The Olmo Special - Proof that Newer Isn't Better

Available at: https://mybikething.com/home/product/... 🏆The Story Behind the FrameOlmo Special — Serial #R224 — Gray with Hand-Lettered Downtube "Sixty Years of Italian Steel, Sold Through a SoCal Legend" The "Cambio Campagnolo" sticker on the downtube tells you exactly what this frame was built around — and the Gran Sport group it carried is available separately in our store for a limited time. The Bud's Bike Shop decal on the head tube places this frame in Claremont, California, at one of the great pro shops of the American cycling scene, established 1950. Serial R224 and the alphanumeric format date it pre-1970; the Gran Sport components it was built with point to the early 1960s. The Olympic rings head badge reads "Olmo Marca Celle L" — Celle Ligure, the Ligurian coastal town where Giuseppe Olmo built frames that won races. When I bought the frame, I dreaded the teardown - steel means rust and frozen stems and seatposts - but no, I was blown away, the bike came apart like eggs off a well oiled cast iron pan. Each part meticulously assembled, greased and well preserved. No rust anywhere. The boys at Bud's Bike Shop did one helluva job 60 years ago! 🚴The Ride Lugged Italian steel from the era before frame-building became industrial. The chrome lug work on this Olmo — open-crown fork, slotted dropouts, ornate BB shell — is the kind of detail that takes hours to properly execute and nobody does anymore. At 5.4 lbs for the frame and 1.75 lbs for the fork, it's not light by modern standards; but it was racing perfection by the standards of the riders who once raced on it.  Experience the ride from cycling's toughest generation. Take a journey through both time and the roads. I envy you already.