Fausto Coppi bike, what model is this ?

[Wilou]

Hello,

I've found a 1998 road bike on the aftermarket and I'd like to know more about it. I bought it (because it's my size and it's a difficult size to find, the price was OK and I never have had a bike of this kind, I have always been in the MTB team !), it's OK, far from pristine but I'm on holiday at the end on the week, I'll have plenty of time to take care of it. The paint is faded, there are some paint scratches but nothing wrong structurally speaking. The transmission seems OK but the seller said to me bike repair was his second job and if he worked on the bike, I'll not buy another from him. A lot of details hit my eyes (and I'm very far from being a bike expert).

No particular order in the following list but here's what I found :

* the two pedals aren't exactly the same and the bearings of one seem to be in poor shape and the pedal barely rotates. One of the pedals was not tightened...
* no little thingies at the end of the rear deraileur cable and at the end of the front cable of the front brake (hello tetanus !) ;
* the handlebar tape not installed correctly, leaving some bare metal at the end of it. One missing cap ;
* handlebar not aligned correctly (the bottom of it is not parallel to the top tube) ;
* chainring bolts not well tightened ;
* tyres not at the right pression (3 bars instead of between 6 and 8 for these tyres) ;
* rust on some of the screws (bottle cages bolts, stem bolts, seatpost bolts, quick releases);
* the hoods aren't the same (and one is deteriorated) ;
* the decals are also deteriorated ;
* one valve cap missing on the rear wheel ;
* lot of mud and grease on inner side of the chainring (how is that possible with a road bike ?!).

That's a lot in my book coming from a so-called bike mechanic (and I could also have completed the list with the fact that the tyres inscriptions are not aligned with the valves but it doesn't prevent riding). But that's the kind of details for me that shows that the bike guy does his job well...

We had an appointment on a parking not far from where I live for the sale, I hesitated to go on foot or with my car. I took my car, it was the best thing to do after all. Not sure I could have made it with the entire bike when I'd have to return home !

So, there is some work and I've already started. Good pression in the tyres, new (old but the two are identical) MTB resin pedals with no bearings problems (temporary, I'll buy aluminium ones on next tuesday). I pulled out and cleaned the two chainrings (and I tightened the screw after that). Just that make an enormous difference visually speaking ! I changed the saddle because I don't like to put my a** where another one took place (and with a dirty bike, brrrrrrr ! ). The new saddle is lighter (333 grams for the original one, 262 grams with mine, yeah ! ). I put little thingies at the end of the cables (bye tetanus !). I've verified the brake screws (OK), the stem screws (not OK, not even the littlest trace of grease, so, I put some grease and tightened them correctly). I aligned the handlebar correctly. I put some caps at the extremities of it (I haven't changed the handlebar tape yet). I got rid of the decals on one side of the bike (I don't want a Fausto OPPI but a Fausto COPPI with a C ! On the other side, it's better but it'll probably not be extra durable. I polished the frame (light polish) and I gave a good clean. I changed the screws of the bottle cage (and the bottle cage itself). Ah, and new quick releases (silver ones, even more beautiful than the black ones).

The bike is transformed, even if it's obviously not near to perfect. But I could ride with it with no fear.

As I said in the title, I'd like to know what model it is. There are the seller's pics at the end on the message. The serial number of the bike is A9B10986. The group is part Campagolo Veloce and Mirage, there is a Shimano cassette (9 speed), 2 chainrings. If you know what bike it could be, it would be nice !

Good afternoon !

Here are the pics (I'll put other ones I took some minutes ago) :

 

[Wilou]

As promised, the pics I took today !

 

[Wilou]

The rest ! (the red adhesive is absolutely horrendous, it was black on the seller's pics). Fortunately, I have black adhesive and even if the handlebar tape is new, I'll change it with black one soon. Ah, yes, the seatpost is a carbon one. Not a lot of grease on it, but I don't have the correct one to clean and apply some new. That's on my todo list.

And one last thing : another reason why I bought this bike (totally irrational but hey !). The blue is the same there was on my grandparents car (A Talbot 1100 for those who know ! ).

