Decissions, decissions - which classic road bike to purchase

[LukeH]

Hi

Well I have been a competitive racing cyclist for many years and I've owned and still own quite a few bikes. Until now I haven't really considered owning a classic road bike but for some reason I now find myself spending many hours searching the web for that next bike. So far, I am torn between;

Bianchi Rekord 745/746
Alan Super Record
Gazelle Champion Mondial AA

or something else a bit less well know.

I'm a big fan of Campagnolo and have all my current road bikes equipped with it including a team Lampre edition Willier with Record groupset so where possible I'd like a classic bike with Campagnolo.

Any further ideas of what I should be looking at? I don't have a huge budget, max £600-700 but from what I can tell I should still be able to pickup quite a nice bike for that. oh and I don't mind a project starting out with a frame. Something 70's/80's is preferred.

Luke.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Yeah, £6-700 should get you a decent bike. The options are almost limitless. Is there any reason you have picked the three above?
I have a Merckx so am obviously a bit biased towards them, but I have seen some properly lovely bikes on here from most of the other brands too. One that always stuck out was a De Rosa, so if I was looking now one of them might be on the cards.
If I were you I'd stick up a wanted add in the proper section. Don't mention a brand, just say Campag equipped, 70's/80's, budget and your size and see what comes up. You tend to get a better deal buying a complete bike than a frame and building it up, but some people like the challenge of doing it the other way.

 

[LukeH]

Re:

Thanks for the reply.

No particular reason why I choose those brands, I've just seen really nice examples of them during my googling.

I do like Merckx and Colnago for that matter. De Rosa is certainly an option alhtough I haven't seen one for sale near my budget.

I will get the wanted posted soon. That's not a bad call.

 

[Robbied196]

Hi Luke, welcome aboard

I assume you've seen this in the For Sale section?

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=346351

You could slowly buy in super record and swap them over assuming its the right size...

 

[LukeH]

Re:

Yes I have indeed. In fact it's that got me thinking about Alan. Frame is too small unfortunately. I will need a 56 or 57cm top tube ideally.

 

[PaulSE]

Gazelle champion mondial would get my money.

 

[LukeH]

Gazelle champion mondial would get my money.

Any particular reason why?

 

[JSH]

Re:

My only advice would be (from each experience), try and buy a complete bike rather than a frame - it gets expensive building with parts.

You will also get better value after Eroica Britannia

 

[bikenrrd]

I built a really nice '90s Merckx Corsa Extra for about that amount of money.
It has Shimano Ultegra 6500 on it, which is the "trickle down" version of Dura Ace 7700. A lot of the parts were NOS.
With Campag, it's the Record and Super Record groupsets that cost a lot of money, with Shimano it's the Dura Ace components.
You should get better value equipping it with Campag Chorus, as this will be cheaper than Record but virtually identical in function.
I'd personally go for a mid-90s frame built from Columbus Nivacrom with Campag Chorus 9/10 speed. Classic looks but functionally as good as a modern bike.

 

[LukeH]

I built a really nice '90s Merckx Corsa Extra for about that amount of money.
It has Shimano Ultegra 6500 on it, which is the "trickle down" version of Dura Ace 7700. A lot of the parts were NOS.
With Campag, it's the Record and Super Record groupsets that cost a lot of money, with Shimano it's the Dura Ace components.
You should get better value equipping it with Campag Chorus, as this will be cheaper than Record but virtually identical in function.
I'd personally go for a mid-90s frame built from Columbus Nivacrom with Campag Chorus 9/10 speed. Classic looks but functionally as good as a modern bike.

Thanks for your input. How does the Merckx ride?

I started racing in the late 90's so my desire for a classic bike is a bit older I also quite fancy the Eroica one year so pre-87 is needed.

This is looking very tempting;

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 83&alt=web

I know it's Shimano equipped but it's such a decent build I could be converted to the dark side