1978 Colnago Restoration Part 1 

I love the detail and pace. I tend to watch bike restorations whilst doing bike restorations!!!

A man after my own heart. If I am taking the time to tear a bike down to the smallest pieces than I want them to shine if possible. I am not a big fan of patina on a bike or a car. I had stopped following you a few years ago ( I believe years) and just found you again and remembered how much I enjoyed watching you. Keep up the exceptional work. Don't worry about the pace it's just fine as is the music ( of course I am a senior citizen).

My first time watching you. Doing a great job, taking it apart, no ultrasonic cleaners, I like it. Keep it up.

John, just caught. Love the pace and just the right amount of detail. Like the before and after. Just installed a TV in my garage bike shop and put you up while I’m working.

I dig the pace and music. I’m watching this with breakfast and coffee. Picking up some ideas for the restoration of a 1984 Miyata 610 I just snagged for $90. It’s cosmetically in about the same shape, but the 27” wheels are in great condition. I may only need to service hubs and tighten spokes.

Great video. Great music , I can't remember if I am 45 or 46 and I definitely enjoy these videos a lot. Keep up it. I have bikes that need building and this is great inspiration. I remember first finding Bicycle Rendezvous when I was 23 and it was pretty much the only source at the time online for vintage information. 😎

Great pace, good music! Get those scales out. Looking forward to those future bikes!

I restore/clean bikes the same. Like you, front derailleurs are pain to me. I use the same tools and polish. One thing I use, is an Ultra sonic cleaner. Not a fancy one, but one for less than 100 Canadian $. Just hot water and lots of dish washing liquid. I am about to start a 77/78 clean-up of a Boule D'or team bike. ( Colnago Super) Really like your videos. Some explanations, relaxed, and at a good pace. I've been a member of the CR group for 18 yrs. Agree, I have learned so much.

I dig your pacing and music ... keep up the great work and Happy Holidays!

I’m a big fan. I like to see the products and methods used to clean up the bikes.

nice video, I wish there were more like this. Greetings from Poland John

Regarding that rust spot on the top tube...what I've done is take the bike into my local automotive paint store and have them match the original paint -- which they're experts at that. They'll mix up a rattle-can of it in 15 minutes...costs under $20. Sand off the rust, prime it with rust-inhibitive and apply the color-coat. Then I use automotive clear (SprayMax 2K) if needed to adjust the sheen of the color-coat. The bikes have turned out really well.

I love the pace of the video and the music, thanks!

John - Most grease comes off of cotton t-shirts and such if you pre-treat with "Shout" or "Oxi-Clean" laundry pre-treatment spray: use an old toothbrush to work the pre-treatment spray into the stain. Wash with ALL or a similar clear liquid laundry detergent in WARM or COLD water: hot water sets stain. IMPORTANT: HANG-DRY the t-shirt and DON"T use the dryer, in case there is stain remaining that needs a repeat treatment. On really bad stains, soak and wash the greasy shirt in powdered OXI-CLEAN.

Hi John. I'm a big fan. I'm 64. I'd prefer no music. Since you asked . Otherwise it's perfect. As always. Thanks for the entertainment.

I like the pace, the background, etc. I like your voiceover, especially historical bits and your views on restoration "standards." I'm 63, so I guess I'm in the sweet spot of your viewership demographic. I pay little attention to a bike's weight, so a weigh-off would be only mildly interesting.

Using 2000 wet dry sand paper pryer to polish works wonders/ keep old cotton socks for polishing for chrome and aluminum 😎

Excellent video. I’m amazed at how much can be done with the Magic Eraser, I’m getting that to help with my Ciocc restoration.

John, you need an ultrasonic cleaner. Works amazing!

German Cars ans Italian Bikes Top Feeling❤

i learned the hard way years ago now i put a old sheet under my stand before i start my teardown to help find all the little pieces i tend to drop lol

Thanks John, I like the changes and the pace is fine. The music reminds me of Mr. Rogers, which is great. Happy New Year!

I'm 64. I find the volume of the music just a tad too loud. It gets monotonous quickly. I like the pace and before / after pictures instead of long stretches of watching you scrub and polish. Overall a very enjoyable series of videos bringing the grand machines back into rideable condition.

As soon as I saw the quantity of bikes and cars, I felt relieved. There are (worst) other collectors out there with more good stuff than me 😀Your Colnago is the same color as my Cinelli. And I have a 76-78, not sure which, Super in Molteni orange too. Thanks for the video.

great channel

Those Campy hubs were similar to what I had on my Somec in the late 80's. Pretty sure I have a 7 sp. I used to ONLY run campy on my bikes back them, today, not so much. I really enjoy your channel and the knowledge sharing you do. Bring back memories of me sitting in my living room floor working on my bikes. Merry Christmas

Love the videos by all the popular bike channels, I always learn something. Thanks for the video.

I've had some index cranks! love it. Nice video John. 👊👍I usually go to auto body paint shops to match paint.

You could sure use an ultra sonic cleaner with warn dawn soap water !!!

