# Contini



## dnc1 (Sep 13, 2019)

Anyone have any info on Contini bicicletes?
This one is soon coming home with me from Mallorca. 
Disregard the forks, nothing to do with this machine.
Campagnolo bottom.bracket, Columbus rear dropouts.
Might be one for you to cast an expert eye over @juvela?









Crazy frameset.


----------



## juvela (Sep 13, 2019)

-----

Companion of knife ans spoon can certainly not be original.
Would not be surprised if steerer marked "AKISU."

Curved tubes suggestive of TT application.

We are certainly in the early eighties here...


-----


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 14, 2019)

As I said disregard the fork;  you're right re. the "TT" styling @juvela. The correct fork is very reminiscent of a Cinelli design (sadly no pictures at the moment). 
Does anyone know the name of this 'round to square' profile Columbus tubing? 






This tubing features on the top and down tubes.
I've read that some of these frames were used for some pretty serious racing  (not that I have any provenance to speak of) and I'm looking at a very high-end build.  Campagnolo all the way methinks, and a very bright colour scheme to match.
Some of these must have made their way across the pond. Would be interesting to see any other examples.


----------



## juvela (Sep 14, 2019)

-----

Hope this annum's Palma sojourn free of any impromptu inland waterways.  

Given date would expect an oem stern spacing of one-two-six.

This means gear block would have been either a conventional six or a narrow seven.

(Slightly) puzzled by presence of braze-on for mech anteriore.

With chainstays this short one gets into crossover binding problems rather quickly.

Many frames of this pattern were conceived by their builders to be of a single plateau drive.

Conceivable front mech braze-on may be a post-manufacture addition, along with seat tube w/b.

If we take a narrow seven gear block as an example the rider would likely have had only four usable gears with the small c/w and four with the large.  Yielding only eight usable combinations out of a nominal fourteen.

One maker who produced framesets of similar pattern was HARAL of France (Haute-Savoie, up against the CH border).  Their design included a curved top tube.  Have a few images of these saved on me hd but am away from "the ranch" this week.  Shall essay their erection _semana prossima._

_-----_


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 15, 2019)

Sadly @juvela, once again the Iles Baleares have been inundated with some terrible 'tormentas' in the last week, bringing much needed rain after months of drought,  but also causing much flooding once more.
The braze on for the front mech is original; I've seen the same now on several other, later machines.
I'm now of the opinion that this is a very early example of their TT bicicletes de Carretera.
It lacks the curved chain stays of their later '80s/'90s machines.
Also the treatment of the seatpin binder bolt suggests an earlier era, 80's/'90s models have a bolt between the top rear of the seat stays.
Curioser and curioser!
Will have to look for a frame number I guess.  I know it has Contini stamped into the drive side chain stay.


----------



## juvela (Sep 15, 2019)

-----

Thanks for the meteorological reportage.  

Am thinking it would be early eno' for metric/BNA threading.
Is this what you find?

Lug pattern BOCAMA Competition with cutout Nr. R1.

Shell appears BOCAMA as well.

If tubeset A.L. Colombo it may reside here...

http://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/columbus/columbuschart.htm

-----


----------



## juvela (Sep 23, 2019)

-----

Hola Señor W. -

dating - usually think of the seat tube w/b as becoming widespread ~MCMLXXXIV.

sounds like you enjoy a knowledge of this marque.  alas, for me it is _nada.  _

did find these two links with which you may be already familiar -

https://chebici.es/historia-de-la-bicicleta-contini/

https://picclick.com/Contini-Cinelli-LoPro-time-trial-funny-bicycle-223493607710.html

---

thought i had saved some HARAL images of their TT frames to me HD but alas no.

here is a forum discussion post on a HARAL Chambery -

178 

velo encyclopedia entry on the marque -

http://encycloduvelo.fr/haral/

---

compatriot of spoon and knife hath yet to make an appearance.  perhaps ye shall be able to persuade him to overcome his shyness for a daguerreotype.

-----


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 23, 2019)

Thanks @juvela , sadly the fork (and the rest of the machine) have not yet left Mallorca. 
I had come across those two links, but even in Spain, it seems to be a very obscure marque.
I'll keep searching.


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 23, 2019)

Who is Senor W? I am Senor D, (or , Senor C., if formality is required).


----------



## juvela (Sep 24, 2019)

-----

Credit me poor "memory", which be just a memory, Don D.  

Fortunately am a bachelor, otherwise would forget me wife's name.

The folks from "the home" are coming for me next week...

While the forum has rules against bad or abusive language there be none against poster errors.  Otherwise would have been banned long since.  :eek:

-----


----------



## Jesper (Sep 10, 2022)

I am receiving a plethora of frames (Colnago, Lusa, Liberti, Libertas) coming in the back door. I'll try to post them in separate threads before they head out the front door.

