CR list reading can really lead to vintage buying adventures (not all of
which my wife appreciates; all in all she is very understanding). I picked
up a 1983ish Colnago Oval CX in beautiful condition. Neat bike; kind of like
a Merckx MX Leader on a diet...smaller, more delicate tube set. Reading the
CR archives indicates this was Colnago's first effort at an aero tube set.
There is a COLUMBUS OVAL CX decal so that is who the tube maker was. There
are "Oval CX" decals all over; along with a distinctive 3 line swooshes all
over as well; as the bike is silver the swooshes are dark blue, blue,
turquoise. Nice engravings of CX and Colnago on the frame as well. The brake
is mounted on the rear of the seatstays (between seat stays and seat tube).
There is a similar (with some differences) frame/fork on ebay at the moment
which will give you an idea:
http://ebay.com/
Interesting that the seller says, ".....same tubing used for the bike of Tony Rominger's world hour record bike."
Looking at the Colnago site for 1983 it says: "1983: The birth of Colnago's
innovative, unique Oval cx Arabesque frame" (I think they mean two different
frames??). By the way, it looks like the Colnago website has been redone (at
least since I last visited) and they have key events by year since
1932....the year Ernesto was born. Many good photos, etc. Start here:
http://www.colnagonews.com/
The archives indicate the ride may not be great but it sure is an interesting bike. Ride test coming up soon.
Ciao
Angel Garcia
Long Valley, NJ