All:
I've got an orange Stella that was originally full NR I believe, and it is Columbus db with the early foil sticker. The seat post is a 26.6, the dropouts are Campy 1010s, and the stays and fork blades are chromed on their lower halves. Fork crown is flat & chromed. I built it up with mostly Zeus criterium-level parts (how's that for funky - a French frameset with Spanish parts - I don't exactly worry about running into an identical bike out on the road) and Ghisallo ash rims.... The frame is a bit weathered, and the workmanship / qc on the joints is pretty typical French-level of that period (easy there, Francophiles - I speak fluent French and love their wines, cheeses, and chateaux, OK?). The bike is a very nice ride; fairly light and resilient I'd say.... A lot like that LeJeune I had and liked (anyone have a red 60cm LeJeune top-end frame or bike they'd be willing to sell to me?)
Greg "zut alors" Parker Anne Arbour, Mi-she-gan. (Waiting for the eBay Moto to arrive)
In a message dated 6/4/01 10:30:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jfbender@umich.edu writes:
> This sounds really neat and I can't imagine it is low end.
>
> Columbus tubed French frames are pretty rare. So rare that to my knowledge
> Columbus did not bother tomake a French dimension steerer.
>
> Joe
>
> At 07:18 PM 6/4/01 -0700, Paulie Davis wrote:
> >Hi everybody,
> >
> >Unpacking the latest eBay haul tonight I was
> >greeted with my first set of Campy high flange
> >hubs of some sort on nice Mavic polished aluminum
> >box rims, extra unused Clement sew-up, ancient
> >Ideale saddle and the famous open c QR skewers,
> >for starters. Boy, is this fun!
> >
> >The bad news was: no buffer zone in the end
> >packing materials, resulting in bent drop out
> >screws, through the frame still looks completely
> >unharmed. FedEx ground was the carrier.
> >
> >So has anybody ever heard of the *Arctic* made by
> >Stella? The frame seems rather heavy, and the
> >tubing says *Columbus Tubes Reinforces* -- but
> >what do I know? I'm here to learn! I would
> >think this a lower end frame, but the wheels and
> >hubs were so nice. Universal, Pivo and Nervar
> >Star rounded out the parts. It's orange and
> >black. Guess it's perfect for October.
> >
> >Thanks so much for your thoughts,
> >Paulie Davis
> >in Overcast L.A.