Old Ciocc



My 1984/85 Concorde Aquila with a Turquoise/Sky Blue + Italian colors was the best riding racing bike I raced during my short, but intense racing career. I raced on over a dozen different frames: Colnago, Vitus, Viner, Bianchi, etc. The Concorde (Ciocc) bike was by far the best riding, most inspiring bike I've ridden or raced back then or since then (add Giant, Orbea, Specialized, etc). I'm now wondering who made the Concorde X-Blade Carbon bike from around 2009/10? Anyone? If THAT bike was made by the prodigees of master Ciocc, I want one NOW! Back then I heard that the frames were built in Italy (by Ciocc) and shipped to Holland for the superior paint job. It really was a flawless machine which I still wish I owned. My was hit by a car then sold, though we had straightened the frame easily enough beforehand. It still road great. I even raced it in a few cyclocross races and it performed well in them as well. Framebuilder Ciocc was truly a MASTER frame builder.
 
I've just noticed that Ciocc are doing this retro model, made from Columbus 858 Nivachrome, with a 1" head tube

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Quote: Originally Posted by DaddyWhoDat . I'm now wondering who made the Concorde X-Blade Carbon bike from around 2009/10? Anyone? If THAT bike was made by the prodigees of master Ciocc, I want one NOW! .


Hmm, I could be wrong -- and I'd have to do some 'heavy' Googling to help me remember who took over the original Concorde company -- but I'd be very surprised if modern carbon Concordes had anything to do with the 'legendary' Ciocc builder(s). In fact, I'm not sure that even modern Cioccs have much to do with the old Ciocc builders. Even if they did, it'd be a bit of a stretch to hope that a new carbon frame would share a lot of the characteristics of your '84 steel Ciocc.
A friend of mine kinda went through this a few months ago. He bought a modern carbon Ciocc Devilry, thinking that it would feel the same as his ~10-year-old alu Ciocc. It doesn't, but he loves it anyway. We did some research, and it turned out that not only does his Devilry have little to do with the original builders, but his frame may even be a re-badged Dedacciai Scuro!

I'd like to add that our memories of old bikes can be distorted over time. :) In the early '90s, I raced on a 1988 531c Raleigh, and loved it. It has (I still have it) a short-ish wheelbase and steep head tube (quick-feeling steering), and is light enough for '80s steel (58cm, frame alone: 1860g). By comparison, other frames I tried (other 531 and Columbus SLX bikes) felt **** and slow. My Raleigh felt fast and whippy!! I stopped racing for a while in the late '90s, and bought alu bikes to ride in the rain, coz I didn't want my Raleigh to get more rusty. Through the early 2000s, I bought more alu frames as they became more affordable. The alu frames didn't really feel much faster than my Raleigh (I especially, initially, didn't like the slacker/slower steering of modern frames), but I kept riding and buying them through the late 2000s, coz of the wet weather commuting I was doing, and also, I guess, because I liked the slightly reduced weight.

Anyway, I still had great memories of how 'good' my Raleigh was, so, a couple years ago, i dusted it off and built it up with 7800 Dura-Ace and a stiff carbon fork .
The obvious punchline is that the Raleigh now feels like a 10-ton tractor, compared to my alu Solist, alu Ciocc, and my other alu frames. :)
So there!! :)