W.

 

[jonnyboy666]

i know a bit about these, i have a Fausto Coppi Galaxy, 99 model, basically there are 2 versions of this brand, the Italian built frames like mine, made by Masciaghi, used by a few pro road teams, the best being Team Polti, then the Taiwan built frames, yours is Taiwan built, the rear mech hanger is the biggest giveaway, for the record though, the Taiwan built frames were considered to be nice frames, especially the higher end ones, i couldn't tell you which yours is though, looks like the spec has been played with over the years, but when i was selling them there was a Campagnolo Veloce equipped model, at a guess back then it would have been about £800 new.

 

[Wilou]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply !

You say these bikes can be made in Italy or in Taiwan and that mine is taiwanese but the logo on the front tube indicates Italy. Well, it's just a logo after all, I suppose for that it's not a reliable thing, am I ? I have found a set of decals that will arrive probably at the end of the week and on it, we find the front logo but without the "Made in Italy" inscription. It'll be more accurate !

Is there somewhere a tool to find, with the serial number, which bike it is ? Surely but perhaps a resource only available for the pros. I've found nothing and my researches often give results about Fausto Coppi, the man. Not the bikes. My bike dealer had found some infos on my Trek last year that I didn't had access to (the headset had to be replaced). I guess I could ask him if he finds something with the serial number. Not the best dealer in the world but a dealer anyway. I'll give it a try.

Given the "quality" of the decals, I could have thought that it wasn't a Fausto Coppi bike at all (easy to make a new paint and to apply whatever decals we want), any neophyte would see nothing. And on mine, decals are really poor quality.

I'm looking at plenty of pics on the internet and for now, I still don't know what model it is but it seems close to the San Remo model. On this pic for example (and only for the frame), at the end of the post.

The thing that is fabulous is that I can't even find the manufacturer's site ! I'm working as an hotliner for computers and sometimes, it's the same, can't find informations on products because the manufacturer doesn't have a site, I must go on the site of the local dealer but each time, there are next to nothing informations, very frustrating !

I'll go on with my searching but with your informations, I'm beginning to see more clearly. So, big thanks to you !

Have a good day,

W.

PS : I saw your post with your Galaxy and the frame is gorgeous ! The rest too, but the frame is jaw dropping !

 

[jonnyboy666]

basically as i understand it the Coppi family gave permission to Masciaghi for the italian built frames, the name was also licensed to uk importer/distributor to make the taiwan frames, in other words they had a frame made and put his name on it, but as i said before they were considered to be a nice frame, but that importer has recently gone out of business. the italian built frames never had replaceable drop outs, the taiwan frames used a more generic replaceable hanger, this is the most obvious reason that it is a taiwanese frame.

the "made in italy" thing, basically quite a lot companies lie!

 

[Wilou]

Thank you !

The replacable / non replacable dropouts tip is nice to recognize the frames. That'll help even more to guess where the bikes come from. I hope my dealer will be able to do something with the serial number.

Today, between rests, I continued to clean the bike, I partially disassembled the stem from the fork. I was not surprised to find rust. The guy who worked on the bike definitely didn't knew grease. There was mud like the one on the chainring between the spacers under the stem, and they were really difficult to remove. Still don't understand how is it possible !

As the red tape had begun to go away, I tried to peel it off, and I saw, under it, the black tape we see on the seller's pics. So I removed it entirely. The bike is lovelier like that but this handlebar tape is very poorly applied. Yes, it's new, but what's the point to put something new if is badly done ?

W.

 

[otherself]

I think its the K14 model, made from Columbus Altec multi-shaped aluminium tubes. They did it in the same navy blue as yours.

Only thing that's off is they didn't have replaceable mech hanger.

 

[jonnyboy666]

defo not a K14, a friend has one, it's a darker blue than navy blue, and again the K14 is masciaghi italian built, the replaceable drop out screams made in taiwan. that mech hanger is in my box of top 20 hangers in the bike trade . . . from taiwan, second row from the left, 3rd down.

 

[jamesdak]

I assume these are the Italian ones? I have a Neuron Mega T and it's a great ride.