Fixie Bikes – Retro Cycling Vintage

Fixed Gear Frames For Sale

Posted November 2, 2009 by admin in Fixie, Frames, Road, Steel frames | No comments yet

Fixed gear frames have become extremely popular lately due to their ease of maintenance, elegant construction and the beautiful ride they give. Experienced club riders have long since switched to riding a fixed gear through the winter as it gives them a more maintenance free ride when the weather is bad and makes them a better rider through developing souplesse.
Couriers have made fixed gears fashionable again for city and suburban riders with many opting to ride custom lightweight frames kitted out with some of the lightest aerodynamic components ever made.

If you want to put your own fixed gear bike for sale you've got several choices - buy one off the peg or get hold of a frame and spec your own components. We prefer the latter - get hold of your own fixed gear frame and either trawl ebay for cheap components or hunt out exotic rare components and make a bike that is both beautiful and unique.

There are four main frame materials you will be looking at - steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon. Our favourite is steel but each have there own pros and cons. Ideally the frame will have rear facing track ends where the rear wheel slots in and allows for adjustment to keep the chain tensioned. You can also use a frame with horizontal sloping dropouts but these can make it a bit harder to get the chain tension right.

A History of Colnago Bicycles

Posted October 26, 2009 by admin in Giro d'Italia, Italian, Steel frames | No comments yet

No one could have realised the impact Ernesto Colnago was to have on the design and production of road racing bicycles back when he was a boy on his parent's farm in Cambiago, Northern Italy during the 1940's.
Turning his back on continuing the family's farming traditions he went to work in a local small bicycle factory which he then turned into a shop where he could service the local's bicycles.

Like many young Italian men at that time Ernesto Colnago had dreams of becoming a professional bike racer and enjoyed some success until a particularly bad accident scuppered his dream leaving him with a broken leg. At this point he chose to focus solely on bicycle components and mechanics and joined a racing team as a mechanic. The team enjoyed success and rose to prominence when the famous Eddy Merckx joined - infact it is one of the most iconic teams of its time and one most afficianados of cycle sport have heard of - the mighty Molteni squad.

Ernesto Colnago didn't just service the bikes for Molteni, he started making the frames as well. Originally they were painted in the colours of the team and had the team branding on them but eventually people were clamouring to find out who was making the frames that Eddy Merckx was riding and winning aboard.

With Eddy's compulsive attention to detail and Ernesto's engineering genius an awesome partnership grew - Eddy could tell Ernesto exactly what he needed from a frame in order to be the most successful cyclist that ever raced meaning Ernesto could build it exactly to his specifications and would in turn go on to develop one of the most prestiguous bike brands.

Look out for a future article on the Colnago frames that have been ridden at the very highest levels of the sport

Check out Colnagos For Sale:

Colnago Columbus Campagnolo Frameset Frame Vintage 52cm N°2 For Sale

Campagnolo Super Record Brake Levers With Colnago Panto New,nos For Sale

Campagnolo Super Record Brakes 1981 With Colnago Logo. For Sale

Campagnolo Super Record Pista Crank 165 Mm Right Crank Rare Colnago Cinelli Masi For Sale

Classic Colnago Mexico Road Bike 57cm For Sale

Colnago Super Road Bike 57cm For Sale

Colnago Campagnolo Campy 51cm Collectible Vintage Ofmega Masi Columbus For Sale

Colnago Master Cycling Bib Shorts - Large - 2012 Bnwt Hand Made In Italy For Sale

Colnago Master Light Frame With Threadless Colnago 'precisa' Fork Beautiful For Sale

Colnago Master Olympic Decor Road Bike Columbus Gilco Campagnolo For Sale

Colnago Master Olympic Frame Set 56cm For Sale

Colnago Regal Arabesque Columbus Campagnolo C Record Whit Cobalto Campy Brakes For Sale

Colnago Super Campagnolo Record Delta Brakes For Sale

Colnago Super 56cm Full Campagnolo In Great Condition Steel Columbus For Sale

Ferrari Colnago Year 2000 Campagnolo Super For Sale

Italian Vintage Frameset Colnago Master Olympic Columbus Gilco S4 Size 53 Cm For Sale

Mint Colnago Dream Columbus Altec 2 Frameset 52cm - Campagnolo Record - For Sale

New 1984 Colnago Super 54 Cm C/t Suntour Sprint Friction Group Nos No Decals For Sale

New Men's Colnago Bibshorts Master Racing Xl Black For Sale

New Tommasini Tecno Road Frameset Chrome Lugged Columbus,49cm,colnago Cinelli For Sale

Rare Colnago Master Road Bike Campagnolo Croce D'aune Shimano Dura Ace 58,5cm For Sale

Red Colnago Master Piu 58.5cm For Sale

Road Bike Frame Set 55.5cm ? Colnago Master Olympic ? Campagnolo Rahmen Renad For Sale

Shimano Seat Post 26,8mm Columbus Fixie Colnago Pinarello De Rosa Masi Reynolds For Sale

Shimano Sp-6400 Ultegra Aero 27.2 Mm Columbus Slx Colnago Derosa Bianchi Track For Sale

Super Rare Colnago Master Piu Columbus Frame Campagnolo Dropouts For Sale

Vgc Colnago Master 54cm Frameset Vintage Frame & Fork For Sale

Vintage Eddy Merckx Colnago Columbus Gippieme Road Bike Bicycle 55cm 3t Shimano For Sale

Vintage Very Rare Colnago Spiral Conic Columbus Slx Frame & Precisa Fork 55 For Sale

Benefits of Steel Bicycle Frames

Posted September 29, 2009 by admin in Frames, French, Italian, Road, Steel frames | No comments yet

If we ignore the cheaper supermarket style high tensile steel frames and look at the classic steel alloy frames which are often a mixture with chrome, manganese, nickel etc we can see the the recent successful utilization of aluminium and carbon fibre meant that steel had to raise its game to keep up in the bike frame business.
Go back to the 80s and Reynolds 531 and 753 and Columbus SL and SP dominated the racing market. Look at the 1990s and beyond to see Reynolds and Columbus joined by a multitude of other tubing manufactuers whilst expanding their own offerings of tubesets to satisfy a greater demand of rider's requirements. Touring, mtb, track, time trialing all require slightly different tubesets.
In addition to the wider selection of steels consumers are also faced with a wider choice of tubes made from the materials. Plain guage and double butted have been supplemented by a wide selection of different buttings and profiles.
To a great extent steel had become unfashionable amonst riders which means it becomes fashionable for restorers. Newer materials are often pushed as being 'better' , however its certainly worth remembering that good steel tubes remain eminently suitable for bicycle frames. They also usually offer the answer when the question is quite simply "what frame should I get?"

For: Strong, Cheap, Stiff, Repairable
Against: Rust

Good examples of steel frames for restoration projects

Easy: Raleigh, Bianchi, Colnago, Merckx, Peugeot
Harder to find: Masi, Botecchia, Pinarello, Moser, ciocc, wilier,
Great if you can get one: Legnano, Roberts, Mercian, Hetchins