# Colnago Crystal??



## jtw1n (Sep 20, 2008)

Was wondering if any of the more knowledgeable people on the forum wouldn't mind dating and giving me a bit of info on a frame like this. What it might be worth ect. Thanks a lot.


----------



## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

Very pretty bike. I am sure someone will be able to help. How did you come to have it?


----------



## jtw1n (Sep 20, 2008)

I've not managed to get it yet. But It is New old stock and for sale. I'm thinking about taking my fascination with Colnago a bit further and picking it up as a build project. Just trying to get a better idea of what I'm paying for and how much I should pay.


----------



## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

The Crystal was Colnago's entry level steel lugged bike for a while. Not a bad frame at all, but not the quality of a Master X-Lite. It's a pretty frame and unusual color.


----------



## Fivethumbs (Jul 26, 2005)

I don't see a tubing sticker. Knowing the tube set used would help give it a value.


----------



## Dale Brigham (Aug 23, 2002)

*My guess is...*

...mid-90s vintage. I have a Crystal that is a '97 year model, and it has the paint job with the little cyclist guy on the top tube, which they stuck with for much of the late 90s and early 2000s. I am guessing the frame you are looking at pre-dates that paint style, so I am thinking '96 or earlier. Again, that's just my best guess.

The Crystal has a Columbus Brain tubing set, which is Columbus Cyclex tubing, the same stuff the SP, SL, and SLX tube sets were made of. It can't be drawn as thin-walled as the Nivachrom tubing used in the Tecnos and Master X-Lights, but it's plenty nice tubing. My Crystal has top and down tubes drawn into cool, hard to describe cross-sections. The down tube is sort of an angular teardrop cross-section, and the top tube is kind of a ovalized octagon. Weird, but cool (to me).

In the late 90s, there were several models of steel Colnagos, and the Crystal was slotted below the Tecnos and Master X-Lights, but above an entry level steel bike, which was the Classic (may have had other names prior to that one). The Classic was also a Cyclex tubed bike, but the main tubes were round in cross-section, unlike the Crystal's. It also had less chrome on the lugs and chain stays, as I recall.

I paid $750 for my Crystal back in '98, which, according to the invoice the shop showed me when I bought the frame, was very close to the price they paid the U.S. Colnago distributor for the frame (it was a close-out frame). I have no idea what a new one should cost today.

The photos look great, and it's a color you don't see every day. If it fits you, and you like it, buy it. (For frame sizing, go by top tube length, and ignore the nominal frame size, which Colnago measures bottom bracket to top of seat lug.) 

All the Best,

Dale


----------