Figured I would add a recently acquired Spanish Goi-Contini frameset with crimped style tubing. I believe all the "Cinelli" looking stuff is fake (logo color scheme is different); but that's purely an assumption without any knowledge regarding a possible business relationship. Not sure how they were able to copy the design, but I don't think Cinelli has anything to do with this marque unless there was some sort of licensing agreement which may be why the logo colors are different than what Cinelli had traditionally used.
I believe these models were made with Columbus crimped Nivacrom tubing (no decal to prove it on this frame), and I've yet to see an image of the frame tubing decal when viewing other Contini examples when a decal is present. If the the frame tubing is Nivacrom over Cyclex ( is GILCO crimped tubing still Cyclex pre- and post-'86?) then it would probably be very late 80s to early 90s since Nivacrom was introduced circa '86, but it may not have been widely for bike frames until a years later. Even it it is Nivacrom tubing, I have no idea as to the actual tubeset model. I purchased it fairly cheap because I questioned the fork's origin (even though I like the design). I have seen forks of a different design with the "Cinelli" logo on the crown. Goi-Contini website states that they have been around for 42 years (circa 1980).









More photos forthcoming.


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 10, 2022)

Hi @Jesper .
You are correct with the assumption that there is no connection between 'Contini' and 'Cinelli', but, as you say, how did they get away with such a blatant rip-off of the 'Cinelli' logo? 
It's blatant theft, surely!
I have it on very good authority from a Spanish amigo that 'Contini' crimped the tubing themselves, and the tubesets used were either whatever 'Columbus' tubing they could lay their hands on, or whatever 'Reynolds' tubing they could lay their hands on; or, a mixture of the two!
I'm still in Mallorca at present and I'll ask my friend if his frameset examples have any tubing decals, and see if I can get photos. 
He has 3 or 4 of these framesets.


----------



## dnc1 (Sep 10, 2022)

Jesper said:


> I am receiving a plethora of frames (Colnago, Lusa, Liberti, Libertas) coming in the back door. I'll try to post them in separate threads before they head out the front door.
> 
> Figured I would add a recently acquired Spanish Goi-Contini frameset with crimped style tubing. I believe all the "Cinelli" looking stuff is fake (logo color scheme is different); but that's purely an assumption without any knowledge regarding a possible business relationship. Not sure how they were able to copy the design, but I don't think Cinelli has anything to do with this marque unless there was some sort of licensing agreement which may be why the logo colors are different than what Cinelli had traditionally used.
> I believe these models were made with Columbus crimped Nivacrom tubing (no decal to prove it on this frame), and I've yet to see an image of the frame tubing decal when viewing other Contini examples when a decal is present. If the the frame tubing is Nivacrom over Cyclex ( is GILCO crimped tubing still Cyclex pre- and post-'86?) then it would probably be very late 80s to early 90s since Nivacrom was introduced circa '86, but it may not have been widely for bike frames until a years later. Even it it is Nivacrom tubing, I have no idea as to the actual tubeset model. I purchased it fairly cheap because I questioned the fork's origin (even though I like the design). I have seen forks of a different design with the "Cinelli" logo on the crown. Goi-Contini website states that they have been around for 42 years (circa 1980).
> ...



The colour scheme is very restrained on the example you've shown, compared to some examples I am aware of.
Most of them are very bright 'flouro' colours, often 3, or even 4, different colours featuring on one frame, fading into each other.


----------



## Jesper (Sep 10, 2022)

Thanks @dnc1. Don't go out of your way on my account; but I would like to know more if possible.
I would love to find a frame sporting both Reynolds and Columbus decals due to mixed tubesets being used. I might have to do that on a no name frameset just for laughs; but I hate wasting decals because they are needed for real projects.

I could have gotten one of the multi-colored frames (Carreras?), but deferred to, as you say a "very restrained" livery. I think I also preferred the chrome seat lug look.


----------



## Jesper (Oct 13, 2022)

I am still waiting on this frame to arrive, but in the meantime I have been able to find examples of other bikes which have been built with Cinelli frame parts on them, but have nothing to do with a collaboration with Cinelli in any way other than builders who used Cinelli frame parts in their construction. Apparently, during 1982-1984 (at least) Cinelli (at that time having just been taken over by Columbus a couple years prior) was providing frame fittings to outside builders. A builder from Vetta, Antonio Taverna, stated that he made frames during the '82-'84 period for Vetta using Cinelli parts. These bikes had "CX" engraved into the upper portion of the seat stays. A Basso example has been shown with the "CX" markings and the Cinelli frame parts, but no Basso markings other than the decals (fork crown is Cinelli embellished). I don't know if the Basso was a contract build by Taverna while with Vetta, or another builder.


----------

