WJV

Well Fort Collins Colorado never ceases to amaze me. Last week I went down and picked this up off a no pic no price CL add. And while it was not quite hiding in a barn, it looks like it could have been.

The frame is too small so will likely be moving on, its an TSD '84 designer series with full SLX. I wish it were 1cm larger and Id keep it, oh well... The paint is pretty tired and the chrome is getting some pitting. Im not sure what was going on with the fork as i'ts in real poor shape.

The reason I picked it up is the 50th anniversary group. The bike was clearly kept in a garage and the finish on some of the parts is less than amazing. Some of its bordering sad. I was also looking for a Super Record group and this is pretty much the pinnacle of that groupset. Im still on the fence about whether I want to keep it or not. I'll likely pull the group and see how well it will polish up. With a little elbow grease it could still be OK. I dont mind patina, but not on a group like this, it should shine! And now for the evidence:
WjV

DRietz

Mind me asking how much you paid?

tomio

Sounds like you got it for an amazing price.

mazdaspeed

oh my god! The frame looks like my size, so if you feel like donating it...

Bianchigirll 

too bad about the condition, some of the chrome does look bad. just what size is it? I don't know what you paid but if it is too small you should clean it up and put it on the bay or LA craigslist for a small fortune

PS check this site, searching is not easy (well the searching is manual) but they may have some small parts. https://www.ochsnerusa-store.com/

roadbike68

Good for you! I wonder what those dust caps might fetch by themselves.... I bet you could make the group look very nice again. Surely those who have done it before will be chiming in soon.

tugrul

Dunno, it brings a smile to my face. All those 50th Anniversary gruppos in those blue boxes are so sterile compared to this.

Is it missing bits (stem, brake levers, etc)?

Michael Angelo 

Great catch.

Drillium Dude 

Yum anyhow!

That will clean up nicely - the components, that is. I bet with a brass brush and some WD-40 the rust on the parts will come off and not leave any pitting. How do the brake levers look? I note there's no marking up of the rear derailleur, so it's possible this never hit the deck.

If you part it out, you're going to make money for sure. However, you may want to wait a bit until the economy improves - on Ebay 50th stuff has been going for pretty stupid-low prices lately.

My first Super Record equipped bike was 50th (of course, I didn't put that bike together until 1995). Great looking stuff, but the OP's comment is dead on: it should shine! That's why I finally sold off my 50th stuff and went with stuff I could ride and not feel guilty about doing so.

Stupendous score - lucky dog!

DD

funkflex

That's a stunner! Awesome find!

realestvin7

Lol. Somebody on the local CL has just the 50th anniversary crank arm set listed for $250. Hella-score!

PlatyPius

I would definitely keep the 50th group.

Why can't I ever find these bikes?

Also, I see you live in my old adopted town. Grab some food from Chelo's and then stop in at Pedal House for me, eh?

WJV

Thanks all. The only missing part (I think) are the brake levers. For some reason someone put Shimano 105 levers on it. My guess is for the aero cable routing... If anyone has any leads on some, Id be super interested! I usually try to stick to great deals on bikes and I'm not sure this deal qualifies. I did get out of Colorado for less than $500, but I paid more than I was hoping too.

I think most of the parts will come out pretty clean, especially if I decide to strip the clear anodizing and really give a hard polish. But Im not sold on that yet, I'd like to keep it fairly original if I can. Does anyone know how many of these groups were actually made? Ive read (on the internet) both 10,000 and 15,000. My serial number is 3941 so its not super low numbered or anything. I have a hard time parting out groups and bikes, as I know there are lots of people trying to put a groups back together (myself included) and it seems somehow wrong to break up the family. Someday my sense will come to me and Ill be selling my stash like crazy!

One of my bike collecting goals (if I can have goals in a hobby like this) is to build a vintage period correct bike with period correct Campagnolo Record from almost every generation. I have N.R and C-record and was looking for Super Record, and now I'm not sure if I need 2 Super Record bikes, one with 50th anniv. and one garden variety S.R. After this I'll start trolling the waters for the older stuff. My grail bike is a functional Cambio-Corsa or Roubaix equipped bike.
Thanks again for any info or suggestions.
Cheers,

WjV

91MF

holy crap.

JohnnyBee

Hmmmm..... give me 6 hours on your bike and I'll show you
what a beautiful bike you have. Do not ! I repeat, do not remove
the clear from any parts. Collectors love patina.

Great find !


Johnnybee.

BlueDevil63 

Yeah in this case I would NOT strip and polish. Looks like you can get most of those components looking fine with a good cleaning and some OA on the steel parts. If I understand you right and you got this for less than $500 you got a great deal. The frame itself is a bit rough but looks pretty solid after you remove the rust. Chrome may not be salvagable but OA can do wonders.

WJV

Patina seems like it should be from use not neglect. Does anyone know what material the gold medallions are? They look like they are oxidizing like iron and clearly plated by something.

Cheers,

WjV

ultraman6970

Why i never find stuff like that? Darn luck!

DRietz

I would be honored to clean and polish (simichrome is magical) this entire groupset if you were local.

Patina aside, I love the snow leopard bar tape.

Dawes-man

You most probably know this but on no account should you try to polish the gold parts as the gold plating will come off very easily. It looks like that might have already happened to the rear brake.

steppinthefunk 

Don't part it out just yet. 1cm really isn't that much especially if it's small by 1cm. Try getting a longer stem and ride it like the road guys do - "competition fit" as they call it.

Mark Kelly 

Two things which might help. The shiny aluminium parts are polished then anodised. Cleaning up the "patina" thus becomes difficult - it's generally only where a patch of the anodising has worn through or become scratched - for instance there are some obvious examples of this on the brakes. Once you get the soft oxide off the scratches and patches, I'd go no further - I think a full surface removal, repolish and re-anodise job would destroy the integrity of what you have. I don't know enough about the 50th Anniversary group to know whether the seatpost, pedals and hubs were anodised - looking at the phots you posted, the seatpost and pedals look like straight alloy, the hubs look like satin finish anodised. Anyone know for sure?

AFAIK the gold bits are gold plate over another plating (copper or nickel is likely but I don't know for sure) over steel. Oxalate will chelate iron but won't dissolve gold, so careful treatment with oxalate will do less damage than an abrasive polish.

Drillium Dude 

Campy did not anodize their pedal barrels, seatposts or hubs. Personally, I restored an entire 50th set about 5 years ago and had to do nothing to those parts but polish them; the remaining parts had to be stripped and then polished.

Because the anodizing used for the 50th set sees to be much shinier than the normal Super Record stuff, I don't think it will affect things too much where integrity would really be compromised. It was shiny as hell new, and a good polish after anodizing removal will result in an almost identical shine.

My .02 tossed in...

DD

Chombi

Looks like the poor bike's been put away wet too many times. What a shame what it did to that 50th Anniversary group and some parts of that frame, but you might be lucky that with just a bit of patience and elbow grease you might get the bike back close to it's former glory.
Good luck iwth it and congrats on the great find!

Chombi

rootboy 

Please don't remove the anodizing. Please.....