Hi Mark,
It's not beyond the realm of possibiliy that Ernesto built the bike in ques tion, but there is nothing to indicate that that is the case, other than the claim by the seller/owner of the bike in the Masi Christmas party.
That particular seatstay cap treatment appears to have been a Bottecchia feature, and the holes in the crown apparently don't mean much since other builders used the same style crown.
Ernesto's frames sometimes carried other sponsor's names, but AFAIK, he sti ll built them them his way, and they looked like his frames, not like s omebody else's.
Anything is possible, but based on what we know right now, I think the reas onable assumption is that the bike in question is a Bottecchia.
Ray Dobbins
Miami, Florida USA
From: FujiFish1@aol.com <FujiFish1@aol.com> Subject: Re: [CR]A very Molteni new year, so far To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Cc: raydobbins2003@yahoo.com Date: Saturday, January 3, 2009, 1:28 PM
Hi Ray, Isn't it possible that the bike was made by Colnago ... especially since he was team mechanic, but labeled as Bottecchia since they were the sponsor, like happens so often elsewhere that we hear of? Perhaps Ernesto only di d that special seat stay treatment on these bikes, which is why it still sh ows up on the Molteni bike on Ebay and at Masi's place? The holes in the fork crown certainly seem in keeping with the early Colnago Supers. Wou ldn't be the last time Ernesto made a bike for someone big, and for somethi ng big, but didn't get his name on it ... ala Merckx and his hour record. No clue really, just throwing that possibility out there.
Ciao, Mark Agree Southfield MI USA ~ ~ ~
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 22:54:45 -0800 From: Raymond Dobbins <raydobbins2003@yahoo.com> To: Classic Rendezvous Bike List <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR]A very Molteni new year, so far
On new year's day I watched La Course en Tete on DVD (thanks to Chris Pro topapas). It think it had been about 20 years since I first (and last) s aw it, so it was like watching it for the first time. I think I enjoyed it even more this time around, and I definitely picked up on a lot of details that I missed before, such as the Colner style pantogra phed seat post (with a spade instead of a club), on one of the Molteni team bikes, and the various milled, drilled and panto'd parts on Eddy's many
bikes. For a Merckx/Molteni fan (nut) like me, this movie was a rea l treat, and a great way to start the year.
On the second day of the year I visited speedbicycles.com and discovered a
great presentation of three different Merckx Molteni bikes of the early to mid 70s: a Kessels, a Colnago and a De Rosa, all original. Stefan Sh aefter's many quality photos of all three machines provided another goo d dose of pure Molteni entertainment. Check out his beautiful photo, "The Moltenis," here (BTW, you can access the individual photo albums
by clicking on the respective bikes in the photo - which is a very nice technical feature):
http://www.speedbicycles.ch/
Today I took a look at some photos I received from Ken Denny, which I t hink are worth sharing with the list. He sent me these photos in respons e to a post I made a few days ago about the purported early Molteni Colnago bike that was on eBay a couple of weeks ago, and then more recently at Alberto Masi's Christmas party. It was discussed on the list and
the majority opinion was that it was not a Colnago frame, based in large pa rt on an unusual seatstay cap treatment, which you can see here on one
Scott Davis' photos:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/
(or go to Scott's blog http://sexyracebicycles.blogspot.com/
You can also see it in the auction listing, which is still up:
Ken wrote to say that he thought the bike was a Bottecchia, based on this p hoto from 1965, which shows Ernesto Colnago working on what appears to be G ianni Motta's Molteni bike:
http://raydobbins.com/
In this close-up of the same photo you can see the exact same seatstay cap
treatment:
http://raydobbins.com/
And in this one you see the same fork crown with the two holes on the side:
http://raydobbins.com/
I think at this point it is safe to assume that the Molteni bike from eBay
and the Masi party, is not a Colnago, and in all likelihood it is a Bottecc hia. (It's good to know these things ;) My thanks to Ken for his help .)
So, a very Molteni year so far for me - not a bad way to start the year!
Happy 2009 to all.
Ray Dobbins Miami, Florida, USA
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