columbus tube miele
 

hi,

I would just like to get a bit more information on the vintage and make up of this stylish/outlandish miele frame. It is fairly fast and tight geometry with what i was told to be SL tubing with columbus dropouts. The fork it came with is somewhat nondescript. chromed, wih no badging. No ridging in the steerer, so not SLX. It may or may not have been OEM with this frame, as this was a sort of "rummage bin" buy.

I had a Miele a few years ago and had the same question. I called the company and got the owner on the phone. I asked him what Columbus tubes were used in my frame. His reply was that without cutting the frame apart, there was no way to tell. I'm not sure how serious he was, but thats all the info I could get. I believe that they shut down about 5 years or so ago.

This looks like a later Miele bike. I bought the tubesets (and quickly sold them) after the guy died. Tubing included Oria, Tange Infinity, Columbus SLX and Cromor. A check inside the BB shell at the butts will tell you if the tubing was SLX or ORIA (Ribbed) or if its Cromor (seamed), or if its Tange (seamless butted). There may also be a columbus emblem stamped and showing through the paint on the fork blades for near the head tube. If the lugs have heart shape cutouts they are pressed rather than cast. In the early 90's, I heard that he got into some trouble over mislabeling his frames for the tubesets used.

The real gems are Colnago Miele's. These are Italian made Colnago Super "B" that were manufactured under contract for Miele then imported. I think they have the octaganal tubing.

The fork is definitely not Miele. The Miele forks have a pantograph cast in the crown. Miele's were popular up here and original forks are easy to find.

I want to build a bike out of a Miele frame constructed with Columbus SLX tubing. Can anyone tell me what kind of threading this bike has in the BB shell? I don't have the frame yet, and don't know what year it was built, but might be able to get some photographs to post, if it helps.

My SLX tube set did not have the rifling in the steerer or head tube but my TSX columbus frame does.
You will be able to tell immediately when you get the bike by measuring the BB. If the bike is Italian built it will be italian threading most others english.

Howdy. :) I realize this thread is pretty old, but I wonder if you could elaborate a bit on this. Are you saying that an Italian threaded BB indicates that it was Italian-made (possibly by Rossin)? I have what I'm pretty sure is a 1993 Miele Invictus, because it has a Shimano 600 tri-color headset, and that's what groupset was on the Invictus. Also, the fork is pantographed with the Miele name, and the fork has Columbus stickers, but plain, not identifying WHICH tubeset, and there's no tubing sticker on the frame itself. And finally, my steertube (on my fork) has that rifling, which is supposed to positively identify SLX, but I didn't find any rifling on the tubes of the frame. I guess I'm hoping it was built by Rossin, for the added cool factor, but really, it's just a heck of a nice bike, whoever actually built it. ;) Well, I hope you're still an active member, LOL, otherwise, I'm essentially talking to myself here. :D ;)

you should post pictures in C&V and ask your questions there. The people that posted in this thread are not active as far as I can tell, and given the age of this thread, I'm going to close it. There are people that are knowledgeable about Miele in C&V.