Bottecchia Columbus OR

[tharbert]

Scored an old cyclocross bike, in excellent condition, for the wife. It appears to be a 54cm 1989 Bottecchia Columbus OR (off road?) It has steel frame, a steel bontrager fork (guessing because of the B on the top of the fork), full campi 7 speed groupo.

[Jim Bremner]

B for Bottechia!

[jyl]

Campy mountain bike group is pretty rare and has some value. Not sure what would be on a cyclocross bike from then. More pics of shifters, brakes, crank, pleeeze?

[look 171]

Columbus OR is a type of tubing made by Columbus bicycle tubing company of Italy. Not off road.

[intakexhaust]

Neat find and with all the period components, Campy rims - gumwalls too. I would agree that the Columbus OR tubing was for 'off-road' frames and the label translates 'special reinforced'. Enjoy

[tharbert]

Cool! I took a closer look at the stylized "B" I thought was Bontrager.

I was looking at the gearing. It's a 23-13 cassette. Will get some more pics. I was hoping to get a taller gear than 23 until I saw there is almost no 7 speed stuff on ebay.

[kwyjibo]

Cool bike!
Could you post photos of the dropouts? I think that its a touring frame, the water bottle braze ons, especially on the seat tube, shouldn't be on a cyclocross frame of that vintage. If you have rack mounts, then its likely a touring frame. Looks like its in great condition, nice find.

[tharbert]

23-13, 7 sp.

It had this big aero bar on it. For it's size, it's pretty light.

[tharbert]

Note how the front brake cable uses the stem? Odd set-up and you can't shorten the cockpit without fabbing a new stem.

48-36-23

[jyl]

You might do some research on the value of the Campy MTB group. It looks complete and in nice shape, not scratched etc.

Post in the C&V valuation forum of BikeForums, search eBay completed auctions, etc. You might be surprised.

Off the top of my head, I'll guess a very complete Campy MTB group (cranks, bottom bracket, derailleurs, shifters, brakes and levers, pedals, headset) in good condition could fetch $1.0-1.5K if you marketed them well on eBay (good and many photos, sell piece by piece, good feedback helps). Research Velobase to identify the group, e.g. Euclid or Olympus etc.

I actually wouldn't ride the bike until you decide if it is a seller or a keeper or a part-out. Scrape and bash the pedals badly in a fall, and you've probably lost $200.

Keep the frame, fit with modern stuff that will work better and cost less.

[nostatic]

The stem was one of a couple of different designs back in that era. The hot ticket was the Salsa roller stem - had a small roller under the stem with a stop brazed on. Very smooth. Some stems had the stop built into it like on this bike, others used a stop that was mounted with the headset.

The "aero bar" actually isn't really an aero bar. It is a Scott mountain bar extension. Basically bar ends on steroids. I ran one for awhile but didn't really dig it.

[tharbert]

Bikeforum link

[Rich#]

Hi Mate,

Let me know please if you decide to sell it.

Cheers
Rich