Cromor was introduced in 1989 and succeded Columbus Matrix. It was later phased out by Columbus Thron.
That's definately an early Cromor sticker.Thank you. I have been looking at old catalogs and am finding mentions of Matrix in 1987 and refrences to Cromor as early as 1988. I just checked the date codes on the cranks, and they're from late in the year 1988. That seems to fit.
The Columbus decal, BTW, seems to be an early one, in "Matrix style":
View attachment 544696
Apparently you could order a frame style with the tubing, paint job chrome and gruppo of your choice, and there were no real models. This would have been a "Telaio Cromor".
That was definitely the case in 1986/87 (can't remember now which year it was!) when I bought my frame. You specified the size, colour, amount of chrome, internal or external rear brake cable and what tubing you wanted. As a lightweight rider on a 54cm frame I went with SL but could have had SLX for added stiffness or Aelle for reduced cost. There were no model names, I think they only came in during the 90s when the model name was stamped on the top of the bottom bracket.
Mark.
Matrix was introduced in 1984. It was intended to fill the mid range gap above the lower end Zeta & Aelle but below SL & SLX. Matrix became Cromor in 1987/1988 when Trek asserted their right to the Matrix name.Thanks and yes, 126mm rear spacing. From what little I have been able to find so far my preliminary conclusion is that this frame was probably built in 1988 or early 1989.
Apparently you could order a frame style with the tubing, paint job chrome and gruppo of your choice, and there were no real models. This would have been a "Telaio Cromor".
I don't know yet when Matrix was introduced, but the earliest mention of Cromor I found so far was from 1987 (Chesini catalog for the 87-88 season).
Funny you should mention Faggin, as the only other Italian bike I have built up is a Faggin. I have been in touch with Massimo and Cristina to check its provenance, as there are no panto's and the fork is a Tange item, but they confirmed the frame came from their workshop in the early eighties: