Any Colnago Experts out there?

rplace13 said:

I have dreams of building up an older steel bike. I really dig the Colnago decor paint and the Gilco tubing is way cool. One thing that seems to be confusing to me is how many differen "masters" there are. Can anyone tell me the differences between all of them or have a good reference web site? I see Master, Master X, Master X-lite, Master Piu, Master Lux, Master Olympic and probably some others that I have forgotten about.

FWIW. The Art Decor paint scheme seems to begin in the mid-to-late 90s ... probably, concurrent with the introduction of the Master X-Lite ... I'm not exactly sure when that paint scheme stopped being an option ...

By my recollection, the 2000-and-thereafter Master X-Lite frames had a threadless fork ... 2000 may also have been the first year where a carbon fiber fork was available as an option (well, that's when I first noticed them ... maybe the CF fork option for non-C40 Colnago frames came along with the introduction of the Master X-Lite frame) ... so, if you find a Master X-Lite with a threaded fork, then it was made in 1999-or-before.

rplace13 said:

I have dreams of building up an older steel bike. I really dig the Colnago decor paint and the Gilco tubing is way cool. One thing that seems to be confusing to me is how many differen "masters" there are. Can anyone tell me the differences between all of them or have a good reference web site? I see Master, Master X, Master X-lite, Master Piu, Master Lux, Master Olympic and probably some others that I have forgotten about.

Been a while since I sold Colnagos BUT. From my recollection, 'Olympic' was dropped because of a conflict with the IOC. Became 'MasterLight'. Other 'changes involved going from internal top tube brake housing routing to cable stops and also away from the steel, chromed straighjt blade fork. 'Piu', 'LUX', were different tubesets than the 'Master' series.

COLNAGO Forever Complete Book Italian Bike - eBay (item 390136128276 end time Jan-26-10 07:15:03 PST)

I built a Mexico 1980, all engraved parts. Engraved is the problem $$$. Campy 80's not that hard to get, you can build the steel dream just takes time. The frame you get will set the tone of the parts, the level of the build it is your standards along with your passion that will drive the project. Good luck!!!