Cara eu admiro muito a sua de dedicação no restauro dessas lendárias bikes😊

"Game show host"? Who said that? You're a guy who likes bikes and shows it. The kind of guy anyone who enjoys vintage bikes would like to share a ride or a beer with...which is why I keep telling you to come to Italy and see some amazing cycling museums in the land where cycling's in the DNA. Bikecology!??!?! Alan Goldsmith sold a bunch of Colnago bikes back in the day. I actually worked for him for a few weeks back in the 1990's. Regarding the weight idea: zero interest in how much the things weigh. How they RIDE is what counts! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I had a crank bolt washer incident, but it wasn't really my fault. My younger brother tweaked the little chainring on his MTB and was using my crank puller to remove the arm for replacement. He said the arm wouldn't come off so I went to the garage and beat that thing with a mallet until...the threads came out. He'd left the washer on.

Looking forward to the suntour superbe clean up. Best finish on any groupset...

I like your video style. The pacing and music are relaxing. I can understand being concerned that your more knowledgeable audience might be bored or judging you, but speaking for the bike lovers who don't have a lot of hands-on experience, the more details and rudimentary information the better. I learn a lot from your videos, and I appreciate it. Like when you point out the little things, like the C-clamp thingy. The lengthy of the videos shouldn't be a concern either. If talking in more detail makes them an hour, it's worth it. I guess what I'm saying is that if I have any complaint, it's that you don't talk about the minutia enough. It might seem mundane to you, but it isn't to some of us. Another great video. thanks for your time and sharing.

I'm sorry I skipped around but great video. I need to learn how to this. It's too bad you couldn't save those fabulous colored Clark's Cables. Soneone should make them again.

I want to see you completely rebuild all your feewheels

Pace and music are fine with me. I like the before and after shots - compressing the cleaning while still giving good tips. Seems 30 minutes is about right - anywhere between 20 and 30 will be good - beyond that and I've found people tend to break up watching in two or more sessions. It's nice to have that sweet spot of about 20 mins whenever possible, I've found. I have an 81 Colnago Super in an odd, maybe rare aqua/blue/green that needs to be brought down from my attic and ridden. Gonna have to try the magic eraser - I've got a box of them somewhere - good tip! Keep 'em coming John! See you on the CR List.

Loved this video. Its content and pace was outstanding. Personally I would love to see more details in the wheel building process. Not so much the cleaning and overhauling, but the actual building up from the bare hubs, rims, and lacing of the spokes.

Hey John, keep up the great work. The pace and content are spot on for me. Magic eraser - good idea! Love the before and after clean up/polishing of parts. A weigh off would be intriguing. Regards from Australia.

It's really tough to match metallic colors without clear coating the entire frame and by that time it's easier to repaint the whole thing. You might try some of those abrasive sticks that detailers use for rust removal on car chips. Testors works for infill but Sign Painters One Shot is more faithful to the pinstripers craft.

I would love to see a bicycle weigh off! It’s important to know what’s the lightest!

a quick mid-video comment... regarding cleaning and checking of the crankset. It's not a bad idea to get out a magnifier and look for cracks at the junction of the spider and crank arm. On my cranks that have seen plenty of miles, I've seen a hint of a crack at the thin web of aluminum at this junction. I've used a small round chainsaw file to get rid of the thin portion of that web on all of my cranks with that sort of construction. This is the sort of thing that was discussed to death on the Classic Rendezvous list in the old days, and it made an impression on me. 😀

Bike cleanings, breakdowns, builds. Maybe shots less close up, slower panning?

1 of these days ima have me a colnago i did pick up a mid 60s windsor thursday havent started to get her tore down yet

At 19:00 you mention using chrome polish on many of the components, but a container of Aluminum polish is on the table. Was that actually the product that made the parts look so nice?

Ever consider using an electric buffer when polishing the frames ?

Wow you got some lovely bikes, where do you get them all from ?

Looking forward to that Lotus Supreme with the Dura Ace EX! Pace and content are great for me. A Campy tool set would be great, but the expense equates to several very nice bikes and that is hard to justify. In my humble opinion, though, you do need a shop quality fixed cup remover (even a Cyclus or other inexpensive model), an old Park HW-2, and maybe a plier type lockring tool.

Blending the paint in shouldnt be that difficult, but i Think a full respray in Orange or White is the way to go (factory 78 colours).

With 126 spacing, are you going 6 speed, or 7 speed? I can't remember what year, 7 speed came out. Wasn't Bikeology an early mail order, California chain of bike shops? This video was about at the correct pace. The music was a little "sleepytime".

Not an expert but looks like mostly Super Record so is the bottom bracket spindle also titanium, the ones that the pros sometimes snapped? I have an old record BB and the spindle looks the same so maybe at some point they stopped using the titanium spindle after a year or two?. Kind of funny, I bought the record BB lightly used from a guy who upgraded to the super record BB before they started failing. Bought a headset and shifters too from the same guy for the same reason. Do you have any of the franken bikes like the high end Puch I bought that tried to use various brand components because each was particularly good for each given function? Seems like collectors today kind of frown on these bikes.

Weigh off would be neat to see

I could do without the music ,very distracting.

Hey men, have you tried to build another type of vintage bikes?

another quick comment... (forgive me)... I think the term for that little clip on the front derailleur is "circlip". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circlip ... not that it really matters, of course.