Falcon San Remo model 76 or Olympic 78?

I am currently looking into a swap of bikes. I have a Rossin Record approximately 1982, full Campa Nuovo Record group in good riding condition, but its a 56 and thus just to small for me. A friend has a assumed Falcon San Remo size 58 from the early seventies. Maybe 72ish. The bike has mostly Campa Nuovo Record group except some period correct Universal brakes. The Falcon is a restoration project on wheels, it has been hand painted with a brush sometime in the past, but some of the original decals are still present, my pal had some miles on it this summer meaning the mechanics isn't that bad. The present redish colour is not correct for a San Remo, and as now there is no trace of chrome fork or head lugs therefor I start wondering if its a Olympic 78 that came in a red/bronze colour according to a catalogue I found on the net. The Falcon is a one owner bike before my friend got it earlier this year. But the original owner is in the late eighties and does not remember much about the bike other than he bought it in the early seventies, and used it for amateur old boys races for many years.

Anyway some cash will go may in deal as my Rossin is in very good condition.

As I don't know anything about the Falcons, is there any particular identification I shall look for? Anything that separates the San Remo from other cheaper models?

The Falcon San Remo of that era always came with a chunky flattened full wrapround seat stay arrangement. It would also have had chrome head Lugs, 8-10" of chrome rear stays and full chrome fork. Early 70's were cinelli full sloping and the later ones semi sloping Cinelli MC.

As ever ther San Remo had no braze ons whatsoever (unless the girls were bored).

the full wraparound seat stay is the giveaway

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/286349/37525162



Shaun

Re:

Thanks for the reply, I will try to get some pictures of the Falcon and post it here for your evaluation.

Are this high end Falcons equally good as any Italian high end bikes from the same period?

Brg

Per

Tricky one to answer, my Falcon San Remo was taken off the team production line by Billy Holmes and I raced it in the 70's so it is special to me. Is the quality of construction as good as my same period Viner? No......

Shaun

The Falcon in question has the flattened full wrap around seat stay according to my friend, thus it should be a San Remo then. Or did other Falcons include this detail as well?.

The only Falcon's I came across with the flattened Wrapround seat cluster was the San Remo. Their lesser frames had a thinner rounded wraparound seat stay.

My avatar has me on my San Remo.

Shaun

The Falcon has arrived

Well, my friend decided to give me the Falcon in question against some NOS tubular rims. The bike has been painted sometimes maybe 15-20 years ago and is in rough condition. It seems to have been sandblasted before the bike was painted and the structure under a very thick layer of paint is very rough and there is no trace of the original chrome.


The frame has the flatten rear stays around the top tube


The frame number is 81267 and he frame is a 58 c-c seat tube and 56 c-c top tube. The distance between the rear dropouts are 122mm. I cant find any markings on the dropouts.


The seatpost is 27,2 mm (531 tubes?)
Its a mix of part, rear derailleur is Campa Nuevo Record marked Pat 72. Front is Record, Crank is Sugino Mighty with Campa super record outer ring, the inner ring is unmarked.

The headset is Campa Record.

Brakes are Universal Super 68,


brake handles are unknown to me,

a SR stem and seatpost seems to be marked something like Birmingham alloy? The alloy handlebar is badly scratched and I could not find any readable markings.

It seems like the front fork has been replaced sometimes as the top nut of the head bearing has been stacked with a lot of washers.

Is this a Falcon fork?


More photos are available here:
http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/Per_B ... ary/Falcon

Any comments from the Falcon expertise?

Well, it certainly looks 100% Falcon San Remo frame under all that red stuff. Not sure about the fork, it should be a Cinelli MC which that isn't.

I guess you have noticed that Falcon brazed absolutely nothing to the frame!

Shaun

Re:

Thanks for the reply, any clue about the year of production?, Is it possible its from the sixties?

The narrow 120 rear spacing, could point in that direction or? And the fact that its with Universal brakes and not Campagnolo? (I belive Campa introduced brakes around 1970).

There are several San Remo models listed I have seen references to model 76, 80,92 and 94, any idea of which San Remo model I have here?

Re:

Looks to me like 1960s with later forks. Well made frame for me better than Falcon.
Universal brakes were more typical of mid 50s to early 60s,

Keith