front end looks a little tweeked. I would inspect it closely for any damage on the top tube or down tube just behind the lugs in case it's been in a head on collision. Maybe it's just my imagination.

Speaking of minimum insertion, the 3ttt stem looks like it is past its safe limit.

thanks for the help!

i'll try to contact the PO and see where the bike's been...!

also, i cheked out the front wheel, and right behind the front brake on the down tube, just below the lug, there's a little dimple!







... what effect might this have on things?! !

Dimple? Let me see if I recall the proper sequence; Ding, dimple, dent, and Oh MY GAWD! Your bike has reached well beyond the category of dimple.

Ouch! That sucks...........That's a bit more than a dimple! I suppose it would depend on what the bike is as far as putting down the cash for a repair. I wouldn't ride it as is...........

I think that's what my original Bottecchia looked like after the altercation with the tow truck. That's not good. Pretty serious damage. The most immediate effect is to dramatically change the head tube angle making it much steeper than designed and probably making the steering twitchy if not downright unstable at speed. Longer term, it's harder to say. Steel is tough stuff but has it's limits. I'm no expert but aside from dangerous handling, catostrophic failure leading to serious injury seems possible. Seriously, I wouldn't ride it.

too bad about that, it looks like it was a high-end bike: the window lugs and forkcrown look very nicely finished, and it's an interesting mix of early '70s and later '70s style clues: no shifter bosses, no TT cable eyes, but has top-of-BB cable guides, and no ventilation hole in the shell. I'd like to know: width of BB shell, size of seatpost (should be stamped), pic of seatcluster...please.
Just playing a hunch, no expertise in this: Mexican-built Benotto...anyone?

wow! well that's not the best of news for the bike!

to me, it looks minor, but apparently it's a pretty big deal!
then again i haven't ridden a bike since i was a kid...

i'll try to take some measurements and get some seatcluster pictures this evening...

if it's not safe, it's not safe. i'm ok with that... (the tires are in no condition to ride anyways)
but... what shall i do with it now?!
would it be worth trying to fix or just part it out?
maybe this bend in the down tube has to do with it not having the original rear derailleur and other parts.

any ideas on it's future are welcomed!!!

had this pic on the computer already:

You've got a good pile of money in those parts if cleaned properly. Or find another frame to put them on. All nice stuff. It was a really nice bike, too bad about the collision!

Cheers,
Karl

hmmm, 26.6 seatpost: could be Aelle if it's Columbus, could be metric Reynolds 531 (but that would be very weird for an Italian bike), or could be a straight-gauge seat tube. In any case, the damage was done by something like running into a tree, NOT because of any equipment substitutions. You could take it to a frame builder and see if there's any hope of pulling the headtube back into original angle, but I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope. See what a reliable LBS with frame expertise has to say, but be prepared to part it out

Some frames have inserts at the top of the seat tube, thus reducing the diameter even with nice tubing. A close-up would likely show it. Unless you want to spend several hundred on possible tube replacement (and then more on a rechrome if you want to make it look like it does now), I'd say find a nice donor frame.

Karl

ok, took some close up's of the seat cluster.
not exactly sure what i'm looking for, or not looking for...so let me know if you need more.

i measured the bottom bracket, the cylinder shaped thing where the pedals attach...?!
it's 8.5cm in lentgh, from left to right,
and about 5.3cm in diameter.










and one more of the front... looking at it level...