Columbus steel experts: Nivacrom / Nivracom?

[66 triumph daytona]

Re:

If its stamped Bianchi and has no rack eyelets then surely its one of the Nivacrom beauties?Me jealous...

 

[Double-E F]

Re:

No eyelets

I guess decal designers are also just humans..

 

[66 triumph daytona]

Whats the plan,full Euclid/Record?

 

[Double-E F]

Whats the plan,full Euclid/Record?

No, although I like most Italian products, I'm not a Campa fan..
Gonna build it with XT/XTR.

 

[danson67]

Nivacrom: Niobium, vanadium, chromium steel alloy.

One of the lightest, most technically butted steel tubesets ever made...Unless you've got a gaspipe fake with a good paint job. I've never seen a mis-spelled genuine Columbus stickers, and Bianchi are big enough to have their own printed to spec, so who knows?
You can tell if your tubing is indeed Genius by some of the internal features of the frame tubes.

You should be able to feel the little tabs about 3mm wide, 0.5mm tall on the butts if you feel up inside the tubes. On the drive side of the ST at the BB shell, bottom of the TT at HT and the top of the DT at the HT, as per diagram below.
They are there to help the builder get the orientation of the angled butts set correctly, since there is no easy way of telling otherwise. It's all going on inside the standard round section, none of those flashy shaped or hydro-formed tubes here.

Also, you might have the oval section butted steerer tube on the forks. Thinner walls at the sides where the stress if lower. Visible with the naked eye. Pretty definitive if you do have it, but not having this steerer does not rule out the rest of the frame, though, as this tube is often swapped for a standard-butted one to save money.

Columbus Genius and Nemo were the only tubesets to have these alignment tabs, and nobody would go to the lengths of copying them, so if you have them it's genuine.






All the best,

 

[Double-E F]

Re:

That is some very interesting background information on the tubeset, Dan: thanks a lot..!
Guess I'll be feeling some butts in the mancave once I get take the BB out

Didn't get the original forks with the frame, unfortunately.

I can't imagine that someone is out to copy such a frame, especially considering the pearly paint and the stamped details on the BB shell. But, then again, what is not copied these days..?
However, if I'd be copying, I'd at least get the spelling on the decal right

And of course, there's the typo in the titanium decal on the Rocky Mountain, also not a particularly small bike company..

Anyway, looking forward to building this up once I get the forks done!

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

Rocky was a small bike company back then

 

[ibbz]

Re:


You had me worried there: I don't recall seeing a particular shape in the tubes..
It has Bianchi stamped on the top of the BB shell and the s/n looks legit, including the size stamped, so I guess the frame is OK, regardless of the decal.

Cheers for your responses!

I have been a bit worried that this may be a fake - or rather a genuine Bianchi but not a Columbus genius frame.
The spelling on the decal isn’t right.
The drop outs also differ from the Max and Genius ones on the net and Lack the cut out and distinguishing form.
Does it lack the ‘tabs’ - ? I can’t recall - my other frame definitely has them when probed
It actually looks like a Dedacciai Zero Bianchi frame which has been re-sprayed. I may be wrong as the Dedacciai Zero was lugged in parts - though in 1997 they did release a new unlugged version but with a boxy downtube.
anyone shed any light on this

 

[KermitGKona88]

It sounds well dodgy to me, I'll tell you what sell it to me for a tenner and I will take the stress of it on, how about that? Do we have a deal?

 

[ibbz]

It sounds well dodgy to me, I'll tell you what sell it to me for a tenner and I will take the stress of it on, how about that? Do we have a deal?

Hahaha!!!
well, it’s identical to this frame: which is a Bianchi Martini Racing from 95. So is it a Genius or a Dedacciai ? https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/project-progress-part-2-bianchi-martini-team.35687/