I already covered this - it's a circa 1983-5 Nuovo Mexico. It's not a Master because those had the fully shaped tubing - the OP's bike has tubing with channeling/crimping to the top and down tubes.

hi colnago experts,

i am now learning much more from you guys and sorry for the late reply, been talking to everyone at the bike shop and still some disagree on certain points, but i now know then they did blaze on in those days as well. I'm really new and might be wrong and do correct me if i'm wrong. thanks.

as unworthy and picchio special pointed out, the fork lugs are not the same as the 1983 - 5 nuovo mexico.

1) also the top of the bottom bracket shell has the words colnago instead of a clover, does that makes a big difference.

2) the bottom of the BB has the clover but also the words colnago.

so can this still be a Nuovo Mexico? the dropouts say something like 161 or 191 V.

still waiting to solve this mystery. also the way i normal measure a bike roughly is using my fingers on the head tube but somehow this bike my assumption is wrong, not even my full 4 fingers covered the head tube which would normal mean a 54cm , someone how when we took our tape measure out it was a 56cm which is my correct sizing since i know 54 cm normally makes me feel a bit tight.

this bike really rides like a dream, though the shopkeeper and the owner of the colnago tells me the bianchi rides better and i missed my chance to ride it till they get it fixed again. my friend keeps telling me how nice the bianchi is compared to the colnago. this bianchi is english bb and has no bianchi markings on it excpet on the fork dropouts or i don't know what the name it is.

losing sleep over this colnago. such a beauty.

do you guys also think if the fork has been switched? could this be a possibility?



yes the back spacing is 130, currently carrying a 7 speed i think. don't think i measured wrongly here.

It can really only be a Nuovo Mexico, as only that model and the Profil had the channeled tubing, and yours lacks the aero fork that the Profil had. That makes it 1983-86. The other frame details have to do with where it falls in that time frame. I'd guess it's post '83 and maybe falls in the latter part, but there's no good chronology. The Esamexico was introduced in '87 and had more shaped tubing, which yours does not appear to have - that model took its name from the Italian for "hexagon" - "esagono," which described the tubing shape. So from what I can see, it can only be a Nuovo Mexico and nothing else. The other frame details point to that '83-86 period as well.

Thanks Picchio Special

i'm gonna dig out all the history of this bike that i can find, it has caused so much speculation over here.

It would be interesting to do a timeline of some of the other frame details you have mentioned - most or all of which were shared by various Colnago models but at different times. I will try to figure out at least some of them if I have a chance.
Bianch'is ride well, but so do Colnago's - this largely comes down to a matter of personal preference.

hi PS

i've been hunting high and low for info but lacking of it. I guess this will be an interesting search, i'm persuading my friend to sell his bike to me, hopefully in 2 days i can grab this bike for it's frame cuz the lugs and engravings all around are beautiful and it rides beautifully, the components are not high end components, it's the feel that i like, i guess it's the frame sizing , geometry that counts the most.

i've been measuring different frames and find that this colnago measures very differently. thanks for your help. i'm now trying to narrowing my search.

did u notice that the BB shell, the top of it has the words COLNAGO instead of the Clover/clubs. mexicos normally have the clubs instead of the of the word colnago imprinted in the BB shell.

I've also taken a bitimen/bitutimen titanio on a ride but the feel was really bad. unfortunately i miss the bianchi ride.

i tried a saronni with sante parts, very good condition but somehow the colnago feel has beaten the saronni in terms of taking a corner. huge massive difference.

though i feel the saronni might be nice on a long long ride. looks really clasic as well compared to the colnago which i believe has been painted before.

As I stated previously, frame part details like that one have more to do with the specific era of the bike than with the model, as different Colnagos throughout the model range would have shared the same BB shell. It's the tubing that's the indicator in this case, and no other Colnago had the channeled tubing aside from the Nuovo Mexico and Profil, AFAIK, and that's not the Profil fork. It would be interesting to find other Colnagos with that shell, though, as it might help pinpoint the year.

PS. Do you have a timeliine of features for Colnago's. Mine is in the 83 range based on the RD Pat date not any other feature. My BB only has the clover and no other indicator other than bottom cable routing. My seat stay caps are flat and the rear brake bridge does not have a clover. Am I hyjacking? The point is the BB features.

I don't. My sense is that the cast BB with the clover makes its appearance in about 1984. But I don't know if that was only on certain models at first - i.e. if it trickled down from the Master. But I'll bet it didn't take long to find its way onto the Supers and Superissimos. Yours definitely looks like it belongs to the earlier part of the timeframe. It's so hard to workk this out, because so many bikes you'll find pics of online are potentially misdated.

Here's a very interesting bike:

https://www.renaissancebicycles.com/g...m=10&gallery=3

Note that it has "Colnago" on top of the BB shell like yours does. It's interesting because it does not have "Colnago" stamped in the chainstays, like yours, which makes me think it's a bit later - say, post-84ish. But it has the channel in the top tube only, which doesn't fit any models I'm familiar with (and differs from yours in that respect). Text identifies it as a Superissimo, but it could easily be misidentified, especially as it's repainted.
Is it possibly a Superissimo, and some Superissimos had, for probably a brief period, a single channel in the top tube? Sure.
Is is possibly a Nuovo Mexico that only got a single channel for a particular run of frames? Sure.
Is it possibly 1983-4 and some bikes didn't get the "Colnago" in the chainstays? Sure.
My hunch is that it's 1985-6, and that the "Colnago" on the shell made its appearance later than the clover, which would also explain the missing "Colnago" in the chainstays. As to what model it is, I think it could be either a Superissimo, as stated, that made a fairly brief appearence, or a Nuovo Mexico that simply lacks the downtube channeling. I lean toward Superissimo, but it's definitely one of those 'tweener Colnagos that makes the brand endlessly fascinating and frustrating.