obviously i 'know about' colnago but i'm maybe going to buy an old colnago frame and was just wondering about how to make sure it is a colnago, not just a quite possibly better made imposter. Do they all have the little colnago logo cut out the lugs? Or is that a recent thing? I think this frame is about 20 years old. The BB is marked with 76L93681. I know they are notorious for not having a logical numbering system but does that sound like a colnago serial? does that mean it may be a bike from 76?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

now, where did i put that large magnifying glass... Da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum...

A Pinarello man myself, but there are two decent sellers in London who will almost certainly answer your question. Cyclefit in Covent Garden and de Ver on Streatham High Road.

cheers, i'll maybe drob by one of them if i get a chance so they can grin and tell me it's a badged up emmelle from the 90s.

B.

Mine has a serial number of 1H8 19 on the right hand side rear dropout. It also has clover leafs stamped on both sides of the top of the bottom bracket shell, the top of each seat stay, the down tube/head tube lug and the top of each fork crown. There is also two Colnago stamps, one on the down tube/head tube lug and across the bottom of the bottom bracket shell. They made damn sure that people knew it was a Colnago (this is a mid-1990s frame) but I'm not sure when they started doing this.

i beleve the serial numbers on early nago's are on the drive side dropout,also they didnt have colnago on the top of the seat stays till the mid seventies i think

cheers, i'll maybe post some pics when i collect it so you can all laugh at how i was hoodwinked. It's going to need quite a bit of TLC before it hits the streets again though.

B.