Olmo 50th Anniversary mountainbike - any information on it?

[WimVDD]

Hi,

Today I picked up an Olmo "50 th Anniversary" mountainbike. It's a beauty made from Columbus Max OR and has an (almost) complete XT groupset on it, but... I can't find any info on it. Anybody who has seen one of these before?

Second thing about the bike: it has top tube cable routing. Wasn't that rare, back in 1989? It looks original to me: the bike doesn't seem to have marks or whatsoever that could suggest other (brazed on) cable stops have been removed and the BB shell doesn't even have a drilling hole in it (for a removable cable guide). BUT... I can't find a cable stop for the front and rear derailleur! The former owner solved this by using a clamp on one (for the front derailleur) and a long outer cable and zip ties for the rear.

Does anybody have an idea why any frame builder wouldn't braze these on? It's such a weird frame...

TIA!

Wim

 

[WimVDD]

the bike as I found it.

 

[iveto1983]

Re:

It probably used to have a bottom pull front mech with a cable stop on the mech itself, with the cable clamped on the frame. Like this one (sorry for the lazy link, hard to attach a picture on my phone) here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=168914

I’ve seen the same on 80’s Yetis and have the same on a Roberts from 90.

 

[WimVDD]

Re:

Thanks for the usefull tip!

 

[sinnerman]

Olmo was a famous italian road racer who retired and went on to build beautiful handbuilt frames. I would think the 50th anniversary is in celebration of that, 88/89.

 

[WimVDD]

I would think the 50th anniversary is in celebration of that, 88/89.

Yes, that's for sure. It's stated on the tube label.

 

[WimVDD]

Started a building thread here http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=394187

 

[adri.75]

I live a few miles away from the OLMO bike factory, I remember that model well
in other photos I have the cable passage of the front derailleur and under the down tube.
they only produced 500 braze-welded ones
sooner or later I take one too, reminds me of my childhood

 

[adri.75]

the number of the series, like this one, should be engraved on the steering tube

 

[adri.75]

I remember them all with the back u-brake, not cantilever