eBay and Craigslist finds

Colner:

"
HelloI'm not amember yet of the CR list, but hope to be soon. From time to
time I read the emails sent into the lis and yesterday I found your requset
about Colner frames. Today I also found a reply which was 90% correct. At
some time during the early80s and the early 90s Ernesto Colnago marketed a
"down-market" brand called Colner. I visited the company's stand at various
Cologne and Milan exhibitions.. The idea was to have a subsidiary brand that
could be produced in larger quantities and sold to a wider range of agents
and retail shops, therby leaving the COLNAGO dealerships more exclusive. I
started negotiations to import the frames into England but withdrew from the
deal when I found out the quantities they required per month, the range of
frames to be handled - all models, no choice involved! The final nail in the
coffin was that irrevocable orders for the next twelve months had to be
placed at the time of signing the contract. The frames were very attractive
and no doubt very roadworthy but less elaborate than the Colnago Cx,
Arabesques etc of that time. Colners could be compared with good brands such
as Ciocc, Pinarellos. Olmos etc in their looks and buils quality - good
Italian workhorses. From the front they were readily recognisable by their
head transfer- a black Ace of Spades. As for the name Colner well, just
think of it ERnesto COLNago.. There is no doubt whatsoever that the frames
were bought in and not manufactured by Colnago. Firms like TechoTube,
Romani, Simonsini often acted as large subcontractors. It is likely that the
brand was phased out gradually as the main brand became probably the world's
best known and sought after one. I might have a catalogue somewhere. Hope"
the above proves useful Bye Norris Lockley

Cheers for the info Joe-I'd heard a while back Colnago set up Colner to bypass rules about manufacturers sponsoring more than one race team, but not much else more specific-I thought the craftmanship would have been closer to that of Rauler's but from that morsel above seem to be a fair bit lower. Good to know! Ta