Impulsive E-Buy - Colnago Master Piu Frame Circa 1994
I don't know what got into me......so Mr.Ti just got an Olympic Colnago and I just had to have one. So over the CNY weekend, I did a little bit of search (whilst ripping my audio CDs to Apple Lossless Format so that I will free up my car audio system from CDs!) and chanced upon this little gem...
Here's how the ad went ...
Sounds a little bit broken isn't it, the english i mean....I hope the frame ain't. Well it a funny affair....I put in a max bid of USD480 for this frame on Saturday and expected a bid-war (that did not come) but a war did not break out...however, a last minute 'battle' did!
So I was waiting at my PC at 12am with roughly 2 mins to go.....still USD460.....1 min to go....still USD460....and them....30 secs to go....rats! it went to USD508 all of a sudden! Wow thanks to my quick typing and maybe quite fast internet connection, I quickly re-bid with a max of USD530....and hit the return key......
Wow was I lucky, the window reloaded and showed that I was the highest bidder at USD518 ...... WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT!!! I requested the seller to give me some info on the frame or history at least.....hails from PISA, ITALY (guess where the leaning tower is at!).
Well I hope the frame is in good condition, the pics look good though....just my kind of colour....not the typical gawdy Colnago designs.
Here's how the ad went ...
ITALIAN VINTAGE BIKE FRAME COLNAGO MASTER PIU' + FORK
A storic frame, 1994, from the great ITALIAN artisan ERNESTO COLNAGO
So, this is a very storic and important frame! VERY ARTISTIC! Wolderfull!
USED BUT VERY VERY GOOD!!
BRAND: COLNAGO
MODEL: MASTER PIU'
COLOR: VARIUS....LOOK THE PHOTOS
FRAME MATERIAL: COLUMBUS STEEL "GILCO DESIGN" PROFILE 84 COSTUMIZED FOR COLNAGO
FORK: BY COLNAGO IN STEEL!!
SIZE TOP TUBE: 55,5 CM C/C
SIZE SEAT TUBE: 55,5 CM C/C
REAR SPACE: 130 MM
Sounds a little bit broken isn't it, the english i mean....I hope the frame ain't. Well it a funny affair....I put in a max bid of USD480 for this frame on Saturday and expected a bid-war (that did not come) but a war did not break out...however, a last minute 'battle' did!
So I was waiting at my PC at 12am with roughly 2 mins to go.....still USD460.....1 min to go....still USD460....and them....30 secs to go....rats! it went to USD508 all of a sudden! Wow thanks to my quick typing and maybe quite fast internet connection, I quickly re-bid with a max of USD530....and hit the return key......
Wow was I lucky, the window reloaded and showed that I was the highest bidder at USD518 ...... WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT!!! I requested the seller to give me some info on the frame or history at least.....hails from PISA, ITALY (guess where the leaning tower is at!).
Well I hope the frame is in good condition, the pics look good though....just my kind of colour....not the typical gawdy Colnago designs.
I got a pic of what the bike looks like with some Shimano set-up....not bad I must say! Got this pic from an italian website.
Did some some research regarding the Master series. Well in the Colnago 'premium' line up the Master series really started in the 70s with the usage by Merckx and Saronni (yes!)....It was also known as the Mexico (supposed won in some race there). The real commercialization started in the early 80's with the special edition Saronni which was really a replica of the Master that Saronni used to win the Giro d'Italia in that period. The Saronni edition (in Saronni PR82 RED) is really the grandaddy of the master series and still fetch a hefty price these days!
The the Master went on with a couple of iterations....namely in the late 80's onwards with Gilco designed and 'made to order' tubes for Colnago, featuring tapered/squarish profile tubes. The Master Piu (Piu meaning 'extra' or 'plus' in Italian) was introduced in the late 80's and is the first of the Master series to feature inner tube rear brake cable routing. The version I got is with the 'Precisa' straight fork....supposedly designed by Ernesto Colnago in collaboration with the Ferrari F1 team....but sources tell me that he just got lazy and made em' all straight (its really an art to get the bend on the fork done correctly!!).
Also, the master series starting having all sorts of funky paint schemes...I think they were painted by Decor or something. Apparently there were all hand painted and no 2 frames are 100% identical due to this.....every Decor painting is unique.
Well, I hope it arrives in good and expected condition......shipping is a whopping USD120!!!
No plans of yet of what to do with it or how to proceed....I'm just so satisfied with my Saronni right now and it seems we must travel more!
The the Master went on with a couple of iterations....namely in the late 80's onwards with Gilco designed and 'made to order' tubes for Colnago, featuring tapered/squarish profile tubes. The Master Piu (Piu meaning 'extra' or 'plus' in Italian) was introduced in the late 80's and is the first of the Master series to feature inner tube rear brake cable routing. The version I got is with the 'Precisa' straight fork....supposedly designed by Ernesto Colnago in collaboration with the Ferrari F1 team....but sources tell me that he just got lazy and made em' all straight (its really an art to get the bend on the fork done correctly!!).
Also, the master series starting having all sorts of funky paint schemes...I think they were painted by Decor or something. Apparently there were all hand painted and no 2 frames are 100% identical due to this.....every Decor painting is unique.
Well, I hope it arrives in good and expected condition......shipping is a whopping USD120!!!
No plans of yet of what to do with it or how to proceed....I'm just so satisfied with my Saronni right now and it seems we must travel more!
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