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| From this angle the bike almost looks like a stealth fighter plane. |
My favourite programs as a kid were "Krempoli", ""Stanley Beamish, "Mini-Max" and the Augsburger Puppenkiste, a marionette theater that would make any kid of today asleep within 10 seconds. Michael Ende, Ottfried Preussler and Max Kruse all wrote famous pieces for the programm and one I remember in particular were the stories about Urmel. And the charcter I liked most was the sea elephant. One day, when I retire, I want to become like the sea elephant from Urmel.
So this is perhaps why the name OLMO, which is or was one of the famous Italian steel frame builders of the sixties, seventies and eighties, is high in my personal list. When I started to become interested in old steel bikes a long time ago (autumn 2010, to be precise), the first bike I fell in love with was the Moser Leader AX evolution This is a nice frame but it very hard to get them in large sizes and . now it is somewhat too modern for me with TIG welded joints and unifork. The second bike I fell in love with was an Olmo. I now own too Olmo frames (I have sold the Faggin and the Peugeot in the meantime to finance them). and the blue one from the Nineties will become my commuting bike and the white "Olmo from the Ice" will become the showpiece.
Still a lot of choices to be made, but here are some photos showing the actual status after working on the bike today. The frame was rusty and in poor conditions when I got it first from Vienna. It was grit-blasted and painted and I bought a set of new decals. Almost every component has a special story. Note the leather grips on the track handle bar, the Shimano 600 AX aero brakes and the Arabesque shifters.
There's so much to write - but another time when the bike is ready. Enjoy the photos.
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| Campagnolo Super Record Brake Lever with Olmo Pantographs plus leather grips. |
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| Shimano 600AX front brake - Eighties arero craze porn |
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| The cockpit: Olmo stem with Italian flag |
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| Pantographed fork and Arabesque shifters |
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| Gran Compe Saddle |
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| Front view on pave |
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| Rear view on pave |
3 comments:
Another now very nice looking Oldie! I cannot believe you keep selling the bikes which you have refurbished. No sentiments attached? Just a job? Are you at least making money?
The sentiment is there, not so much for the whole bike perhaps, but more for the components.
Normally it works like that: I built up a bike, ride it, then I start something new and better, using partly the components from the old bike. Then I sell some of the remaining components. Result: Making money with the sales in most of the cases, but boxes full of old components in the cellar as well. Many wrong buys. Not fully understanding the specs.
All in all, one can only ride one bike at a time. So four bikes are enough:
- A carbon racer, and the white Canyon is the fastest bike I ever owned
- A MTB, the trusted black Bad Boy
- The commuting bike for all weather conditions, the Gaazelle to be replaced by the blue Olmo soon
- The showpiece, the white Olmo.
And the silver Peugeot as a back up at the house of my parents. Oh, and one day a fixie perhaps.
I felt a little bit sad to sell the Cervelo frame. But then, it reminded me of a story, David J told me once about a hunter in the UK who had a dog, and when they were old and not good in hunting any longer, he shot the dog and bought and raised a new one. He was asked if he didn't feel sad about the fate of his dog. And he answered that yes, he was particular fond of one of his dogs. So what did he do with this dog? Well, he got it shot by someone else.
MOB:
I just returned to civilization yesterday evening and was finally able to see these photos.
I think the White Olmo is a thing of beauty.
You've come a long way from your first efforts. Congratulations.
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