Cromovelato frames
 

For those who have not yet seen a cromovelato frame, these photos should give you a good idea of what it looks like. I picked up the frame form a small shop in the mountains of Northern Italy. The retired shop owner said that he had contracted the frame from one of the builders that was offering such services back in the day. He thought that it was Wilier but he wasn't entirely sure. Whoever the builder, it is well-built and nicely finished. It has a cool aero fork, drilled out rear dropouts, scalloped seatstays, neat BB shell cutouts...

I am building the bike up with an eclectic selection of parts, with some weight weenie parts, such as Campagnolo Super Record titanium BB, modified Passoni titanium seatpost, Iscaselle titanium railed Giro D'Italia saddle, Mavic SSC alloy Q/R skewers (I also have a set of superlight wheels with Fiamme Ergal rims and Campagnolo alloy freewheel, but they are overkill, even if they allow the bike to drop below 18 lbs) ... as well as some rarely seen parts, such as the lightweight Gipiemme headset that uses roller bearings on the bottom and ball bearings on the top (the best of both worlds?), the wheels that combine the commonly found pair of Mavic and Campagnolo, however in this case they are switched with Mavic supplying the hubs and Campagnolo the rims. There are also some parts that I had custom pantographed for the bike like the cranks, chainring, stem and Suntour Superbe brake levers (perhaps the only set of pantographed Suntour levers that you have ever seen? They have a little less reach than the Campagnolo ones)- The Modolo Pro brake calipers (better than Campagnolo in my eyes) are there to give some bling factor, as are the Cambio Rino pedals. I still have to attach the pantographed shift levers, but for the rest there it is. It may not be everybody's idea of good taste but I can assure you that it will not pass unobserved. You can lay into the bike now

nice looking bike--- I like it---18lbs for a steel frame--wow--jim

wow! So you commissioned pantographing? Do you have a friend? In anycase can you give me any more info? I have/had a set of milled brake calipers with one broken arm and I have a spare caliper I would like to have milled to match, but have no idea where to begin to find someone to do it... looks like you know the answer and also an idea of cost?

Also, that is the first time I have seen one of those saddles. I really like it... is is comfy? It actually looks pretty comfortable to me. Also, those are probably my favorite vintage hubs. I have a set I need to lace up and recently acquired a set of campy chorus hubs laced to campy polished finish clinchers, I was thinking I should lace the hubs to my set of nice red/gold label MA40s but now am thinking I should mimic what you have and re-lace the campy rims to the mavic hubs...

Teo's Wilier was pretty sweet, too.

That saddle was definitely in search of a bike ... looks like it found it's perch.

Yeah, it's over the top. But, still very nice!

Mama mia!

I indeed have a friend in Italy who can and does pantograph work for me. He is however retired and is not overly interested in doing it for just anybody. The cost is all rather relative if you are looking to build a "special" bike, either you go for it or you don't. My friend did one set of brake calipers for me, but said that he didn't want to do any more because of liability. The fact that you already have a broken one shows this danger...

The Iscaselle Giro d'Italia saddles have always been really nice. They don't however correspond to everybody's idea of ideal proportions. I personally quite like the look and they don't give me any discomfort, so they are OK by me (I have others fitted to my triplet!)

Bling,Bling baby ! I love it !

It was bent near the barrel adjuster, probably from a crash, I was trying to straighten it in a vice and couldn't leave well enough alone. I cracked it, it had nothing to do with the milling, it was nowhere near the milling.

CdM,

I have a set of gold anodized Modolo Pro levers that would go nicely with that.

Are you using some new electronic/telepathic shifting on it?

CdM,
you know it would be easy to hate you for some of the frames/bikes you bring out of Italy (insert smiley face here).
I love the Chromovelato, it's one of my favourite finishes. That bike is absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
Only thing I might do is replace the campy rims with a pair of Mavic Oro rims.

stunning, just stunning.

Marty

These levers with the green hoods would be a nice touch

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_yN4-Z85dhz0/Sa...0/P3043090.JPG

Those are actually Speedy levers. I have the correct matching Modolo professional levers in gold myself, but preferred to stay with the pantographed levers. The Pro levers have an alloy body and have "Modolo Intern Pat" engraved in them, whereas the Speedy have synthetic body and blank blades.

I was looking at the Mavic Or rims but the color is so much different that I quickly sidelined the idea. I also toyed with the idea of fitting some blue anodized Ambrosio rims, some dark anodized Mavic SSC, some silver Mavic SSC rims... But nothing really suited the bike... Maybe I'll polish up some NOS Fiamme Ergals in 36 hole to build up on OMAS hubs.

"Shine is your friend!!!"

Send me a photo and I'll see what I can do for you.

That is the part of the build that is not quite finished. I had some shift levers pantographed, but can't seem to find any braze-on lever stops. I know that I have them somewhere, but can't remember where and it is too cold to go searching in the garage right now.

Q? Do the Pro's act like the Speedy's where the brake caliper is closed with the lever flipped up?(backwards from most). I notice yours is flipped down.

And, love the build

Ah, thanks for the clarification. A day I learn something is a good day!

There are two of them being offered up for sale right now on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-NOS-ISCA...mZ280319425474

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-NOS-ISCA...mZ280319424394