Vintage Colnago Model/Year Help Please 🙏

[DRuthPDX]

Hello,

I recently purchased this bike from a gentleman in Italy and am hoping someone here would be able to help identify the model/year.

Please see the attached pictures. Top tube, down tube, and seat tube are all round with no crimping. Chain stays are round/oval with no crimping. Cable guides are under the bottom bracket. Braze-on front derailleur, and 2 braze-on brake cable guides. Rear drop out is stamped, “A COLNAGO”. No Columbus sticker.

I’ve gone through all the Colnago catalogs, and have researched it to the best of my ability. Can’t figure out if it’s a Conic, Mexico, Super, Superissimo, etc.

My bike shares some similarities with all of the models listed above. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly

-Daniel

 

[Nob]

That’s a lovely machine & your very lucky

 

[bikeworkshop]

Quite a few colnagos were fully chromed before painting.

Is there a possibility that the paint was damaged so it's been removed in restoration, and the owner has kitted it out with pantograph kit at this point rather than from the factory?

 

[Nob]

There should be a painting code stamped on the drive side rear drop out usually 4 characters

 

[Canuk]

The down tube decal looks new, or at least too modern. I'd say it was a cromevelato (coloured lacquer paint over chrome) which has been stripped back to the original chrome finish, not an unusual thing to do.

Cromevelato was a very fragile paint finish and looked awful when chipped so this is likely the history of the bike. Unless the owner has been very scrupulous, you will probably find a trace of the original colour somewhere on the frame. Popular colours were a deep blue and Saronni red. A nice find. There's a well known American seller trying to sell a bike like this (a stripped back to the chrome Arabesque) in the RB classifieds for 10K. Ambitious...

This is a lovely bike, it's true value is probably £1500-1800.

 

[DRuthPDX]

Quite a few colnagos were fully chromed before painting.

Is there a possibility that the paint was damaged so it's been removed in restoration, and the owner has kitted it out with pantograph kit at this point rather than from the factory?

I’m not sure but it’s a possibility.

 

[DRuthPDX]

There should be a painting code stamped on the drive side rear drop out usually 4 characters

Only “A COLNAGO”.

 

[Canuk]

This is probably what it looked like paint fresh from the factory (this is one of the super rare Colnago CX). The decals on your bike are not contemporary to the original frame. By not contemporary I mean they're Colnago decals from this century, not the last. A sure sign that it's been stripped from a cromo finish is that the chrome will be quite dull in places (like yours under the bottom bracket), not a bad thing but cromovelato was often only applied to the 3 main tubes and maybe the chain/seat stay tops.

 

[Canuk]

Appears to be a Conic Spiral SLX, 1985-88. The early versions had all round tubes. They are easy to identify by measuring the down tube which starts with a diameter of 28.2mm at the head tube and increases to a diameter of 32mm at the bottom bracket.

 

[Canuk]

Only “A COLNAGO”.

It's never 'only a Colnago'... Always special!