Dont start something you cant finish Glenn :)

Colnago Master 1988

This is where it all started, approx 3 yrs ago I was talking with a mate about a box of 2 bikes he had bid on on trademe, no photo's no questions answered he bid on it blind for a stupid amount of money (stuff all I suspect) anyway 2mths later a box arrives and he opens it up to find this....

...a 1988 Colnago Master full C-Record group set with Deltas and Omega wheel set....only problem is...wrong frame size, mate put it on eBay you will make truck loads out of it, no Glenn i want you to buy it....and so a monster was born, one trip to eBay lead to another and another then to google to find more treats for my new family member.....and now well you have seen the blog and if you know anything about retro steel and Campagnolo you know it don't come cheap!!!


So I started to collect everything i needed to rebuild this beauty to NOS standard, I even got Mystery to strip the bike down to the frame (he almost rang to say he couldn't do it as it still had all the original Campagnolo grease in the headset and bottom bracket) i wish he had, i would have said stop, how I am in too minds what to do with her, the paint needs work on the left hand side as she was mistreated by the original owner, we all know you cant paint one side and not the other so its off to the paint shop for a new dress and some new decals clear coat and a rebuild by the master....Mystery Morrison.

I still think this is "the" nicest bike I have ever ridden, smooth, comfortable, and solid, heavy as hell but what a ride!!!

I know she will look amazing once finished but I am almost scared to send her to the paint shop for fear of a low grade finish, i guess its like sending your children to school on there first day, glad to see them go but you miss em all the same... I say I guess cos I haven't had to do it yet!


So I have a box of gold (C-Record grouppo) setting under the bed and the frame in the office against the wall waiting and wondering when is the right time to do this, always something else comes up, the NOS Merckx, the Rossin, the Hiatchi Merckx, now the Montello, all of which are the same sort of projects, strip down rebuild/paint, still none of them are "the first" and we all know you never forget your first :)

I know that one day soon I will just have to do it and get it done, its a crime to have such a Master piece lying around in parts and not getting the full pampering its deserves but at the same time you cant be too careful can you...its a bad world out there........