Colnago Sport - date and authenticity?
 

Hi there.

I am looking at a Colnago Sport.
The current owner does not know the age.

Pictures here: http://lars.so/colnago.png

Can you spot how old it is?

Also through my research I have found out that there are fake Colnagos out there. And some of the Colnagos aren't even real racing bikes, but department store bikes with a racing look.

Is this particular bike real? And is it a real racing bike?

Kind regards,
Lars

I don't think I would touch it with your ten foot pole. But then, I have proven wrong many times. It does not look good. Never heard of a colnago sport

From the pictures I have seen, it looks fairly authentic, same dropouts, decals (except on the seat tube), fork seems the same, and regardless it has some nice parts. A Colnago expert will surely help you out more I'm sure though haha.

Colnago put the "Colnago Sport" out as an entry-to-mid-level model out for a few years, I believe from '81 to '86 but I can not say for certain. I have only seen a few and they all pretty much look like the one you have in the pictures. Just a wild guess based on the down tube graphic, brown suede saddle and non-aero brake levers, I would say somewhere around '82-'83.

Closeups of the dropouts, the bottom bracket, seat cluster and head tube lugs would be very useful.

Lars S - As mentioned, the Colnago Sport line was to capitalize on Colnago's surge in popularity in the 70s and 80s. They were designed by Colnago and manufactured by contract builders. Typically, the framesets were Aelle or Falk tubing but I am not sure for the one you are considering. There is a link here to another example. The one in your link would probably be early 80s as I recall an identically decaled one from a local shop in that period. Nice bikes, nicely made and equipped to a price point.

Just checked the link. That Colnago Sport is decaled with a Columbus Zeta sticker. This was a high tensile, lighter gauge steel tubing which was the entry level Columbus tubing of the time.

Thanks for all your detailed replies!
I am really considering buying it, even though I had hoped for a more student friendly price.
Is it worth the $520 pricetag?
I haven't looked for a vintage bike for more than a week, but kinda want to get started, as the summers here in Denmark are short.

If I had $520 and an opportunity to buy it, I would already be riding it.

For 400 euros you should be able to find a much nicer bike in Europe. I haven't looked in Denmark but in Germany, France, the Netherlands or Italy you can find much better. This bike looks very clean and does have the Colnago name, but the componentry is all second tier, the frame is also second tier. If you were to come across a similarly equipped bike without the Colnago name, the price would likely be less than 200 euros. The Colnago Sport name will also not help you eventually sell the bike onwards. It will also make the bike attractive for thieves.

Exactly.

I don't worry about bicycles when I visit my wife's family in Bayern anymore.

I've found very nice bicycles on the cheap each trip.

In fact, I will be using my wife's uncle's Wilier mtb and buying something for the road on our visit this summer.

I won't feel bad about taking the el cheapo on our trip to Croatia, that's for sure.