early 80's Velosport project

[onegoodbike]

Picked this up on a bit of a whim, it was local enough, my size and I was the only bidder, always a plus!.

The thing the first caught my eye was the rear stay/seat tube cluster and the race number hanger, I thought they looked classy and hopefully spoke of a quality build, despite the paintjob!.

Having got it home, I've stripped it down to get a better idea of what I've got. A few of the components are going to stay but this is going to be a bit of a slow-burn restoration, as and when money and time are available.

There's not a great deal of info regarding velosport frames available on the web as far as I can see so if anyone here can shed any light on it's provenance it'd be appreciated.

It appears that there are areas of chrome hiding beneath the horrible paintjob so the first task is to strip away the paint to see where they are and what their condition is. If you have a recommendation for a good paint-stripper i'd be pleased to hear it.

Build-wise the frame is 55cm C-C square, has Campagnolo dropouts front and rear, it has a nice cast SABA bottom bracket which may also be chromed?. The frame weighs 2020 grams and the forks 675 grams, so my thoughts on tubing were 531c which seems plausible for the frame but I feel the forks are too light?, what do you think?. The serial numbers on both match.

I hope to keep this thread updated as I work on getting it refinished and built up period correct(ish)


Matt

 

[Ray_72]

Re:

Possibly made by Viber so likely Columbus sl. Check seat post size carefully 27mm rather than 27.2 of Reynolds. Portacena drop out and rear spacing will narrow build year.

Chromework indicates quality frame

Good luck with it

Ray

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re:

There was a bike shop in Norwich called Velosport, I know they had some nice 70's/ 80's parts in there, CLB professional brakes, and a black and sliver Dura-ace groupset. I also remember them having some of their own branded bikes which were mid-range affairs Altus to Exage type spec, this looks nicer so it may have been one of their frames from their heyday.

 

[allenh]

Nice frame

I've just stripped the paint from a chromed Meral frame using B&Q's own paint stripper and it worked very well. more effective than modern Nitromors and quite a bit cheaper.
I put it on reasonably thickly dabbing it on with with a brush, left it about an hour and the paint was pretty much falling off, I do need to give it a 2nd go to get at the few little stubborn areas of paint but on the whole very easy.

 

[onegoodbike]

Re:

Thanks for the replies guys,

I'll swing by a DIY store tomorrow and see what they've got.

The info about the bike shop in Norwich is great, that's where I got the bike from!. The seller said it had been in his loft for years but prior to that he'd used it in local crits?.

Interesting thoughts on the tubing type, the seat tube diameter is spot on 27mm on my verniers now it's empty, but it was fitted with a 27.2mm post that didn't seem tight and came out with no issues.

If I find good chrome under the spray-job i'll post some pics.


Cheers Matt

 

[torqueless]

Re:

I have a Campag. two-bolt seatpost pantographed with exactly the same logo as that on your seat stay caps.


Velosport was in Anglia Square, I think.

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re: Re:

Velosport was in Anglia Square, I think.

That is correct

 

[onegoodbike]

Re:

Hi torqueless,

if you ever feel like you want to divest yourself of the seat-post drop me a line.

Cheers Matt

 

[torqueless]

Re:

It's a standard length (180mm excluding the cradle bit) Campag. 1044 in 27.2 diameter. I have polished it a bit above the minimum insertion line, cleaned up minimally below it. I'd be happy to trade it for a sound unpantoed 1044 in the same dimensions.

The panto on both sides of the post goes most of the way down to the minimum insertion line, making it more or less a 'one position' post vertically, if you don't want the panto disappearing down the seat tube.

The only 'issue' with it that I can see is that the 'ring' part of both cradles (701/702 in the '75 Campag catalogue) are cracked where they fit onto the 'peg' on the sides of the post itself.

PM me some time if interested.... no hurry.

P.S. I'm not trying to dump cracked cradles on anyone- happy to swap over the cradles/bolts etc.

 

[onegoodbike]

Re:

....bit of a thread bump here, but over the summer I had the good fortune to meet a chap that had worked in Velosport for many years, in a bike shop in Colchester.

He was able to give me chapter and verse on these framesets, so I thought I would record it here for posterity (and whilst I remember it! ).

These criterium specific framesets were a special order through the shop in the late 70's to early 80's. They were generally built by Columbia of Worksop (although he thought a few were built at Bob Jackson), using Columbus SL tubes except the down tube which was from a 'pista' specific tubeset for increased strength, if that makes sense. The drop-outs were Campagnolo and the lugs were Cinelli, including the B/B shell (making my SABA example a bit unusual?). Generally the framesets had a chromed rear triangle and chromed forks.

My frameset does appear to have a chrome rear end but it looks as if the person who gave it the rattle can respray roughed it up for a good key (i'm guessing the forks are the same) :facepalm:

Matt