Bepe frame? Shimano 600 timeline?

garethrl

Senior Retro Guru
Not quite a tip find but a friend of mine dropped round yesterday with a bike that's been abandoned in his building. He has confirmation from the landlord that the owner has long gone, and permission to take and restore it as long as he clears out the old beaters that were in the same pile.

There's a 531 sticker on the fork but nothing on the frame. It's light enough to be full 531, or perhaps Columbus frame and Reynolds fork. On the head tube there's a Colnago-style club in black over a diagonal world championship stripe. The five colour rainbow stripes appear on several areas of the frame. My first guess was that Bepe might refer to Guiseppe 'Bepe' Saronni, World road champ and Giro winner in the 70s/80s. There's a bit of surface rust, mainly around the BB, but nothing that looks obviously serious.

The groupset is interesting though - looks like a full first generation Shimano 600 set. The mechs, shifters, cranks, hubs, freewheel, brakes and headset are all Shimano 600, though the seatpost and pedals are not. Does anyone know when the 600 groupset first appeared? No mention of AX, EX, Ultegra or anything.

Of the groupset itself, bar a little bit of a clean-up the only thing needed is to replace the brake lever hoods. These are non-aero ones (of course) and are gum coloured. The lever shape looks more like old Weinmann ones than period Campag models. Any suggestions where I might get a replacement pair? An exact pair isn't necessary, but a good fit is.

I'll post a few pics later, probably tomorrow. I'll also need some help ID'ing the seatpost, as the cradle assembly is missing. I suspect a replacement post will be needed though.

Cheers, Gareth.
 
Have a look on the 'Velobase' website for 600 info. See the thread on the front page.

Would like to see a couple of pics if possible.
 
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