NOS FRM/Venturi Build

[DrDaveTampa]

The challenge is to build this


and all this


...into a bike of some sort.

Got a good deal on the frame, which has evidently been sitting in a warehouse for the last 20 some odd years. Columbus genius tubing, appears to be silver brazed.

Figured I would do an interactive build, as I'm still not 100% sure where I'm going with this. No catalog (that I know of) to go by. Which is fine with me.

Off to the powder-coater tomorrow, then I'll get to polishing some stuff up

UPDATE
6/10/23

Here's the TLDR pic. FRM/Venturi Columbus genius mountain bike, unknown mid 90s vintage. Retrobike special edition.

 

[DrDaveTampa]

Not much info on the interwebs about this frame, most of it right here.

Thread on this specific frame here. Here is a brief blurb about the Columbus product line by the fine folks at vintage-steel.com, who are helping me source some really nice Campy rims (with the present challenge being, to put together a more-or-less period-correct matched set -- the fallback position is to build up a Mavic 230 front, 231 rear, which I do have on hand).

FRM was founded in 1991 to bring mountain biking to Italy. I haven't been able to find much info on Venturi but they appear to have marketed some fine road racing bikes back in the day. Evidently, Venturi had FRM make some mountain bike frames for them. Unclear if any actually made it to the market.

Here is a link to @ibbz 's magnificent Venturi build. We think my frame may be a slightly more recent iteration, as it appears to have lost the rear canti cable channel, and at one point had cable guides moved to the downtube. It shipped without a fork; the seller speculates perhaps it was meant to be paired with a suspension fork.

I've sourced a Marzocchi XC400 I'd like to bring back to life, if possible. The rust spot on the left stanchion is a bit concerning, we'll see if I can polish that out. Fortunately it's way up toward the end of the fork travel. The left lower isn't quite as dinged up as the right; I figure I can get at least one good leg out of it lol. Have been working with @kraeMit -- who evidently has the patience of a saint to put up with all my questions. If I can't get a good cosmetic and functional outcome, I may have the good dr. build up an XC700 for me. Either way, I gotta get some of that way-out deco design goodness on that frame

 

[ibbz]

At last!
Popcorn out !!

 

[ibbz]

You’ll need some of these too!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/39181798...a99DENgT8C&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[DrDaveTampa]

^oh yes

 

[DrDaveTampa]

Hm. There's not enough diet coke in the world to deal with that rust spot, there are some really deep pits. OTOH it looks like the lowers are going to buff up nicely. For me, I would rather look good than to feel good... coming up with a parts list with the good Dr.

That head tube is kind of weird; as short as it is (85mm) I think they probably were thinking suspension fork; but with a 1" steerer? Fortunately it's easy (ish) to swap steerers on those old Marzocchi's. There's only one stripped bolt on there, and I will prevail

On the wheel front, alas, my Campy's are destined to be orphans for now.

From what I've been able to gather, Campy ATB rims came in three waves:

1989-92: Thorr and Contax. Thorr apparently has a good reputation for durability; Contax about 20g lighter ref
93-95: There were a bunch of rims available, Stheno and Atek were their race rims (the latter only 20mm OW); and they had several wheels optimized for machine building, including the Mirox. And the Mirox does look like it might be an easy build; it has well reinforced angled eyelets. I understand it might have come stock on certain Kleins, maybe?
96-?: The "mountain" rims. K2, Kilimanjaro, etc. Don't know anything about these.

Mombat dates the Alfa rims to 90-92, leading one to wonder if they weren't the OEM/machine-built rims from that time period. Outer width 22mm, height only 12mm, and it doesn't have the concave braking surface (really not much braking surface at all lol)

Interesting campy rim thread here

So, 231 rear, 230 front. Debating between XT and Sachs hubs. I have a beautiful set of New Success hubs, for a pan-European flair; leaning toward that.

 

[ibbz]

Hm. There's not enough diet coke in the world to deal with that rust spot, there are some really deep pits. OTOH it looks like the lowers are going to buff up nicely. For me, I would rather look good than to feel good... coming up with a parts list with the good Dr.

