1990 Roy Cottingham Columbus SL

[RooKilo]

Hi All, thought I'd post up some pictures of a current project.

It's a 1990 Roy Cottingham Columbus SL road frame purchased from ebay (for £25!) minus the forks and features fastback stays, chrome Allez dropouts, nice lugs and a Cinelli 'spoiler' bb shell. The frame is completely chromed with red flamboyant paint and gold lug lining with braze-ons for d/t levers and one set of bottle bosses. Unfortunately the rear brake bridge is broken and requires repair The forks were kindly donated by a good friend and by a stroke of luck are also made by Roy Cottingham in Columbus SL and the correct colour! Unfortunately the steerer is too short so I need to get a new one fitted.

Now then, I'm unsure what to do with this - it's a keeper as I'm a fan of Cottingham's (have another two with another on it's way) but I don't need another 'older' bike. What I'm thinking is: Get the frame / forks renovated (including repair brake bridge, new steerer, another set of bottle bosses) spring the rear end to 130mm and build it up with modern silver parts so that it retains it's classic lines but is bang up to date.

Opinions please!


DSC01324 by Rookilo, on Flickr

DSC01331 by Rookilo, on Flickr

DSC01325 by Rookilo, on Flickr

 

[biggs682]

go for it , as all the others you have done are fantastic .

 

[claret73]

Really nice Colour & would look great with Modern(ish) Silver parts...how modern? 90's...

 

[RooKilo]

Really nice Colour & would look great with Modern(ish) Silver parts...how modern? 90's...

I was thinking brand new groupset (Athena / Chorus?) with handbuilt wheels (Open Pro rims) but with a quill stem not ahead. As for colour I'm tempted by Gios blue with white luglining and decals

 

[Rich34]

Go for it - Gios blue is classy and the modern Campag build is a great way to bring it up to date and ensure an old frame gets the use it was built for.

I'm thinking about a couple of resprays at the moment and am trawling the net looking for inspiration. Gios blue with white panels is one idea, but there are a few out there to choose from... Merckx orange and blue? Saroni Colnago dark red and white? British racing green with off-white details? Silver with white panels? Peugeot white and black? Mercier Poulidor pink?

:twisted:

 

[RooKilo]

I'm thinking about a couple of resprays at the moment and am trawling the net looking for inspiration. Gios blue with white panels is one idea, but there are a few out there to choose from... Merckx orange and blue? Saroni Colnago dark red and white? British racing green with off-white details? Silver with white panels? Peugeot white and black? Mercier Poulidor pink?

:twisted:

I think any of those classic colour schemes would be nice on anything, I'm only thinking of a colour change for this frame as I've got another on it's way in exactly the same colour! After Gios blue I'd have the Saroni red

 

[Nob]

I agree Campags Athena Polished Silver Gruppo would look ideal on this frame but stick with traditional cinelli bars & stem

 

[Baldbloke]

Re: Roy Cottingham restoration

Hi Rookilo
Nice to see Roy Cottingham's work so appreciated. I have a Cottingham which I commissioned from Roy for road racing in 1987 and it was a fantastic bike to ride and to look at. I am going to restore it as its been corroding away in the shed for 10 years, the seatpost is stuck, the paint is flaking... But it is the perfect base for a retro Sunday bike. Can't believe i am so old that my "new" racing bike is a vintage restoration project! Fortunately the Shimano 600 groupset is as good as new. Roy built the frame in his garden shed in Ringstead and it must only have cost a few hundred quid as the whole bike only cost me £750 in parts. I think I still have the receipt.
Anyway, my question for you is, where to get the transfers as I will need to get it re enamelled. The Headtube "logo" maybe needs hand painting unless i can somehow photograph the original. The frame tube letters look like some kind of letraset. How did you do yours?
Any advice welcome.

 

[RooKilo]

Re:

Hi, for one of my restorations viewtopic.php?t=104834 I was able to get a set of decals from of a friend of Roy's but there's no more of these available. I did have some artwork done and decals made by a member of this forum, they are pretty good but not quite right so if more were to be made the artwork would have to be adjusted slightly. A colleague of mine knows someone in the graphics business, he's going to have a look att he head tube decal - this may take some time, how much of a rush are you in?

 

[Baldbloke]

Hi
No hurry at all. Its a winter project that has been waiting for 10 years already. My Decals are like the ones on your black bike except the logo has a clear background. Nick at Lloyd cycles doesn't have this version with the hand written "Cycles Northants" text, or the frame lettering.
I'm going to see if I can get the transfers off and scan them.