That is a very beautiful bike in excellent condition for the year. To try to answer your questions:
1. Missing decals: No need to replace them unless you really want to in order to make the bike look like it did when it came out of the factory. Repro decals are mostly good enough that most people will not n otice the difference.
2. I don't know what they would be either. Comments above on wh ether to replace apply.
3. It would likely have been built up to order or bought as a framese t only, so any saddle of the correct period would do. An Italian sadd le would be best - Selle Italia, Selle San Marco or even Cinelli if you are not worried about comfort.
4. The comments above also apply to the bar tape. Your suggesti ons sound right and absolutely anything would be better than what is on it now.
Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England
From: Todd Grantham <wtgrantham@comcast.net> Subject: [CR]Guerciotti Advice To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Wednesday, 17 December, 2008, 12:13 PM
Hello everyone, new guy on the list. I found and subscribed recently
after purchasing this vintage Guerciotti.
http://ebay.com/
1. It is missing a few decals, (mostly the big columbus decal and one of small fork columbus decal) I find the replacements on ebay, but I am wondering about the concensus of the group on replacement decals. Is the quality good enough? Does it "taint" the originality of the bike?
2. Two other decals are missing and I am not sure what they were. One was located on the headtube, above the star and the other on the top tube near the headtube both were about 1/2 in wide and I am guessing they were the same decal. From the decal sets I see it looks like they could have been "Made In Italy" decals. Does that sound correct?
3. What saddle would this bike have come with originally?
4. What style and color of bar tape would this bike have originally come with? I assume either blue like the frame color or yellow to match the decals and brake cable housings.
Thanks for any help you can provide
Todd Grantham
Fort Wayne, IN
United States