uncentered

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping someone can help me identify this framest i picked up..

I bought this Colnago Master frame and fork from ebay but i am having trouble identifying it. It is supposed to be an 80's Colnago Master. It's nicely resprayed but i can't find anything else like it on the web. It has 'Columbus Steel Gilco Profilo 4 Profiled Tubing' allegedly, with colnago pantographs in the seat stays, headtube lugs, bottom bracket (top and bottom) and rear brake stay. It has rear campag drop outs. I hope it is genuine but i cannot find any models like this without the chrome headtube lugs. Help very much appreciated..
Many thanks,
Dave

Gary Fountain

Hi uncentered, I can see what you mean - I've never seen a Colnago quite like yours. I do think it is genuine though. The head tube lugs are like the Colnago's of the early 80's. The bottom bracket cluster looks like an early to mid 80's Arabesque bottom bracket. The seat stay caps are cast like the caps you would see in on the Colnago frames of 84/5. It is hard for me to see but it looks like the shaped tubing is what you would expect to see on the Masters of the 80's and not crimped like the Mexico's. I would say that the straight bladed Precisa fork is wrong for your frame and a curved bladed fork would be correct.

My guess is that your frame is an early model Master and may have been built early on in 1984. I think Colnago used the square shaped tubing of the Masters as it is a Master. The head tube lugs and bottom bracket cluster were probably used as your frame could be in a 'development' or 'introduction' phase of the new Master models.

It's a pity that it is not in it's original guise. I wonder if the decal set, on it now, was the same as the decal set it may have been originally built with.

Personally, I love it.

gomango

I've owned several Masters from this time frame.

I agree with Gary's assessment and defer to his knowledge base on several points.

The decal set looks good and may well be a Cyclomondo offering.

The Precisa is incorrect for this frameset, but I would build this frameset with vigor and use it anyway.

The upside of these modifications is it gives you freedom to use modern Campy gruppos, as this is not a totally faithfull repro at this point.

I could easily see this with a nice Campy Athena gruppo.

uncentered

Hi Gary. Many thanks for that! I thought it looked like a mid 80's too - but i do not know enough about the colnagos at this stage. Do you think that perhaps the chrome lugs were painted over? I am hoping that the non-threaded headset fork will be ok with this frame... And as gomango has said below, it will give me the freedom to experiment with more modern components. Thanks both for your help, when i build it up i will post more pics. Cheers!

Gary Fountain

I understand, from experience with a Colnago importer, that the chromed lugs were an option. Maybe your frame didn't have chromed lugs. I think gomango's point about freedom to go modern or classic is very astute. The non threaded fork would be perfect for a modernisation of the bike.

uncentered

Thanks again for that. I found this: https://www.foxgalleria.com/bici/master6/ - apparently one of the first Masters (they say 1985). It looks like my paint scheme was modelled on this, and the frame details look identical bar the (optional?) chrome lugs and stays (although they may have painted over the stays!).

Gary Fountain

So.....great link. 1985 must be when your frame was born too. I really like those head tube lugs and the bottom bracket shell is so well crafted too. It is very interesting to see the decals. I would love an early Master in my collection, best wishes for the upcoming build.

uncentered

Many thanks! I will post it up here when it's finished. Thanks again for your knowledge, very interesting..