Ann and everyone,
Back to the subject of the "rough" condition of the Monte frame you just got. One thing is that they are not all the same level or workmanship, but still within a rather narrow perameter. Of the two, the second one has a few non-structural "oversites" that my first one didn't have. Two things are evident; the work brazing and filing around the seat lug/seat stay attachment is not quite first class. I suspect that maybe the "second string" or junior members of the staff had a hand in these. The reason I say this is that some of the work is not quite at the level of the typical Cinelli SC of the peroid. The lug edge required considerable "romancing" to even out the blobs of excess brass in a few spots. An expert brazer would be able to do a clean job and keep the temp. under control. There is a large void at the top of one seat stay I had to fill with bondo. One would never get away with this with silver braze, but in this case it will undoubtedly hold, but the painter is going to have to bail the framebuilder out on this one. You have to remember, in Italy these were racing bikes, not a centerpiece for your dining table. I took 5 to 10 minutes and filed the sandcast surface off of the BB shell.
Originally I had planned to chrome the headlugs. After looking at it and working on it a little I have decided not to put in the effort on these lugs. The edges are not that refined and I don't feel like trying to fix it. The file marks you see in the raw lugs can actually be made to dissappear by a heavy sanding with 80 grit emory cloth. From there the primer and spot putty take over. I didn't do anything other than a quick touch up on the headlugs of my first frame and it looks quite acceptable. The brazing was a little sloppier on frame #2 so it took about 40 minutes to get to a point where it was acceptable without getting carried away. A good sanding with 80 grit and some paint will make all that "character" vanish, except for the texture under the BB shell. The paint job is going to be everything, in the end.
Now I'll tell you what is right agout these bikes. I didn't get any original forks with my frames so I had the luxury of building a fork to my taste. The style matches the frame, but I used 40mm rake which makes them ride and handle pretty much like a Colnago super of the period. What first attracted me to the frames is what it was made out of, both in tubing and fittings. The Fischer sand cast BB shell, the Cinelli round bridge reinforcers, the Masi style concave seat stay cap (not plug), and the Prugnuat lugs. The important thing about the lugs is how the back of the seat lug where the slot goes has been lengthened. Most Prugnaut seat lugs have almost nothing back there, which is REALLY bad in my opinion. Someone either had custom ones mand or they took the time to modify them. That means a lot to me. Also, as traditional with high end Italian frames of the period, the seat lug ears are made solid to prevent deformation. These are important points in terms of long lasting trouble free functioning of these much used areas. Attention to the function of the frame above the "look" of it. The stay ends are nice. I noticed that they were brazed with nickel-silver as opposed to brass like the rest of the frame. I would prefer the were filled up instead of left hollow. I did mine on the forkblades solid, even though it looks the same I would rather not have stuff going into the chainstay and dumping into the BB shell. Make sure you use Pertr Weigles' Framesaver in the chainstays, but only AFTER it has been painted. The mitering isn't pretty nor is it textbook structurally inside the BB shell; but it will hold together just fine, especially on account of they used the best quality BB shell available at the time. I also like the milling and drilling pattern they put in the BB shell, perfect to let the water out of the chainstay. I like bikes built with old Columbus SL because they remind me of my first Colnago in 1972.
Overall the frame might be called a "B" frame but still has plenty of vintage Italian styling, will ride fine with the proper fork, and last forever most likely. How it looks is largely up to you in the end. I'm very happy with these two considering the money I paid.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA