So I finally managed to find a frame almost exactly as I wanted, at a decent price (100 eur), so I jumped at the opportunity, and bought it.
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But aside from the dropouts and the Columbus sticker, there isn’t any branding on it. I gather CROMOR was one of the more affordable Columbus tubing, so in spite of the beautiful frame, I don’t imagine this was a top-of-the-line racer. Also, the Campagnolo dropouts, BB and headset suggest it might be Italian, but that’s about it.
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I hope the frame number is some sort of hint for someone and could maybe help me identify what brand bicycle this came from.
​
Thanks!
bernie-dub on
While perhaps not top of the line Columbus Cromor makes for good frames. And Campagnolo dropouts IS top of the line.
Hard to say who build it but you did well.
I’m guessing it’s a 54 mm frame from the number on the bottom bracket.
Good luck building it up.
tiregroove on
Anytime you see Campy dropouts, finely-filed lugwork and a well-done forkcrown, that’s a win.
Jack-Schitz on
No proprietary lug work or anything that would indicate a particular builder. You could try to slowly strip back the paint to see if its been resprayed and you can get a hint on the builder (your probably going to want to do that anyway).
If it was me, I would go with a cromovelato multicolor fade with silver lugs, but I’m a little weird in that dept. Also, you may want to get the rear triangle resized for modern wheels before you go to the paint booth.
Have fun.
firstoff on
Nice frame. Almost certainly Italian. Campagnolo dropouts aren’t the clue as they were regarded as the best worldwide and everyone used them – including some Japanese brands. What gives it away is the “36 x 24” Italian bottom bracket threading, which is almost exclusively used in Italy. The only exception I can think of is Eddy Merckx frames which are Belgian but with a strong connection to Italian builder Ugo De Rosa.
The frame likely dates to the first half of the 90s – probably made in 94 and built up with 95/96 Athena. I’m curious to know whether the bottom bracket spindle is 111mm or 102mm, because Campagnolo started to transition their double cranksets to the shorter length at this time and I’ve never seen a 95 Athena 111mm (triple) cartridge bottom bracket.
At some time the frame was rebuilt to run Shimano STI. The Shimano cable adjusters on the down-tube shifter braze-ons are the first clue. The second is the position of the bottom bracket which has been moved slightly towards the drive side. I suspect this was done to stop the Shimano JIS tapered cranks from bottoming out on the ISO tapered Campagnolo spindle.
If the plan is to run a non-Campag groupset then it really needs the bottom bracket replaced.
5 Comments
So I finally managed to find a frame almost exactly as I wanted, at a decent price (100 eur), so I jumped at the opportunity, and bought it.
​
But aside from the dropouts and the Columbus sticker, there isn’t any branding on it. I gather CROMOR was one of the more affordable Columbus tubing, so in spite of the beautiful frame, I don’t imagine this was a top-of-the-line racer. Also, the Campagnolo dropouts, BB and headset suggest it might be Italian, but that’s about it.
​
I hope the frame number is some sort of hint for someone and could maybe help me identify what brand bicycle this came from.
​
Thanks!
While perhaps not top of the line Columbus Cromor makes for good frames. And Campagnolo dropouts IS top of the line.
Hard to say who build it but you did well.
I’m guessing it’s a 54 mm frame from the number on the bottom bracket.
Good luck building it up.
Anytime you see Campy dropouts, finely-filed lugwork and a well-done forkcrown, that’s a win.
No proprietary lug work or anything that would indicate a particular builder. You could try to slowly strip back the paint to see if its been resprayed and you can get a hint on the builder (your probably going to want to do that anyway).
If it was me, I would go with a cromovelato multicolor fade with silver lugs, but I’m a little weird in that dept. Also, you may want to get the rear triangle resized for modern wheels before you go to the paint booth.
Have fun.
Nice frame. Almost certainly Italian. Campagnolo dropouts aren’t the clue as they were regarded as the best worldwide and everyone used them – including some Japanese brands. What gives it away is the “36 x 24” Italian bottom bracket threading, which is almost exclusively used in Italy. The only exception I can think of is Eddy Merckx frames which are Belgian but with a strong connection to Italian builder Ugo De Rosa.
The frame likely dates to the first half of the 90s – probably made in 94 and built up with 95/96 Athena. I’m curious to know whether the bottom bracket spindle is 111mm or 102mm, because Campagnolo started to transition their double cranksets to the shorter length at this time and I’ve never seen a 95 Athena 111mm (triple) cartridge bottom bracket.
At some time the frame was rebuilt to run Shimano STI. The Shimano cable adjusters on the down-tube shifter braze-ons are the first clue. The second is the position of the bottom bracket which has been moved slightly towards the drive side. I suspect this was done to stop the Shimano JIS tapered cranks from bottoming out on the ISO tapered Campagnolo spindle.
If the plan is to run a non-Campag groupset then it really needs the bottom bracket replaced.
Great score.