Hi. My name is Angel Garcia. I'm an avid road cyclist and now, through the acquisition of a Cinelli and a couple of other vintage bikes, a budding vintage road cyclist also. Look forward to meeting some of you in the future.
I have a question about a Cinelli that has passed on to me. First, I'd like to thank a few members I emailed earlier with some questions and they were kind enough to reply.
I know the history of this particular bike as it was purchased by a very dear friend of mine; he was the original owner and it has passed on to me.
This Cinelli (5946) was ordered from Bruegelmann's in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1971 and took almost a year to deliver as it was a special order lightweight model (my close friend recalls a reference to "super leggera" or similar). My friend took delivery of it in 1972 in Germany when he went to see the Olympics. He has mentioned to me that he has only ever seen one like it (in yellow as per description below), and that was during a 1972 Olympic training ride where a rider had one.
It was delivered as a frame and fork; un-built. It is all yellow, including the fork, with the exception of a red head tube, a red panel on the seat tube, and the holes in the lugs which are painted red. The bottom bracket has 7 holes cut out; a larger 1 in the middle surrounded by 6 smaller holes; the BB also has cable guides on top. The brake bridge and the chainstay bridge do not have a hole. I also have a 1970; it has a label of "Speciale Corsa" but the BB is not cut out, it has chromed lugs, chromed fork crown......the yellow Cinelli does not have a model label. To clarify, the yellow Cinelli does not have chromed lugs, or chromed fork crown. I have read as many Cinelli posts as my eyes could stand but did not see any regarding a Cinelli with the BB cutouts I've described. Of course, it has the Cinelli head badge, the Cinelli logo on the seat tube, Columbus decal (with gold background). I'm left unsure if it's the paint scheme or the frame, or both, that is the "special order". Any insights welcome.
The "build" of the bike has its own interesting story: my friend calls the gruppo "Super Super Record". In the early 1970's he worked at a firm that had access to titanium. Every bolt, screw, nut, skewer, and BB spline, is made out of titanium....perfectly matching the original Campy Record parts. Machined by master machinists, including himself, at that time. This 30 year bike weighs 18 lbs. There are other lightweight things going on also....It's really something. Of course, I have all the orig. campy bits but I will leave as is as there is nothing like it in the world I'm sure.
That's my story. It's wonderful to learn about great, old, bikes....
Angel (in Morris County, NJ)