# Olmo identification help needed



## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

Hi,
I bought a vintage Olmo recently and I'm trying to figure out how much time and money I should spend restoring it. The frame came with the complete Campagnolo Record groupset so after looking at the old catalogues at Bulgier.net I'm hoping this could be one of the better frames in the lineup. The odd thing that does not add up is that dropouts are stamped Olmo instead of Campagnolo or Gipiemme I have seen on other frames. Please take a look and tell me what you think.

frame
dropouts

The paint is not original. Somebody slapped some ugly blue paint on it so the pretty candy red and original markings (model, tubing) are not visible. The fork (no pic yet) is chromed with yellow Olmo star pantograph.


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## mtnroadie (Jul 6, 2010)

I am no Olmo expert, but I am thinking its an Olmo La Biciclissima It looks like one I saw, head tubes lugs are the same, red paint over chrome, chrome fork, panto stays and fork.Then again a lot of Olmos are red.

How about the fork, what kind of fork crown?

Though like you noticed the key to really nailing the model would be the Olmo dropouts, I would assume the higher end models had Campy ones.

Oh yeah, a cheap alternative to dropping crazy cash on a paint job is, if chrome under the paint is in good shape you can just strip the paint with chemical stripper and keep it chrome. It looks really cool!


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks,
I hadn't ran into the La Biciclissima before. Do you know if it is like the Competition / Professionista for American market or some mid-range frame? My chrome fork looks spot on like the one on speedbicycles.ch virtual museum. I'm not 100% sure all of the frame is chromed, but I haven't really made a conscious effort to check for it either. Full chrome would be pretty cool. The thing is there is crack on the seat tube so I don't want to spend whole lot on a frame that's not worth it.


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## mtnroadie (Jul 6, 2010)

Yeah Speedbicycles.ch is a great resource. I would guess La Biciclissima is one of the mid-top end models, but I don’t know for sure. The pics of the Biciclissimas on Speedbicycles.ch both have Camp dropouts, however the Olmo C-Record with internal cable routing has the Olmo dropouts. So go figure? 

Crack in the seat tube would worry me for sure. How bad is it? 

I have a frame that might have a crack on the non drive chain stay, I ride it and its fine, I am hoping it’s just a crack in the paint.

A good amount of the frames back then did full chrome, I have two frames I stripped and they were all chrome underneath. I kept one as all chrome, the other had to get painted.


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

Hmmm,
Interesting. You would think fabricating custom "Olmo" stamped dropouts is more expensive than buying some ready made ones from Campagnolo. So I reckon the stamp may not necessarily mean a bad thing. To me the drop outs look pretty well made, but obviously the material could be inferior. 

The LBS guys said the crack would have probably been caused by somebody removing a stuck seat post. I'm not so sure since the previous owner had had to sand down their seat post to get it to fit. Anyways the LBS had the seat post welded so that there is now just a 1cm crack to the seat lug. I know it will be unlikely to stay like that, but I guess I will just have to ride to see how it works out. 

Anyways it is bit on the small side for me so I'm not sure I want to keep it in the end. Obviously as I have now prepped the frame for sand blowing and painting I will probably go through with that now. The chrome finish does intrigue me so maybe I will do some prep work myself to see how it would look.


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

The seat post is 26.8mm diameter. It just occurred to me that it might be another clue as to what model we are talking about. I have understood that the high-end SL tubes would generally have an inner diameter 27.0 or 27.2.


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

I don't think there is a Olmo model called La Biciclissima at all. Olmo la Biciclissima is just the bicycle manufacturing company's name (+slogan?) at the time. I came to this conclusion since the first page on the vintage catalogues has this slogan and the description of the model with Olmo la Biciclissima text refers to Competition C.


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

I noticed that the steerer tube has the Columbus dove. Also there are crude spiral ribbings (= SL riffling) inside the lower part of the steerer tube. I just had to remove the front wheel and the wooden plug to find them. It was impossible to see them from the top even with a flash light. I have removed almost all the paint now. I'm not 100% sure whether the frame is fully chromed or not. The surface is definately quite shiny in most parts, but it could just be the fact that I have been scrubbing it so long. I think I should cover the frame as soon as possible with some lacquer.


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## latman (Apr 24, 2004)

SLX tubing was helically rifled and double butted, but SL was double butted only (except for the tope of the seat tube to recieve the post) I believe


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

Little update: The frame is definitely not fully chromed as it has started to gather little bit of rust even sitting in a dry environment. I'm trying to figure out what my options are regarding painting. I would love to get the frame wet painted cherry red (RAL code anyone?) like it originally was, but that might prove expensive so I might go with white or black powder. Only thing is I would like to get the seat tube fixed before painting. Either I will get the crack soldered or just sand it smooth. It just doesn't make sense to put lot of money into this frame since it is little small for me.


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## horvatht (Feb 27, 2012)

Hi there 
Just going through the forum and saw your post. I have a totally Origanal Olmo la Biciclissima from 84 era w Campy record. If u need detail pics I can provide them.


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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

horvatht said:


> Hi there
> Just going through the forum and saw your post. I have a totally Origanal Olmo la Biciclissima from 84 era w Campy record. If u need detail pics I can provide them.


That would be great. I would definitely appreciate some more reference pictures. Right now I'm looking for offers for a wet paint job. It seems RAL 3027 would be very close to the original color.


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## horvatht (Feb 27, 2012)

I don't really ride this bike any more. But it sure is a work of art. The details and workmanship are beautiful. I bought it in 1983 rode for a while I got serious about riding about a year ago and bought carbon. This bike hangs on the wall in my living room. If these photo are not enough please tell me what you need and I will take more.
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## blend76 (Mar 23, 2011)

Aah,
very pretty. I just quote from the paint shop for 420€ for the custom rasberrry red paint job. I think I'm tempted by the white as that would be almost 300€ cheaper.


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## Fat kitty (Nov 3, 2012)

I have had a steel old OLMO bicycle for a few tears and love it. i have always been curious as to what year it may be and the tubing it was made from. the serial # is 
4203 55 it has beautiful chrome lugs in the front. 

anyone know where i could find a serial # index for OLMO?


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