PHOTOS: 1980 Colnago Olympic Time Trial bike with early Aero features - 1981 Replica
About the bike: It was confirmed in 2003 by an executive at Colnago's main office that Colnago built this replica in 1981, honoring their bike said used to win Gold in one of the 1980 Olympic Cycling events in Moscow, Russia. It is not specified how many of these bikes were made. The United States boycotted the 1980 games, along with some other prominent countries I believe, so the palmares are somewhat discounted in my mind (see the film - American Fliers :). I've not been able to find anything specific on the Internet, about cycling in the 1980 Olympics. If anyone can supply any information, or PHOTOS of any of those events, I would be very grateful! Where does one go to view past Olympic images?
Moving forward in time ... in California, a previous owner of the bike commissioned CycleArt to refinish the frame with paint to match his (also custom painted) Porsche sports car!
Special built time trial features: - "crimped" and reduced size tubing. - proprietary tiny headset to fit the reduced tubing. - pantographed TTT black stem, quill reduced to 17mm. - Campy SR aero modified shorty seat post milled to 24mm to fit the reduced tubing. - double socketed b.b. shell to accommodate the reduced tubing. - Campagnolo SR cranks with "Mexico" treatment (including rounded face, milled through spider arms, pantographed logos, and anodizing removed). - Hugo Rickert (1960s Germany?) aluminum b.b. sleeve, serves as a der. cable guide. - special flat plate, brazed-on front der. hanger. - Campagnolo Record front der. with main body changed to a proprietary mounting plate. - reverse brake orientation with front Campy bolt BRAZED to back of fork crown. - "SUPER RECORD" marked brake pads, in pantographed offset mount aluminum holders. - top of down tube shifter mount with brazed-on lever stops and internally run cables. - internally routed brake cable and casing through top tube. - tear drop shaped seat stays.
The other components were selected from my stock of mostly used stuff on hand, but the Colnago shifters were borrowed from another bike (PICs of that bike are next), and two of the unique brake pads and holders were supplied by a list member. Note that the front pads are used only for show on the rear brake ... not for riding. Some of the bike has cleaned up nicely, some less so, but she was in much rougher shape upon receipt.
Well, I promised to post PICs of the project when completed, so here they are. Perhaps there are too many detail pics, actually ... and one must wade through the album pages (to some degree) in order to find all the trick details mentioned:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
Ciao,
Mark Agree
Southfield MI USA