Robert,
I missed that Bikeforums thread, thanks for the additional knowledge.
Everyone, Here's my Benotto 850 on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/
Bought as my first roadbike, after my girlfriend first got me into mountain biking, then road cycling. She had this idea about doing Seattle-to-Portla nd and I figured a classic bike was the way to go for me. We're married now , with 6 more bikes in the basement, so I guess it worked out OK!
Serial # R1U878 or possibly R10878 "Benotto" dropouts, heart cutout in BB shell (with tubular cable guides), b ut crudely done to my eye. It had a "Made in Italy" sticker on the head tube, sort of a typwriter font on a papery sticker(not a nice plastic sticker). The decals and paint look good from twenty, but up close leave a lot to be desired.
I bought it as "found in warehouse-NOS never assembled". The tires, tubes, and rims trips were extra dry and crackly, and the rims and pads had no br ake marks whatsoever. Bars were wrapped. Wheels untensioned/untrued.
Sticker on rim reads "Benotto", then in smaller letters "Campeona Del Mundo ", that's all the marking I could find on the 700c rim. The original headse t is similiarly engraved "Benotto" with no other markings.
Italian BB. No indication of tubing type.
Dura-Ace 26.4 seatpost, 600 freehwheel, bottom bracket, brakes, shifters, derailleurs, cranks(52-42 "w cut" rings, pictures show a 38t I installed). Miche hubs. It came with a honey Brooks pro (hard as a rock), but in the pi ctures you'll see my broken-in black one mounted. Skewers may or may not be correct, I'm at work and seem to recall replacing at least one.
The EA stamp on the cranks seem to indicate an early 1980 model at best, ba sed on vintage-trek.com's dating page. (The brakes are stamped OC -haven't checked the rest).
Some time after the ride I bought an 84 Trek 760 frame (and built it off-to pic). Wow! the difference of that 531c ride! Still, though ride quality suf fers a bit, the Benotto is still my favorite handling bike that I own.
No evidence of seat tube crackage yet, but it only has maybe 2000 miles on it. I'm 200lbs. and can induce a ghost shift if I try. Is this within the timeline of concern? Is it really a Benotto from 1980? Any other insight in to the component choices or anything else qould be appreciated.
Jimmy Livengood
Seattle, WA
_________________________________________________________________
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we g
ive.
http://im.live.com/