Colnago Master Olympic Build

[carreracat]

hi all,

it was suggested that i start a build thread for my newly acquired colnago master olympic.

i bought it without seeing it, so was very pleased when it showed up all nicely wrapped up for it's journey from holland to singapore

the frame came as frame alone, so no forks or other components so i have a blank canvas to start with.

i'm not sure what year it is, but some input from some of you helpful chaps has narrowed it down to early '90's. 1992 perhaps seeing as that was an olympic year.

of course the year only matters if i want to put period components on but not if i want to make it into a fixie or used more modern stuff.

i am currently selling my 2005 cervelo soloist with full integra, so i thought perhaps i could take all the components off that and just sell the frame, leaving me with all the components i need to get the colnago on the orad with modern parts. could i even use the forks, but that would look a little odd i guess? (i'm not plugging my soloist sale, as it's in singapore!)

however, whilst plundering the soloist for parts is no doubt the cheapest option, i have decided that the frame really deserves some campag parts, preferably vintage. i don;t think the fixie idea is going to work either as i have been a few rides with some guys who all ride retro steel road bikes and it's quite a fun group.

so the end result is that i'm going to build a road bike with as many period parts as i can. mainly from campag hopefully. i might still go for modern wheels though?

 

[carreracat]

oh i forgot.

forks?

i don't know which forks to go for - straight or curved?

 

[jet sanchez]

Colnago Masters always look great with a straight blade chrome fork, preferably a Colnago Prescia fork.

 

[carreracat]

thanks for that. i have seen a few other people mention the prescia fork - but i can't seem to find any for sale anywhere.

do they still make them?

 

[shawnb]

Lovely frame, looking forward to the build

I think I am right in saying you can still buy a new steel, chrome precisa - as fitted to the 'new' steel masters but that is 1" threadless. Wondering if that fork could be then cut and threaded by a good shop with the correct headset thread.....

http://www.cbike.com/colnago_master_framset-1.aspx

The 1" threaded straight blade forks do turn up once a month or so on ebay but mostly seem to be of lesser quality than your frame would deserve so require a re-chrome. I bought a rusty pair for 55GBP and spent another 50GBP on having them stripped & triple chromed to a like new condition for example.

Unfortunately the steerer will be too short for your frame

http://vi.ebaydesc.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d ... 3&caz.html


Shawn.

 

[carreracat]

thanks shawn. yes i was watching that ebay item, but my headset tube is exactly 16cm so i guessed a 16cm steerer is too short.

how much longer so i need it to be?

 

[shawnb]

My stripped master piu has a 166mm headtube length and the forks have a 207mm steerer. As rough guide I'd say the steerer needs to be 40mm+ longer than the headtube. Looks like you may be looking for a pair of forks from a 56-60cm frame, maybe 200mm+ steerer.
Ultimately the type of headset determines the exact steerer length but rather too long as you can cut down a longer steerer and wind on (cut) some more thread to it

Shawn.

 

[dbmtb]

You could happily get away with 9-speed Shimano kit on this frame too. 650X Ultegra or 7700 Dura-Ace. Any later than that and I think the hardware gets a bit too clumsy-looking.

 

[carreracat]

quick update-

parts hunt is coming along nicely.

i now have almost everything including:
campy c-record group set, campy pedals, san marco saddle, straight precisa fork (that took some finding!) and some 18 hole campy hubs.

the main thing missing is the rims - i'm really struggling to find any 36 hole rims - any suggestions? i want something that is in keeping with the period feel of the bike but i don't mind clincher or tubular.

 

[shawnb]

I recently sold various colnago catalogues on ebay. They had the specs for the ready built bikes too. All ready built colnagos from your era had ambrosio rims, mostly the metamorphosis type. The second set down are lovely I seem to remember certain models also had Campag rims but mostly Ambrosio's.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMBROSIO-DURE ... 33775f9a7a

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-Tubular-R ... 460194b85c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-Pair-of-T ... 45f95af4ce

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMBROSIO-MONT ... 5ad1ae6f6e

Of course you could also buy a frame and forks only in which case some nice Campag's would be lovely and are a fair bit lighter than the Ambrosio's


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290679642370? ... 1438.l2648


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390379322978? ... 1438.l2649

Hope that helps