Hi,
I've been a CR subscriber on and off, last signoff around 2002 when I sold the last of my vintage Italian steel. I continued to be sort of a BOBish rider w/old Treks & Japanese steel, which recently seem to have become less redolent of the garage sale, if not the trash heap, than they formerly were.
In any event, one CR-ish thing I kept was an old Mondia Special frame (55 cm, 26.4mm seatpost) acquired in a long ago trade and which I just finished resurrecting. For the "Mondia Maven", serial #165718. Reynolds 531 DB, Nervex Pro lugs, including BB. Chromed head lugs, fork crown, fork lowers, seat/chain stays, and seat tube panel. Original color was red, no fade color, off-white lug lining. The red paint did fade into the chrome stays and fork lowers. The entire bike, including the chrome, had some sort of rather soft clear coat - don't know if this was from the factory, but it preserved the chrome in factory fresh condition.
Here are a couple of shots of the resurrected bike:
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Decals are from a later Mondia Special, esp. the downtube, which originally had "Mondia Special" with the Special in script as often seen elsewhere. I acquired this as a bare frame + headset & bottom bracket. Headset (French) was Campy Record <C> - it still mortifies me to admit that this was accidentally discarded some years ago, got mixed into a junk bag by accident. The bottom bracket was a French threaded Suntour Cyclone, obviously not original. The current build is a mix of mostly vintage Italian & Japanese parts. I am looking for a quality 26.4mm fluted 2-bolt seatpost to replace the currently installed single bolt one.
Jay Roberts
Silver Spring, Maryland
USA
http://nihonmaru.blogspot.com