Building up a "vintage" cross bike

[bigflax925]

Go easy on me guys, it's my first post, although I've been lurking awhile before I registered.

I've got a mid to late 1980's Pinarello Cross bike that I am thinking of restoring to "period correct."

Problem is, I don't know what that means. Sure, I worked in a shop from the 80's to the 90's (anyone remember Kettering Bike Shop/s? :cool: ). But we didn't have cross bikes. I've got some early catalogs, like the Gita pic below, but they are only framesets. The earliest cross bike I can remember is the 1986 Bianchi Volpe.

Pinarello Catalog Scan (http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello89/9.jpg)

I've been perusing Fleabay to find a cheap donor, but no luck.

Help me decide how to build this up!

[Peter P.]

"Period Correct" merely means that the frame and parts all come from the same vintage as if the frame and the parts were from the same era.

There are some vintage bike forums that may be of help to you.

Classic Rendezvous (http://search.bikelist.org/) is one of them. Scroll down the page to find the forum.

Another one is found on Road Bike Review (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49) .

[bigflax925]

"Period Correct" merely means that the frame and parts all come from the same vintage as if the frame and the parts were from the same era.

There are some vintage bike forums that may be of help to you.

Classic Rendezvous (http://search.bikelist.org/) is one of them. Scroll down the page to find the forum.

Another one is found on Road Bike Review (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49) .

Thanks, Peter. I actually know the definition, just not what a mid-to-late 80's or 90's cross bike would have been fitted with, since, I presume that most cross bikes were European at the time.

In my little corner of Dayton, there wasn't much/any cyclocross happening, so I never saw a complete bike. Now that I think about it, I bet International Pro in Bellbrook had some.

I'd love to build this up with Campy, but what would that be - Nuovo Record? ...Or should I be looking for old school Dura Ace or Shimano 600? I love Suntour XC stuff, but it's becoming harder and harder to find. I do want something durable.

I'll head over to the CR list and RBR.

[pbjbike]

Early 80's vintage, you'd definitely want Mafac cantilever brakes. The tough pros in Europe were probably riding 41/42 small and 46/48 large chainrings at the time on their Campy NR/SR gear. More running up hills back then and 25mm tubies with tiny knobs were the norm.

Who had all those Winning magazines from back then?

[bigflax925]

Early 80's vintage, you'd definitely want Mafac cantilever brakes. The tough pros in Europe were probably riding 41/42 small and 46/48 large chainrings at the time on their Campy NR/SR gear. More running up hills back then and 25mm tubies with tiny knobs were the norm.

Who had all those Winning magazines from back then?

Thanks, that's a start!

Winning was a little too "racy" for me. Not like Playboy racy, just more race oriented than I was at the time. I was more into the original Mountain Bike; Bicycle Guide and Mountain Bike Action magazines of the day.

I still have some Winning magzines hanging around somewhere.

[fiamme red]

Early 80's vintage, you'd definitely want Mafac cantilever brakes.Or Modolos (http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=2E118F8C-21F4-423B-8E15-639348675450&Enum=117&AbsPos=383), or Weinmanns (http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=8FFE15D4-6571-4220-A9B2-44130C50C0C8&Enum=117&AbsPos=0).

Using a single chainring, with a guard, was much more common back then, e.g., this Ofmega (http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=A9875E40-61E5-473A-B126-4A33CB824D4B&Enum=115&AbsPos=3) crank.

[redir]

Mafac's are nice even by today's standards. You will want to get bar end shifters to. Being a Pinarello I'm thinking Campy NR would be nice.

[bigflax925]

Thanks, guys.

I had never seen the Modolo or the Weinmann cantis before. Very cool!

I've got some old Campy Record friction shifters with the blue covers. I think those would be icing on the cake.

[texbike]

BigFlax,

Do you have any pics of the frame that can be used to help determine a closer approximation of its vintage?

This would help determine which groups were period correct for the bike. As you probably already know, the 80s were a tumultuous time for Campy from a grouppo perspective. There were a lot of new groups introduced and a lot of cross (no pun intended here) over from one year to another.

Depending on the year, (just thinking about Campy here) it could have used Nuovo/Super/C Record, Gran Sport, Victory/Triomph, Chorus, CDA, or Athena.

The cool thing about the stuff introduced in mid to late 80s is that very little of it is marked anything other than "Campagnolo". So, mixing and matching different groups isn't quite as obvious except to the trained eye.

If I was going to build up a mid-to late 80s cross bike with Campy, I'd probably go with a Victory or Triomph crankset since it had 110 bcd spacing which would allow for the smaller chainrings, and a later 80s Athena/Chorus/CDA rear derailleur and a front D from any of those groups. Brakes were most likely still MAFAC, no?

Texbike

[bigflax925]

Thanks, Texbike. I'll get some pictures of it.

It sure looks like the one pictured on this 1989 catalog page:

Catalog (http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello89/9.jpg)

My Campy knowledge pretty much stops at the first incarnations of Chorus/Athena/CDA.

[texbike]

Thanks, Texbike. I'll get some pictures of it.

It sure looks like the one pictured on this 1989 catalog page:

Catalog (http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/pinarello89/9.jpg)

My Campy knowledge pretty much stops at the first incarnations of Chorus/Athena/CDA.

Hmmm. Does it have a tubing sticker on it? They may help date it as well.

Texbike

[pbjbike]

Using a single chainring, with a guard, was much more common back then, e.g., this Ofmega (http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=A9875E40-61E5-473A-B126-4A33CB824D4B&Enum=115&AbsPos=3) crank.

Of course! No FD! How could I forget. ;)

[bigflax925]

Of course! No FD! How could I forget. ;)

I was planning on running a single ring, but this frame has the funky FD shifter boss on the left side of the DT.

A boss just out there looks...unfinished...to me. ;)

[bigflax925]

Looks like for now I will be building it up with 600 Ultegra (tri-color).

I'll probably run bar-ends instead of the brifters the previous owner added, and may pick up some of those cool Velo-Orange cantilevers.

Velo-Orange Robertos (http://www.velo-orange.com/grcabr.html)

I've still got my eyes out for a nice Campy donor bike.

Of course, I'll post pics when it's done.