That head tube is kind of weird; as short as it is (85mm) I think they probably were thinking suspension fork; but with a 1" steerer? Fortunately it's easy (ish) to swap steerers on those old Marzocchi's. There's only one stripped bolt on there, and I will prevail

On the wheel front, alas, my Campy's are destined to be orphans for now.

From what I've been able to gather, Campy ATB rims came in three waves:

1989-92: Thorr and Contax. Thorr apparently has a good reputation for durability; Contax about 20g lighter ref
93-95: There were a bunch of rims available, Stheno and Atek were their race rims (the latter only 20mm OW); and they had several wheels optimized for machine building, including the Mirox. And the Mirox does look like it might be an easy build; it has well reinforced angled eyelets. I understand it might have come stock on certain Kleins, maybe?
96-?: The "mountain" rims. K2, Kilimanjaro, etc. Don't know anything about these.

Mombat dates the Alfa rims to 90-92, leading one to wonder if they weren't the OEM/machine-built rims from that time period. Outer width 22mm, height only 12mm, and it doesn't have the concave braking surface (really not much braking surface at all lol)

Interesting campy rim thread here

So, 231 rear, 230 front. Debating between XT and Sachs hubs. I have a beautiful set of New Success hubs, for a pan-European flair; leaning toward that.

Has the be the New Success!!
I didn’t realise there were Contax rims - I thought their bottom bracket was Contax - then again I’m pretty ignorant of most Campag stuff

 

[Dr-Zocchi]

...

I've sourced a Marzocchi XC400 I'd like to bring back to life, if possible. The rust spot on the left stanchion is a bit concerning, we'll see if I can polish that out. Fortunately it's way up toward the end of the fork travel. The left lower isn't quite as dinged up as the right; I figure I can get at least one good leg out of it lol. Have been working with @kraeMit -- who evidently has the patience of a saint to put up with all my questions. If I can't get a good cosmetic and functional outcome, I may have the good dr. build up an XC700 for me. Either way, I gotta get some of that way-out deco design goodness on that frame

No problem to get you any part you need for your XC400

 

[DrDaveTampa]

Those cleaned up well.

The hunt is better than the kill. Got the 230 for like ten bucks from a bike flipper who is knowledgeable, but burned out I guess, and also I suspect wifey is in the "get this stuff out of my garage NOW" mode. Very little brake wear. The 231 was included in a giant Box-O-Parts I scored on Ebay, it does have some brake track wear but it was impeccably clean, as were most of the XTR parts he was tired of. Two sets of brakes and levers. 3 DR's. Pedals, a hub. I dunno what all else. Big box. Suspect his spouse was in the same mode. Mine is not; not yet anyway.

Guess I could take some steel wool to that thing; not eager to lose one molecule of material but... I'd rather look good, etc.

On the road for the next two weeks, staying near Asheville NC which is a good mountain biking town, nestled in ancient misty mountains that blaze in Day-Glo orange in the fall. Presently covered in snow now, but the bike thrift shop (!) is open, and I'm gonna be digging for gold

 

[ibbz]

Those cleaned up well.

The hunt is better than the kill. Got the 230 for like ten bucks from a bike flipper who is knowledgeable, but burned out I guess, and also I suspect wifey is in the "get this stuff out of my garage NOW" mode. Very little brake wear. The 231 was included in a giant Box-O-Parts I scored on Ebay, it does have some brake track wear but it was impeccably clean, as were most of the XTR parts he was tired of. Two sets of brakes and levers. 3 DR's. Pedals, a hub. I dunno what all else. Big box. Suspect his spouse was in the same mode. Mine is not; not yet anyway.

Guess I could take some steel wool to that thing; not eager to lose one molecule of material but... I'd rather look good, etc.

On the road for the next two weeks, staying near Asheville NC which is a good mountain biking town, nestled in ancient misty mountains that blaze in Day-Glo orange in the fall. Presently covered in snow now, but the bike thrift shop (!) is open, and I'm gonna be digging for gold

The hunt is better than the kill I agree!
It’s the most enjoyable part!
A bit like trying to chase and woo a chick