Product Description
This is a truly show-worthy mid 1980's Colnago Superissimo complete bicycle, in 57cm. These frames are hard to date, but this version of the Superissimo was made from 1984 to about 1988, and the complete Dura Ace 7400 gruppo have matching date codes of 1985. This model was differentiated from the lower cost Colnago Super primarily via the Columbus SLX tubing, where the Super had SL. This particular frame features a fully chromed fork matched to a lovely cross hatch red and blue pattern with cream white accents. The pattern really is something, fading into the blue and cream at either ends, and turning to a purple where the blue and red meet.
The build is top level classically designed parts from the era. The entire drivetrain, hubs, seatpost and brakeset are a 1985 Dura Ace 7400 6-speed setup, including the chain and freewheel. Rims are the cleanest pair of Mavic MA-40's I have seen not in a package, with Specialized Turbo clincher tires. The Cinelli bars/stem have had their anodizing removed and been highly polished, creating a cohesive look blending into the polished headset and chromed fork (the clamping areas are NOT polished). A perforated leather San Marco Rolls and Campagnolo seat pin round out the build.
This bike came to me with this exact build. The only things I added are NOS tape and saddle. Being that this gruppo is a complete date matching set of DA 7400, one could speculate that this was a team bike, from a team with a sponsorship from Shimano instead of the more common (for Italian bikes) Campagnolo C-Record you would expect to see on this frame.
Size
This large 57cm frame will fit riders roughly 5ft10 to 6ft 2
- Top tube: 57cm
- Seat tube: 57.5cm (c-t), 56cm (c-c)
- Head tube: 149mm
- Chainstays: 403mm
Condition
Show bike shape with very few miles! The components are all pristine and appear just as you would expect NOS take-off parts to appear, with just two exceptions; the crank has a 1/2" scrape on one of the spider arms, and the brake levers have just a bit of scratching on the blades. Hoods are perfect and not dry. Tires show no tread wear, and sidewalls are just very slightly dry with age (consistent with NOS tires with 30+ years of age). All components and frame are remarkably free of dirt, and the bike has been given a full professional tune (zero miles since). Needs NOTHING.
The frameset overall looks lovely. Paint is glossy and deep, with overall very little wear. Wear areas are restricted a few small chips and scuffs from storage, and areas without chips look new. Chips are all well photographed, and are: bottom of seat cluster, behind drive-side shifter, drive-side seatstay half way down, to the right of Ernesto's signature, and under side of BB shell. Underside of downtube, chainstays, and fork crown are clean and free from chips. The fork & chrome chainstay are immaculate.
Components
- Frame: Columbus SLX lugged steel
- Gruppo: Shimano Dura Ace 7400- Derailleurs, 6sp shifters, brakes/levers, crankset (170mm, 52/42t), bottom bracket, hubs/qr skewers, freewheel (13-21t)
- Seatpost: Dura Ace AX SP-7300
- Rims: Mavic MA40 hard anodized, red label
- Stem: Cinelli 1A, polished above where it's entered into the steerer
- Handlebars: Cinelli Giro d' Italia, polished center section except under clamp
- Tires: Specialized Turbo LS 700x25c
- Saddle: San Marco Rolls (NOS)
- Handlebar tape: NOS Ambrosio Bike Ribbon faux leather (NOS)