Fausto Coppi Appreciation / Owners Club

Due to a very lucky find, I'm now the owner of a Fausto Coppi, made by Masciaghi from Columbus Genius, in Team Polti colours.

Here it is finally at home:

The bike itself seems to be a bit of a mystery. It was owned by the Coppi/FiR rep so has hardly been ridden. Between the last two owners they think it has less than 300 miles in total on it. Almost everything is original (circa 1995) apart from the saddle which some scallywag stole so that's a replacement.

This is what I know/think I know so far. I'm happy to be corrected and any further information is welcome:

The frame itself seems to be quite rare. The fastback (I think it is) seat stay design was outlawed by the UCI shortly after they started production so very few were made and of those quite a lot were shelved and didn't even get painted. It's a very light frame for steel.

The groupset is a mix of Dura Ace 7400 (brake calipers, bottom bracket, crankset and cassette) and FiR (seat post, front mech, rear derailleur, down tube shifters, skewers and brake levers.) This is where it seems to get interesting. I can't find any information on the groupset at all. It doesn't seem to be rebranded Campagnolo (or any of the other Italian or French manufacturers - the limit screws on the rear derailleur are in an unusual placing) and any google search to find it seems to lead back to this bike. The seat pin does look the same as a Campagnolo aero post. Either previous for sale adverts or forum posts asking for information. The cockpit is 3ttt. Here's the sellers pictures (as they're better than mine:

The wheelset is another mystery. The rims are FiR (which is what they were known for) ES-80 but the hubs are made by spoke company Alpina. Again, I have never seen these hubs before and can't find any information on them.

I did find a mention of Alpina hubs ( and a mention of hubs that were made for Marco Pantani) with a picture of what looks like the front wheel in this article but that seems to be it: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/features/best-of-pez-the-alpina-spoke-factory/#.VUjU6PlVikq I haven't weighed them but they feel very, very light.

The front is an Alpina slim RS-16 and the rear is marked as an Alpina RR-1:

I've asked for information here, on RetroBike, on the Facebook group 90's Cycling Remembered and anyone I know who knows their stuff and so far, nothing.

For interest, here's an article on Team Polti where you can see the frame:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/latestnews/retro-amstel-gold-gianetti-remembers/#.VUjVAPlVikq

I just need the rain to stop so I can go and ride it!

[Edit] Some more pictures & details including a signature in blue pen on the rim:

Wow

Wow those hubs alone are amazing. The entire bike is great, nice one!

Bars are interesting, like a compact shape.

They're 3ttt Prima bars which, at the time, were the worlds lightest aluminium bars.

Combined with that stem I'd be interested to know how noodly your cock pit feels....

It's definitely a grimpeur's bike rather than a puncheur or sprinter's, despite the gearing. I'll be getting it out tomorrow so I'll report back.

The cockpit doesn't feel bad at all. The bike rides like a dream although I couldn't push it too much on those tyres. The gearing (52/42 -11/21) is hard work but it climbs, descends and sprints very well and wants to roll forever on the flat.

An update to the groupset is that the brake levers are rebranded Modolo. Everything else is still unknown.

You back on ship?

What you thinking on the DT shifters, or in fact the whole rig... Keep or trade up to STIs/more recent group?

I'm still undecided. The FiR groupset is very nice, as are the wheels (they're clinchers which was a nice surprise - I was expecting tubs) so I don't know whether to ride it as it is, given it's history/rarity or whether to take everything off, store it in case it gets damaged and sort it out with Athena 11 and build up some T11 hubs and either Archetypes or TB14's.....

Athena 11 sounds nice but would 7800 be more fitting?

I prefer the more classic look of a Athena - I'd remove all the logos to make it less shouty though.

If I was going Shimano I'd probably go for a full 7400 series groupset.

Nice! I'm waiting for exactly the same frameset. Hope mine is in the same condition as yours but don't think so as I only paid 50 euro for it.

I reserved a Campa 8 speed Chorus group for it.

Fantastic! They seem to be like buses, this has popped up on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/frameset-fausto-coppi-championissimo-for-campagnolo-groupsets-/261880798514?

Through further digging, I now believe the frame to be a Coppi Lugano 53. A google search for this shows more results.

....and it looks like some's beaten me to it. Interestingly, this frame isn't lugged:

I have plans to use mine to ride the Gran Fondo Fausto Coppi comingg july. Only have to find a decent Team Polti jersey. ;-)

There are quite a few on e-bay... The caps are much harder to find though. I can't do the Gran Fondo this year but it's penciled in for 2016.

Has yours arrived yet? Pictures?

I got a message from the seller Dutch post services won't take packages that big (can hardly believe it but who am I to say it should work...) so I will go to The Netherlands next week and collect it. Good thing the guy lives close to the Belgian border and not somewhere up in Friesland...

Will post pictures as soon as I have the frame.

Have you ridden the Fausto Coppi before? I've done Maratona (twice), last year the GF Giordana (Gavia & Mortirolo) but that was all with a modern bike (Cannondale CAAD 10). I'll probably go to the Coppi with my other steel bike (Colnago Master Extra Light) because I've done all my training rides on it so far and for the +7 hrs of riding, I think it's better not to take any risk.

No, never. It's certainly something I'd love to do!

I forgot to put this up earlier. A nice detail is the team coloured stickers to prevent cable rub on the head tube:

Just found this thread as someone mentioned it in my current projects thread. Bought this Coppi Lugano 53 in Columbus Genius which the owner had since new. About 10 years ago he had the frame repainted by Fineline in his chosen colour scheme and converted it to a TT bike. Was just used a few times then put into storage until I bought it. Nearly there with a quick cheap conversion back to a road bike. Love your bike @johnnyhotdog

Unbelievable. I mailed the seller to confirm I would come by and pick up the frame and all he answers is: "don't bother, the frame's gone already".

So, so far no Coppi for me. :-(

That sucks, proper c*nt then!

That's terrible news. There's a couple on e-bay at the moment if you're still looking.

That's looking good. I've been following your thread in CP to keep up to date!