Question about a vintage Colorado

[JSO]

Hello 1st post.

After 20 years of regret for letting a Serotta slip through my fingers I finally have one.

I am attempting to find out a little about it. It is a Colorado frame whose serial number is 90205. I imediately concluded a 1990 based on the SN and the 7400 Durace gruppo. However the 1990 and 1989 catalogs make no mention of the Colorado model. So I am thinking that it is an older frame.

Does anyone here know when the original Colorado's production ran?

The frame as you would expect is beautiful being made from Columbus tubing. It appears to be a combintation of Filet brazing around the BB area and nicely contoured lugs elsewhere. THe paint job does not dissapoint and is a beautifull bronze fade. THe size is only 52cm however which may or may not work for me. Shifters have been upgraded to STI Ultrega at some point.The Rims are Campy laced to Phil Wood Hubs.....CLASSIC!

Can anyone confirm the vintage of this bike?

Thanks in advance.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/jsokbo/Serotta%20Colorado/IMGP8130.jpg

[David Kirk]

Post some photos and I might be able to give you some info. I remember well what stuff looks like but can't recall when the serial numbering system changed from the "old" system your bike has the the new combo of numbers and letters.

dave

[David Kirk]

It's a wild arse guess but I'd say 1992 (ie 1989) :) or so.

Horizontal dropouts
1" top tube - ovalized at front
internals

Yeah about 1992.

dave

[stephenyi]

I have a Serotta with a 90324 serial code and I was told it was built in 1989.

[JSO]

Thanks for your insight
Does the fillet brazing on around the Bottom bracket area help date it at all?
Where would this Colorado fit in with the Colorado heirarchy? There are no letters after the word Colorado.
Again thanks for your input.

[serotta_russ]

Serial # 90205 was built in Jan 1989, sold to a dealer named Outspokin, a 53cm Colorado II

[Pete Serotta]

Serial # 90205 was built in Jan 1989, sold to a dealer named Outspokin, a 53cm Colorado II
:) :) Beers on me or some RED :beer:

[David Kirk]

Like I said... clearly it's a 1989. Clearly!

dave

[flickwet]

itsa 89, and now you got classic bike braggin rights. The BB and partially fillet brazed head tube are necessitated by the unavailability of lugs to accommodate the tubing size, I learned this stuff on the forum, other folks know alot more than me, I will tell you that after 75,000 miles my Colorado is still my fave bike tho she will need a refresh one of these days,m my braze on TT cable stays had to be replaced with super classy zip ties and some of the touch up painting I've done is not up to Serotta standards, but what a ride man what a ride, Mine has a Campy record/ Chorus mix.

[Johnny P]

I bought a 1991 Colorado II in October of 1990. It had the rear brake cable routed through the top tube as it appears your bike has. I thought that was the first year Serotta did that. The serial number from the paperwork is SC5600896. I no longer have the bike :( . Maybe I should have kept it. It was a nice bike.

JP

[beungood]

if it doesnt work for you it might for me...

[mike p]

Whatever the hell year it is it looks great. Hope it works out for ya.

Mike

[JSO]

I did want to verify one thing though. My rig simply states C-O-L-O-R-A-D-O.

There are no letters or numbers that appear after.

Is that common with the Colorado II?

[jbrainin]

Most likely it was repainted. When I had my Colorado II repainted in '93, there were no more decals that read Colorado II so I was told that it would read just Colorado instead.

[JSO]

Would they have gone to the trouble of repainting in the 1989 Smoke/Silver 2 tone scheme? Or would they have used a current paint scheme?

[jbrainin]

They'd do whatever the owner asked, and paid, for.

[flickwet]

That yours has the cable routing in the TT, my 89 "had" 3 top of TT cable stays but otherwise looks the same, but no longer as pretty, as yours.

[flickwet]

That yours has the cable routing in the TT, my 89 "had" 3 top of TT cable stays but otherwise looks the same, but no longer as pretty, as yours. serial #90770

[Chief]

To add more confusion, I purchased new a "Colorado" (Serial # C590178) in April 1991. As I recall it set in my LBS for at least 6 months before I bought it. Therefore, I'm guessing that it was probably made in 1990. It has a metallic brown/grey fade similar to JSO's but the years of riding has taken its toll on the paint job. It is a lugged frame except that the seat tube and down tube are brazed at the BB. It differs from JSO's in two apparent ways. First, the brake cable passes through three cable stays on the TT which like flickwet's came loose and which I epoxied on. My recollection is the internal cable routing came about in the next year's model which would probably have been 1992. The second is that my chain stays are much shorter. With a 23 tire one can hardly get his little pinking between the tire and seat tube. In fact it is impossible to put on the rear wheel with the tire inflated the clearance is so close. The bike came with 20mm tires which allowed installation of the rear wheel with the tire inflated and I road it with 20's until I got fed up with snake bites and went to the 23 mm tire. The sales slip says "Colo II", but there are other errors on the slip so I don't know that this is correct. I paid $2500 for it with full Shimano Dura Ace 7400 and downshifters that I upgraded to Dura Ace bifters some time later.

[JSO]

Unfortunately I have been fooling myself.

I installed a longer stem and my setback seat post in the hopes that I could make this work for me. But I cannot seem to get this to fit me. My inseam is only 29" but I am over 6'1". Yeah I know...... kind of long upper torso.

As much as this is killing me I think that I need to part with this one and search for the perfect size ride. Is there any interest here or should I list on the classified section???

Allready eyeing another larger model on Ebay.

Thanks again to everyone.

Hope to be a Serotta owner again soon.

[Keith A]

As much as this is killing me I think that I need to part with this one and search for the perfect size ride. Is there any interest here or should I list on the classified section???Did you see the 54cm CSi (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=51388) in the classified section?

[JSO]

It is sold however