# Corsa 01 Questions



## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

Okay, I've been putting off writing this post due to embarassment, but here we go. I have a 52cm 1996 yellow Corsa 01 that I bought new. Right now it has Campy Chorus 8speed shifters/levers, crank set and rear derailleur. The freewheel is some no name 7spd on a set of Mavic Open CD rims on a set of Chorus hubs. This bike was my third Merckx since about 1984 and I loved it. I worked in a bike shop in the 80s before I went to law school. Since about 1990, I have ridden intermitently over the years. I am now 55 and about a year and half ago I succumbed to the siren song of carbon/aluminum and bought a Cannondale Six13. Recently I started riding the Corsa again. I want to update it and start riding it more often. 
My question is, I am so out of touch with equipment, if I buy a new current gruppo and a set of wheels, will all of that fit on my Corsa 01? I know I will have to work with the handlebar stem situation since I love the steel fork that came with the bike and I want to continue to use it. 
Any thoughts or information will be greatly appreciated.
I hope to provide the obligatory "bike leaning against white garage door" photo of the bike at some later date.
Thanks.
Bill


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## r_mutt (Aug 8, 2007)

yes! 


do it!


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

wsriii said:


> Okay, I've been putting off writing this post due to embarassment, but here we go. I have a 52cm 1996 yellow Corsa 01 that I bought new. Right now it has Campy Chorus 8speed shifters/levers, crank set and rear derailleur. The freewheel is some no name 7spd on a set of Mavic Open CD rims on a set of Chorus hubs. This bike was my third Merckx since about 1984 and I loved it. I worked in a bike shop in the 80s before I went to law school. Since about 1990, I have ridden intermitently over the years. I am now 55 and about a year and half ago I succumbed to the siren song of carbon/aluminum and bought a Cannondale Six13. Recently I started riding the Corsa again. I want to update it and start riding it more often.
> My question is, I am so out of touch with equipment, if I buy a new current gruppo and a set of wheels, will all of that fit on my Corsa 01? I know I will have to work with the handlebar stem situation since I love the steel fork that came with the bike and I want to continue to use it.
> Any thoughts or information will be greatly appreciated.
> I hope to provide the obligatory "bike leaning against white garage door" photo of the bike at some later date.
> ...


Not sure why you would be embarassed, no reason to be--The only issue you may face is the drop out spacing-modern frames are 130mm, yours are probably 126mm. This is not a real problem, as 4mm is not much, you would be able to force them apart to put a wheel on, or you could "cold spread" them to make it permanent-there are several threads on the process on how to do that safely. Other than that, no issues, as long as your components work together, i.e some campy bottom brackets won't work with different cranks of the same year, for example. A way around that would be to buy a whole gruppo. I think most on this forum would vote for an alloy group (no carbon fiber) as looking more proper on that frame, but of course you have the only vote that counts. THe British mail order houses are having great prices on 09 Centaur gruppos (alloy) but a number of board members have had their cc numbers stolen after purchase, so you should make other payment arrangements. As long as the quill stem and handlebar fit you, there is no reason to try and upgrade, they look just right on these bikes and there is no difference im performance, other than if you want to change a component, you have to take the tape off. Your bb is italian thread (70mm), your seat post is 27.2, and that's pretty much all you need to know. I would suggest you use Zmud's modern upgrade as a guideline-you can't go wrong following his advice.
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=167547


good luck

b21


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## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I want to nail down the rear dropout spacing as I have seen it referred to as 130 in a couple of places. If at all possible I would like to stick with Campy, but cost may become an issue. 
Anyone have any thoughts on the fatigue factor for Cinelli bars? My bar and stem setup is probably more than 15 years old. Still looks nice and no weird creaks or squeaks.
Thanks again.
Bill


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

wsriii said:


> Thanks for the encouragement guys. I want to nail down the rear dropout spacing as I have seen it referred to as 130 in a couple of places. If at all possible I would like to stick with Campy, but cost may become an issue.
> Anyone have any thoughts on the fatigue factor for Cinelli bars? My bar and stem setup is probably more than 15 years old. Still looks nice and no weird creaks or squeaks.
> Thanks again.
> Bill


visual inspection, if they look OK, dont worry-those are young by our standards. Warning if you DON't do campy, toomanybikes will say bad things about you, but he is rapidly turning into a curmudgeon anyway. Plus, he's Canadian. That may be redundant.

b21


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I've got a Corsa 01 and mine is spaced at 130 mm, but I bought it about 2003.

Personally, I would keep the 8-speed Campy group and upgrade the wheels with an 8-speed cassette. Extra gears aren't all they're cracked up to be, and 10/11 speed chains will wear out much faster than 8 or 9 speed.


