Greg,
There is another "generation" of Columbus tubing decal between the gold foil version and the tubeing specific decal that is generally blue border with gold background, having the dove in oval mark inside and rounded corners(as opposed to the foil with square corners). The generation of which I speak looks about the same as the decals that state which tubeset it is. They are pretty plain, blue border with gold background, dove in oval in middle and rounded corners. I think these were used for a period from early/mid 70's to mid or early/late 70's; just from memory.
Keeping track of tube decal gyrations has always been great fun; about like jamming your fingers into a rotating wheel for kicks.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
Decals.......decals.......We don't need no stinking decals!
>
> Hi Jim:
>
> >From what I've seen (and owned), I think the SP decal only became unique
> after the end of the old gold-colored "foil" decal era. I have a 60cm c-t
> Bottechia Pro. from about 1970, and it is SP (27.2 post wouldn't fit, and the
> frame weight and stiffness both scream "full-SP"). The Columbus decal on that
> frame is the foil one - same as an SL frame of that vintage as far as I can
> tell.
>
> My 60cm c-t Medici Pro Strada, however, being newer, has what I understand to
> be the SP-specific decal: black lettering on a gold background. My circa 1980
> Merckx had that decal as well. All-SP frames are really stiff, IMO. What a
> difference a tenth makes....
>
> SL decals of that era are the familiar white lettering on a blue/gold
> two-tone background.
>
> Of course, there is no guarantee that correct decals were always put on
> frames, and often builders would mix SL and SP anyways, for example using SP
> downtubes and chainstays with an otherwise SL set. Decals on those were
> probably most often the SL ones that came with the tubeset. Full-SP frames
> generally started at about 59 cm c-t or so IIRC (like you mentioned...).
>
> Framebuilders: were there ever SP fork decals to match the frame decal?
> (I've never seen any...).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg "Antonio" Parker
> A2 MI USA
>
> P.S. you can always weigh a frame and fork to see if it's SP - it will be
> about a half-pound heavier if it's SP vs. SL.... Should require a 27.0 post
> as well.
>
> > Message: 9
> > From: "Jim McCoin" <j.mccoin@attbi.com>
> > To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> > Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 16:21:21 -0700
> > Subject: [CR]Re: Bianchi's
> >
> > My apologies, when I was asking about the Specialissima, "Team Issue" =
> > differences, I was referring to the 60's era bikes.
> > I've always believed that SL tubing was used on frames up to about 58 or =
> > 59 CM and that SP was normally used on the larger ones.
> >
> > I don't ever recall seeing a Columbus sticker that denoted one or the =
> > other, needless to say I have not seen every Columbus decal. Short of =
> > stripping the paint how would you know.
> >
> > I believe the answers are lost in the two or three changes of ownership =
> > and marketing teams.
> >
> > Jim "I've always loved Celeste" McCoin
> > Fremont Ca.