Lucky day for me today. Wend to pick up a 1970 derosa today and
once there, I was also offered this Colnago. It is a repaint and components have been
exchanged but the frame is in very nice condition.
Special is the cable guiding inside of the frame.

Am I right when I say this is a pre 1970 frame?
Thank you for all the informations

Nice, but too bad it has been modded.

I believe that the scalloped stay ends came in the 70's....

Originaly it was painted in Molteni Orange. The repaint was done in the 80`s by the same owner.
It was bought in the shop of Bim Diderich, a former professional who won a stage in the Tdf

Appears equal to a 1963 Split Window Corvette Stingray where the owner cut out the central divider to have better rear visibility...

Removing the shift bosses and bottom bracket cable guides is not too hard... but that top tube murder...

Funny how he modernized it, but still continued to use old bidons from the 1970s.

he was a rider. He like the frame but upgraded the bike with the time. The bidons were kept. One is actually a from a race he did with this bike "Paris - Brest - Paris" in 76

I thinks it pretty cool, the mods look well done and are part of the history of the frame. I don't see it like cutting the center out of a split window Vette....more like converting it to fuel injection. Probably not a good analogy, but I like the frame, mods and all; for what it is.

Nice score. Not every bike needs to be all original - they are meant to be ridden after all. I like it!

We thought about it...but getting the Holley 4 barrel rebuilt instead

Those things are so simple, rebuild it yourself !

all original is overrated,cool frame

I dont agree completly, to make the mods to get it back to original and painting it orange must make this much more valuable then its current state,
even the holes in the top tube can be repaired easily.

mike

I tried...but I'm not mechanically inclined at all. It's a wonder my bikes don't explode while I'm riding them. My father's 63 (I'll admit it's a hardtop convertible not the split window shown in my avatar) is sitting in the garage and hasn't been driven since my brother was born in '79. Last summer we replaced fuel lines and 'rebuilt' the carb...got it to start but it started shooting flames out from the carb. Haven't touched it since. Someday it will be my Sunday driver...

Okay back on topic.

Yes, restoring the Colnago to original might increase the value, but probably not enough to recoup the cost of a proper refinish (>$1000).

AND - maximizing value isn't the main motivator for us all. It seems it is for most that post here, though.

Does anyone knows where I could get this bike refinished. ( preferable in Europe if possible)
How much would that cost with as good repaint and decals?

Probably in Italy, there have been a few blogs showing work folk have had done there. I did not keep up as geographically of no utility, or go to England.

On further thought the chrome needs to be redone on the fork crown for it to look right.

The trouble with a repaint is the decision on what to do about the modifications. I think replacing the top tube is a no go and the through the tube cable routing really is non standard for the time.

Good find! All original is nice, but when its in good condition; why not?

would it be possible to remove the holes from the tube cable routing without damaging the structure of the frame? If I go for a repaint, I`d like that to be done if possible. I was thinking about the chromed fork crown too. Same for the dropouts.

They were there by the late 60's, I think is pretty well established.

A couple of years ago, I bid on (and lost) a supposedly all original '68/'69. Its stays and dimpled fork crown look different from yours. Pics from that auction are on Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1070387...th/4237755801/

I have seen that bike already on Flickr. I suspect it however to be a pre 69 colnago bike as the ones from 69 had on all the lugs the same club cutouts. This one doesn`t.

Have you sent Greg Softley (gts753 on Flickr) an email? He's a Colnago collector/fanatic. His '69 and '70 Colnagos both have dimpled fork crowns.

No, I haven`t contacted him yet. But this one looks exactly the same as mine.

AAA 024 by gts753, on Flickr

This was the style I was referring to, I thought the change was '70, I stand corrected.

I just looked through cycling archives and the '69 Molteni bikes have the same ends as the bike above. GS' "69" is based on a locknut, I wouldn't call that concrete. Just for discussion, this is all for fun.

At my first bike race a fellow competitor had one of those "electric" blue Colnagos. Too Cool. His had a chrome fork crown. I left it as unobtainium. One day one may cross my path, one day... size 55 or 56 center to top if you want money more than a bike.