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## r_mutt (Aug 8, 2007)

i believe that campy 8-speed is 130mm. i have a lemond from that era with campy 8-speed and it's 130mm spacing. 

do it!


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

I too, think the spacing will be 130, so no issues there. At the very least it's 128, and that would be 1mm on each side, well within the margin of error.

I really like the new 10 speed stuff, and this is coming from a downtube shifter 6-7 speed guy until recently. The ergonomics of the new Centaur shifters is fantastic, and the brakes are incredible.

I paid just over $500 for a complete grouppo from Ribble, but as barry1021 says, watch your CC. There seems to be a problem with ALL the British vendors and CC security recently.

Welcome aboard!


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## Marz (May 14, 2006)

I have my (similar vintage to yours) Corsa 01 on ebay at the moment and I built mine up with 10 speed Centaur with no problems.

If you are worrying about your stem and bars there are heaps of new old stock (NOS) items on ebay.

Go for it, it's a beautiful bike except for the short headtube.


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

tarwheel2 said:


> I've got a Corsa 01 and mine is spaced at 130 mm, but I bought it about 2003.
> 
> Personally, I would keep the 8-speed Campy group and upgrade the wheels with an 8-speed cassette. Extra gears aren't all they're cracked up to be, and 10/11 speed chains will wear out much faster than 8 or 9 speed.


I agree 100%, its personal choice, but my favorite bike is the 7-11 with original DA 8 sp. I love it. I bought a beautiful Primato on EBAY from the original owner a 1994, it came with its original DA 8 spd, which I replaced with 9 spd Campy. I put the DA 8 spd on my brand new Custom Carl Strong. Some people might think thats silly, but the DA 8 spd looks great and works great. I have my climbing gear, so I am good toi go. I have one ten speed bike, its fine, but no big deal. Having the right descending gear and climbing gears is the important thing, not how many in between.

b21


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## barry1021 (Nov 27, 2005)

zmudshark said:


> I too, think the spacing will be 130, so no issues there. At the very least it's 128, and that would be 1mm on each side, well within the margin of error.
> 
> I really like the new 10 speed stuff, and this is coming from a downtube shifter 6-7 speed guy until recently. The ergonomics of the new Centaur shifters is fantastic, and the brakes are incredible.
> 
> ...


This from a guy tht was all DT shifters and clips six months ago. :aureola: Modern brakes are better, no question, but I am not sure the 09's are dramatically better than say 07.


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## r_mutt (Aug 8, 2007)

Marz said:


> I have my (similar vintage to yours) Corsa 01 on ebay at the moment and I built mine up with 10 speed Centaur with no problems.
> 
> If you are worrying about your stem and bars there are heaps of new old stock (NOS) items on ebay.
> 
> Go for it, it's a beautiful bike except for the short headtube.


is it on ebay Australia? why you selling?


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2009)

barry1021 said:


> Not sure why you would be embarassed, no reason to be--The only issue you may face is the drop out spacing-modern frames are 130mm, yours are probably 126mm. This is not a real problem, as 4mm is not much, you would be able to force them apart to put a wheel on, or you could "cold spread" them to make it permanent-there are several threads on the process on how to do that safely. Other than that, no issues, as long as your components work together, i.e some campy bottom brackets won't work with different cranks of the same year, for example. A way around that would be to buy a whole gruppo. I think most on this forum would vote for an alloy group (no carbon fiber) as looking more proper on that frame, but of course you have the only vote that counts. THe British mail order houses are having great prices on 09 Centaur gruppos (alloy) but a number of board members have had their cc numbers stolen after purchase, so you should make other payment arrangements. As long as the quill stem and handlebar fit you, there is no reason to try and upgrade, they look just right on these bikes and there is no difference im performance, other than if you want to change a component, you have to take the tape off. Your bb is italian thread (70mm), your seat post is 27.2, and that's pretty much all you need to know. I would suggest you use Zmud's modern upgrade as a guideline-you can't go wrong following his advice.
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=167547
> 
> 
> ...


 
1996 bike will be 130 mm spacing.


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## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

*Thanks to everyone!*

Thanks to everyone for the quick comments and input. I am stuck at work for a bit on a case which has really heated up so I may not get too many chances to comment again for a short bit. But I really do appreciate everyone's suggestions.

Bill


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## Marz (May 14, 2006)

r_mutt said:


> is it on ebay Australia? why you selling?


Yes it's on Australian Ebay as I don't want to ship overseas.

I'm selling it because I'm studying and I need to cull and it's the easist to sell for me not to lose too much on what I've put into it. I'd lose too much money on the De Rosa Merak HF with Chorus so that's staying put.

I'm regretting it as it's the smoothest bike I've ridden. Oh well.


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