i am having trouble identifying this one... please only ansfer if you´re sure

Looks like it could be an early model. Do you have any better pohotos than what you've posted? Do you have a weight?

Look like CL ad pics.

Boy, that stem looks high. Scary high actually. As to its place in the Colnago world, the images are without much detail. Even early Mexicos had Colnago Mexico on the chainstays. Even if it is a Super it may be built with SL tubing. It is missing its tubing sticker or transfer, both were fragile. My guess is that there is only a Club on the fork crown, couple that with the top tube guides and it points to 1975+/-, it is hard to tell if it is original paint. Pantographing on the brake levers is fun.

The top tube guides appear to be bolt-ons to me. Anyone know when brazed on guides started?

Long dropouts, too. No braze-ons on the top tube should put it pre 1976 or thereabouts. Also it doesn't look like the COLNAGO logo is cast into the fork crown.

There appears to be something on the fork crown, but the photos don't make it easy to tell! There are low flange hubs so they seem newer than the bike.

I don't recognize the head badge; the earliest I know of has just a club with Colnago written underneath it.

(Looking at some of the repo decal sets, the laurel wreath with the club in the center appears to be a seat post decal; so maybe this was a very early or seldom used head badge???)

Looks to me as the seat tube transfer was used on the head tube. That is why I am not really sure if it is original paint. Colnagos had lots of minor variations in finish and transfer application.

Looks exactly like my Super right down to the silver paint. Only difference is the decals on mine have a yellow outline.

And don't Mexico's have chrome chainstays and forks?

Maybe some of the later ones did. Mine's a '77-'78, and there's no chrome except the fork crown.

Definitely some Mexico's had chrome, but I'm not sure what years.

So what differentiates the early Mexico and Super's?

Tubing on Mexicos, from what I remember, was a mix of Columbus KX and KL, where the Supers were SL. The Mexicos were lighter weight than the Supers. Not sure if that trait was carried on in the later models.

From the limited info I've been able to find, the later Mexico's kept the lighter tubing. In the early 1980's, they added the Nuovo Mexico with the crimped top and down tube (Profil) after complaints of frame flexing on fast descents with the regular Mexico.

Style-wise, Mexico's and Super's all looked the same for their respective years from photos I've seen. Of course as with all things Colnago, I'm sure someone knows of instances where they were different!

I think the only way the OP will be able to determine if it's a Mexico or a Super will be to weigh the stripped frame.

Here is a first year (1974) Mexico that is original.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hlight=colnago

There's a nice looking pantographed Mexico up on ebay right now. Looks like an earlier model.

Edit: Could be the one that was listed in the link. It's listed as a '74. Stay decals have been replaced, so, again, it would be hard to prove unless you could get a stripped weight.

Just when I thought I knew the different Columbus tubing grades, along come KX/KL, both of which I've never heard of!

I should go back and edit my earlier post. It's been a while since I did any research on this. Most of it available on the CR list archives.

Tubing was listed in the catalog as "Record" tubing (you can see that on the Bulgier site), but from what I've read on the archives it was KL. There is no KX. I don't know where I remembered that...old age is creeping up on me I guess.

Aside from weighing the bare frame and comparing it to a Super of identical frame size, or having provenance, it would be hard to distinguish a Mexico from a Super.

OK, I feel better now...

With the exception of the fork crown my 1980-ish Mexico has no chrome.

Now that's a sharp bicycle.

Yup, very sharp. Where you been hiding this beauty?

But isn't that chainstay chrome?

It's made the rounds over the years!!! The right stay has a decal....

Here's my Mexico:

Campy 1010a dropouts and a lack of top tube brake cable guides point to '73/'74. Any way of getting more pics?

Looks as though someone's updated/replaced the head tube decal with a seat tube decal. As others have noted, the only way to tell if it's a Mexico or not would be by comparing the weight of a Super (SL) in the same size.

DD

Dragging this back to the top.

I finally got the chance to start back into a bike build project, so I dragged out the box of parts. Years ago, when I had my Mexico stripped bare, I weighed it. Also in my stash of unstarted projects I have an '80's vintage Raleigh Team Racing USA 753 frame and fork. I was curious how the weights would stack up. The Mexico is a 58 cm, and did have the headset cups and the fork still had the bearing race on it. The 753 frame is a 60 cm and was completely stripped. But it should give folks an idea of how light the frames are.

miamijim, I had asked you some time back if you ever had a mass for your Mexico, and ran across a post a while back where you had posted it up. I couldn't find the sheet as I had it squirreled away someplace. Sorry about that.

Weights came out as follows:

Mexico Frame: 1874 g
Mexico Fork: 726 g

753 Frame: 1866 g
753 Fork: 694 g

Now if I had a Super to compare it to, these numbers would mean something.

Kurt