Fluted Tesag?

A sad and embarrassing end to this tale.









It turns out this frame had had a front impact before I bought it. Stripping the frame showed I'd been lucky not to have it fail during the rides I'd taken it on, but unfortunately not before I had sold the bike to LGF and it was him who found out the bad news when he got home and disassembled it.

I feel terrible for not spotting it myself and also a lot more wary about trusting my checking of bikes I buy (not that I'll be buying any more for a long time).

It's a massive shame, because I'm sure LGF would have given it the rebuild it deserved, but unfortunately it's off to bike heaven instead.

It must have been one hell of an impact. Even the stem was cracked from the wedge to the neck.

Its a shame this frame didnt get much attention Gilco tubing usually dominates the road section, rare for MTB - but not surprising given that some of the self nominated 'experts' on here couldnt spot a decent frame if it smacked them in face.

Anyway, there is hope if you have the tools and the patience

https://utahrandonneur.wordpress.com/20 ... #more-4935

If I was staying in the UK I'd be keen to give that a try, but I'm not going to store it for years just in case I get time one day, so if anyone wants to try and save it then feel free to claim it before it gets scrapped.

That is a shame, must have been a hefty impact, shows how tough it was built if you continued to ride it though.

legrandefromage":10dibsx4 said:

Its a shame this frame didnt get much attention Gilco tubing usually dominates the road section, rare for MTB

Click to expand...

Is it Gilco tubing, or is it 'Gilco shaped' tubing though? Normally Gilco was formed from Columbus SL, which apart from being a little lightweight for MTB use would have been used in conjunction with higher end lugs and other tubes you would imagine, this having a 26.6 seat post implies the seat tube at least isn't SL or similar quality (which would use a 27.2 post). After the introduction of the fluted Gilco shape by Columbus many builders copied the profile by forming the tubes (see the aluminium Colnago MTB with shaped tubes for instance) so without the little Columbus 'Gilco' decal it's hard to tell if it is genuinely Gilco or not. Regardless, it's rare to find and the exact same frame but with Colnago decals and pantographs would be much more sought after.

The seatpost is too small. I've not measured what it should be yet. I also understand the Gilco 'copies' but given the age of the frame and the look and feel up close, its not a low end model.

Even the stays are fluted. I'll have a closer look and post more pictures.

The seatpost is looking to be 26.8mm to 27.2mm.

The rear seat stay is also bent...

The lugs are high quality but not top end with a cast BB and seatclamp.

'Gilco' tubes would never have been 'SL' as SL tubing is butted, these would have needed to be plain gauge. PG Cyclex tubes would have been used. However butted and double butted Cyclex was used for SL/ SLX / PL/ KL etc, superseded by Nivacrom for MAX and so on.

The verdict? A very high quality but massed produced frame from the Rossin school of cool sunglasses/ cigarette/ jumper wearing frame builders.

Oh, and mullets too

Probably

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfgz-2WouyQ[/youtube]

I still haven't brought myself to throw this frame away. It's karma to anyone who wants to either try to repair it or just build it and ride it.

kingoffootball":x27i1iby said:

A sad and embarrassing end to this tale.

It turns out this frame had had a front impact before I bought it. Stripping the frame showed I'd been lucky not to have it fail during the rides I'd taken it on, but unfortunately not before I had sold the bike to LGF and it was him who found out the bad news when he got home and disassembled it.

I feel terrible for not spotting it myself and also a lot more wary about trusting my checking of bikes I buy (not that I'll be buying any more for a long time).

It's a massive shame, because I'm sure LGF would have given it the rebuild it deserved, but unfortunately it's off to bike heaven instead.

Click to expand...

Any chance you can post these pics again, they're not showing for me?
Cheers
G

They're not my images, but LGF's that I linked to, so I'd have to take some more.

You're welcome to pop round at some point to look at it if you want.

Re:

Yeah no worries mate, I'm probably just getting carried away again, always do when I see the possibilities of a new challenge!
:roll: As I've just been reminded by the purse, ''thought you had enough to do already!'' :facepalm:

But if you can sneak a couple pics I'm just interested to see them!

Cheers
G :xmas-cool: