Barchettaman

Hello all,

After successfully thinning the herd I have inadvertently got back into C&V. For €180 I have an Olmo in my size, Columbus SLX tubing and a nice chrome Columbus Laminati fork, full 8-speed Campy STI groupset (are they called Ergos?), Campy headset and BB, and a wrecked tubular wheelset.

The frame has cleaned up very nicely indeed. Miami Vice style pink, green and yellow with chrome on the rear NDS chainstay. Photos to follow, but Mrs Barchetta has hidden the digital camera somewhere. The only clue to a date is the 3T stem, which is autographed Giuseppe Olmo and gives the 1939-1989 Anniversary. I assume the groupset is a later edition.

So, did I do well? Keep at all costs, or clean up and sell on...? I´ll post up photos when I find the camera (just going to look for it now). I´m thinking of getting a nice 8-speed Vento wheelset, white tyres and bar tape, and rocking the whole 80s thing.

I have no experience with Campy stuff so it´s all a bit of a journey into the unknown.

Any Olmo experts out there, advice appreciated. I believe the Columbus SLX is top of the line - correct? Certainly feels bloody light stripped down for cleaning.

stevenc

Need to see pictures, but sounds like a good to very good deal, depending on the Campagnolo group and the overall shape. €180 for an Olmo SLX frame alone is not too much.

Barchettaman

Barchettaman

Closer examination reveals Columbus SL, with a felt tip X next to it!

I have no idea what the groupset is, other than 8 speed, STIs, and very dusty. If anyone can tell me a bit about Campy model lineups that would be good as I have no idea.

dgodave

Whats up the the X on the Columbus decal? Looks like it was written in with a sharpie.
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Nice frame BTW.
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Barchettaman

I know - madness! Surprised I missed it actually. Maybe it was a bit more X-like before the washdown/polish.

Italuminium

Nice score. Worth it. Velobase knows what these components are, if spend a while comparing pictures.

Barchettaman

Thanks Italinium - I will go and compare the groupset on Velobase.

Bianchigirll 

Too Bad!! I was suspicious of that straight away. anyway for 180eu I don't think you did too bad even for a SL frame. post some pics of the componenets and we will try and figure out just what they are. as you know some of the early '90s Campi stuff can be hard to ID.

I am not sure how sought after Olmos are but if I stumbled across this for $250usd I would have a hard time passing it up. it is a very pretty and sexxy lookign frame.

OH yes Campi brake/shifters are Ergo. shimanos are STI which actually stands for shimano total intergration and can actually be applied to almost any shimano shifter/brake unit that are mounted as one peice like the mountain bike shifters.

the generic term these days is 'Brifter' and is used for either

cpsqlrwn

Sounds like a case of bike fraud to me. Misrepresentation of merchandise.

dgodave

Its the "Olmo agony".
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Barchettaman

The bloke I bought it from wouldn´t have had a clue - can´t blame him.

I am quite looking forward to building it back up and seeing what the whole Campy thing is like. The shifter buttons seem to allow more than one downshift at a time, which is pretty cool.

I will post up a photo of the groupset.

Thanks all for the advice. I love this place, the people are so helpful.

RFC

Great find. I wouldn't worry about the "X" for a minute.

Alan Edwards

SL is great stuff and the paint job alone is way cool, add in the full chrome fork and sounds like a good deal. You said it was a full bike, wheels and all so that is a total steal......what is the exchange rate. If you payed less then $400USD you got a steal deal.

scozim 

I would tend to agree it still seems like a great deal! Besides, I've always wanted an Olmo so I'm jealous.

Barchettaman

I am going for the ´messiest cellar´award at the moment.

You can just see the black Olmo pantographed stem

The groupset is as it came of the bike and will be cleaned up.

himespau 

can't wait to see how you build it all back up.

Bianchigirll 

Me Too!

the brakes of course look like Chorus, likely just before they were passed to Athena in leui of dual pivots, and I am not certain about the RD it may be Record 8spd or Chorus and numbers on it?

one thing really nice about the Campi, as you have discoverd, is the ability to down shift several grears at once, also the front derailleur is not as indexed as the shimano stuff.

Picchio Special

SLX is in no meaningful sense "superior" to SL. Each could be better for a given individual rider, and many people wouldn't notice the difference at all.

Barchettaman

The front brake is dual pivot I think, the rear single pivot.

As far as the final build is concerned, nothing too ambitious - white Vittoria Zaffiro training tyres, white cork bar tape, a deep section wheelset (Shamal, Vento or similar) and a nice clean drivetrain, that should be enough. No point overthinking it. Hopefully the FD/RD and brakes will come up nicely after an attack with Mother´s Alu Polish.

due ruote 

I think it's wicked cool. Then again, I like this bike a lot. Yours is way cooler, of course. Nice grab.

Carabo

Both are single pivot monoplanar brakes

KonAaron Snake 

Looks like early ergo levers...they didn't differentiate models on the first gens. The gruppo, like BG says, is probably athena or chorus...hard to tell the difference. Rear derailleur looks chrous to me. Olmo isn't a super well regarded builder by most - sort of more in the Bottechia/Atala area...a little nicer. Maybe more like Ciocc. Regardless, it's a pretty frame and you definitely got an excellent deal where you'd profit if you sold it for market value.

Picchio Special

Of course, as you will recall, they did make some very, very nice late 70's-early-80's bike that were nicely finished and had super-cool milled "Mexico-style" cranks and full pantographing. Those are the Olmos to have (aside from really early examples).

KonAaron Snake 

I'm more familiar with their mid-late 80s stuff...not too many people I knew had earlier Italian frames.