# Belgian beauties from South Africa



## cannibal (Dec 3, 2004)

Hello All,
just a quick note to express my gratitude to Innergel for hatching this plan, I certainly don't want to steal any of his "thunder" regarding this transaction. Simply put, I became impatient. Anyway, the frames arrived safe and sound last night. After several emails and three telephone calls in a two week time period, the deal was finalized. Rashid was courteous and professional throughout the process. He did not respond promptly to emails, but he did respond eventually. IMHO, the telephone calls added a human component to the deal, which expedited the tedious process.
Let's talk about frames, first the 60 cm Strada O.S. It's made of colombus Brain tubing. The tubing is not ovalized/oversized in my opinion; however the chainstays seem a tad bigger than my old Corsa Extra and the fork is massive. Speaking of chainstays and forks, there is a chainstay bridge near the bottom bracket for extra stiffness and I believe it's a MXL fork. See photos to judge for yourself. So based on my observations, the chainstays and the fork are what qualify it as an O.S. not the main triangle tubing. The paint and the graphics are sublime. 
Next, we have the Arcobaleno, "the rainbow jersey". This frame and fork are made of Colombus Neuron. There is a ref. of Nivacrom on the decal. The same steel used in the MXL. It's top quality stuff. The down tube is ovalized and oversized just like the MXL, but perhaps a hair smaller in diameter. The top tube and down tube are not lugged at the head tube, interesting? Is that filet brazed work, unsure? There are lugs on the seat tube at the top and bottom. Seat and chain stays are stouter than Strada, but smaller than MXL. There is a chain stay bridge on this frame as well. Fork is diminutive versus Strada. Additionally, Colombus decals are placed in different locations on frames, indicative of different years IMHO. The Arcobaleno has a 20 year anniversary reference on it. If the Merckx factory opened in '79-80, that would land it approx. 2000 vintage according to my calculations. Once again, paint and art work are awesome.
Here are a plethora ofphotos. The last two or three represent my current inventory. Regards to all.


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

The pearl white on the Strada is really gorgeous. 

b


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## DM.Aelis (Jun 19, 2007)

The Archo makes me want to wet my pants.


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