Olmo - fluted tubing, project now complete

[GordonB]

I've just about finished the Olmo with fluted tubing that I bought a few weeks ago, so here's the piccys.

Spec:
Tubing - might be Columbus Gilco, six flutes on all main tubes. The forks are definitely Columbus as the original photo I have of the bike shows decals on them. Haven't got any fork decals yet, they are the last thing I need - anyone got any?
Groupset is all Shimano 105, everything including hubs.
Stem - Cinelli XA
Bars - Cinelli Campione del Mondo
Pedals - Look
Tyres - Vredestein Fortezza
Rims - Mavic 190NE
Saddle - Selle Italia Turbomatic 4
Seat post - Miche (came with the bike)
Decals - Cyclomondo (on Ebay, based in Oz, very good quality)
Powder coating by JT Finishing Solutions of Bury St Edmunds

This is now officially my bestest bike and definitely will not be seeing the road until this crappy wet weather goes away.

Gordon

 

[Cossington]

Gordon,

What a scrumptious bike. I wouldn't have guessed it was powder coated - looks a very good finish. Good colour choice (for dry days, at least!) - looks very elegant and classy. Wasthat a match for the priginal colour?

I have had some Cyclemondo drecals and agree they do seem good quality.

Sounds a pretty speedy project - how long did the project take? Did you have the parts from the same bike before renovation...?

David

 

[GordonB]

Gordon,

What a scrumptious bike. I wouldn't have guessed it was powder coated - looks a very good finish. Good colour choice (for dry days, at least!) - looks very elegant and classy. Wasthat a match for the priginal colour?

I have had some Cyclemondo drecals and agree they do seem good quality.

Sounds a pretty speedy project - how long did the project take? Did you have the parts from the same bike before renovation...?

David

I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the powder coat, I wanted a finish that wasn't too glossy as I felt this would help highlight the flutes. The original colour was very different, ivory white with a bright red fade on the headtube, seat tube cluster and bottom bracket cluster. Very 1970s and not to my taste. This information came from a photo of the bike when it was first bought but it was at some later date resprayed a vile metallic purple, which is how I bought it.

The new colour was actually chosen to match the style of the decals because there were only two decal styles available and I considered it was important to get a match. As the decals look somewhat deco I chose a classic deco cream.

I brought the bike back from overseas in mid January and rebuilt it a week or so later to make sure the new component set worked ok as it had Sora brifters on and I wanted to return to downtube shifters, as per the original. The only parts that I retained from the bike I bought are the brakes, the seat post, the bars and the stem. All the rest came from my parts collection, stuff I've squirreled away for builds such as this. The shift levers are actually RX100 but I've got a pair of NOS 105 7 speed shift levers coming soon so they will go on it when they arrive. Once I was happy with the way everything performed I stripped it down, stripped the cruddy paint off the frame and sent it for powder coating.

Good word, "scrumptious", thanks for that!

Gordon

 

[blkryder]

Gilco Tubing?

Hi,

Beautiful bike! Did you build the frame yourself? If so, where did you acquire the fluted tubing?

Thanks,
Stephen

 

[GordonB]

Re: Gilco Tubing?

Hi,

Beautiful bike! Did you build the frame yourself? If so, where did you acquire the fluted tubing?

Thanks,
Stephen

No. it was built by Olmo some time in the 1990s, but they don't appear to have a record of it and it has no frame number. Possibly a prototype but definitely an Olmo as I have a photo of it in it's original condition and livery.

Gordon

 

[Bendo]

That's a really special bike. Can't help thinking it needs a bit nicer gruppo to match that wonderful frame...?

 

[GordonB]

That's a really special bike. Can't help thinking it needs a bit nicer gruppo to match that wonderful frame...?

I both agree and disagree, depending on how I look at it! The guy I bought it from had owned it from new and it actually came with a 105 groupset, so what's on it is, strictly speaking correct, as it was produced around the late 80s to mid 90s. The kit that was on it was in poor condition and a mix of the dark and light anodised 105, mine is all the same style so looks nicer than the original. Effectively I've just done a like for like swap.

HOWEVER - I tend to agree that the 105 group doesn't set the bike off as well as it should and ideally I'd like a Campag setup, probably Veloce. BUT - I want indexed shifting and the rear oln is 126mm, too narrow for a Campag 8 speed hub and I do not want to go down the route of either spreading the rear triangle or using Synchro levers as I'd like a system that shifts reliably. As it stands, the bike has a 7 speed hub that maintains the 126mm spacing and I can run Shimano indexed levers, which shift about as reliably as a really reliable sort of thing. If I want to go for brifters I still have a couple of pairs of early Sora 7 speed that I could use, but I don't like the cables running out of the side of the levers. Campag came late into the brifter game and don't seem to have produced a 7 speed version.

If anyone can think of a way round this conundrum, I'd like to hear from them as I really would like to run Campag Ergos on a 126mm oln rear wheel!

Gordon

 

[GordonB]

BTW, if anyone is doing the East Anglian Tour Ride in July I'll almost certainly be on this bike as it took me round the Suffolk Sunrise 100 faultlessly and drew many admiring looks and comments, especially as there wasn't much steel on the road that day. However, it won't be used if it's wet, this is my Sunday best, dry days only bike!

I'll be the bloke with the "Carbon-Fibre Free Zone" logo on the back of the jersey.

Gordon

 

[hamster]

Campag 8 speed has exactly the same cog spacing as 7 speed, so any Campag 8 speed setup will shift perfectly on your 7 speed cassette.

Also, both Campag and Shimano agreed on 7 speed being 5mm pitch, so it was before they went their different ways on gears.

 

[Stanley_PL]

Cool bike, grat tubes, my favorite 105 group