1977 Mondia Prestige

BACKGROUND / PURCHASE CONSIDERATIONS:

I needed another vintage bicycle project like I needed another hole in my wallet. But when I saw this particular 1977 Mondia Prestige come available for sale in 2006, I threw all rational thought process out the window and proceeded to buy it anyway. Actually, that last statement is not quite true inasmuch as there was an abundance of careful consideration on my part before deciding whether and how to pursue this bicycle. Despite having bought and sold literally thousands of various and sundry items on eBay over the years under the guise of a multiplicity of userids that I still actively maintain, I had never once purchased a complete bicycle using that venue. And while a good picture may be worth a thousand words, I also knew from past experience that several poor ones posted in association with an eBay auction listing were not to be taken on faith by a potential buyer such as myself who would very much like to assume the best unless one prefers that the resulting thousand words be of the four-letter variety - and that was a scenario that I truly wished to avoid. Therefore, I made a point of contacting the seller in the early days of the auction to begin a detailed dialog in an effort to better arrive at a true and accurate perspective regarding the condition of exactly what I was considering in purchase. My decision to tender what turned out to be the winning bid was based upon the following factors:

01) The frameset itself was of an appropriate size for my own physique. Actually, this aspect was rather important to me because it was my intention to use this bike with some degree of regularity, not just hang it on the wall and look at it.

02) I personally found the bicycle in question to be quite fetching with its understated Black Smoke cromovelato finish and elaborate pinstriping as opposed to the somewhat garish and bizarre multi-color fade paint schemes (...ya either love 'em or hate 'em) for which this marque was well known.

03) Through email correspondence and a series of telephone calls to the eBay seller, I was able to obtain great provenance from a knowledgeable original owner from whom the seller had only recently acquired the bike including a complete history of maintenance and modification since its initial purchase.

04) In spite of the somewhat unintentionally misleading text associated with the eBay auction listing itself, the bike proved to be a remarkably unfettered original example of a Mondia Prestige, their top of the line offering and a rather uncommon model which is most easily differentiated from the Mondia Special of 1977 by virtue of its complete Campagnolo fitment including Record side-pull brake calipers and matching levers as opposed to the Universal Super 68 setup found on the Special from that same year (...although there are most certainly other differences between the two models as any cognoscenti can attest).

05) The Campagnolo componentry on this Mondia mirrors almost exactly that found on my 1971 Gitane Super Corsa (...you can read more on that peculiar subject below), and as a direct result of this circumstance, I just so happened to have copious quantities of both lightly used and NOS spares, including all of those bits with the suitably arcane French thread, on hand so as to be capable of very nearly completely rebuilding this bike several times over.

INITIAL INSPECTION / REFURBISHING PLANS:

The photographs that I have posted herein depict this bike immediately after my having removed same from its cardboard shipping container and lightly refitting several accoutrements such as the handlebars, stem, and wheels which had been removed to facilitate compact packaging (...although you will note that I did not bother to re-attach the Campy Record model 1037 pedals to the crank arms). I made no attempt whatsoever to tune or ride this bike prior to taking literally hundreds of photographs in an effort to carefully document its initial state. Almost immediately thereafter, I tore the bike down to a bare frameset, and began the process of refurbishing and/or replacing with like originals all of the various component sub-assemblies as well as polishing out the finish on the frame and fork before doing some light paint touch-up work where appropriate and replacing the Reynolds 531 seat tube mounted decal with a proper circa 1975 to 1977 NOS version as well as the vertical Mondia logo seat tube decals with suitable reproductions. Other than building up a new set of wheels using the original Campagnolo Record model 1035 high flange hubs which happened to be included along with the bike as opposed to the early Shimano 600 EX small flange hubs that the original owner got when he purchased a spare set of wheels, and replacing outright the Record model 1039 headset because both the top and bottom head races along with the crown race were completely shot (...resulting in horribly indexed steering), the remainder of the work required here was pretty much run of the mill service maintenance and clean-up to rid the bike of almost thirty years of grease, grime, and general decay. That said, I did see fit to replace the brake levers and hoods, the bar end shift lever covers, as well as the toe clips and straps with exact originals from my stock of spares, re-wrap the handlebars in white Tressostar cloth tape as opposed to the original black, set aside the Campy model 2010 brake pads in favor of a set of Kool-Stop model KS-CR pads to improve braking efficiency, change the Campagnolo standard Gray brake cable housings out for Pearl White versions of same, replace all brake and shifter cables with NOS Campagnolo originals, affix aftermarket protective stainless steel pedal washers, remove the original and hardly even worn Campagnolo model 930/A rear derailleur jockey wheels and substitute a brand new but generic black pair of wheels, replace the Sedisport Delta chain with a contemporary nickel plated SRAM PC68 chain having a PowerLink connector, exchange the non-original five speed SunTour Winner 14/24 cogset for an Atom 77 Compact 13/24 narrow six speed freewheel, add a Specialites T.A. model 417 alloy bottle cage and corresponding model 197 Criterium water bottle, and finally, I will be mounting a period correct white Silca Impero frame pump with chrome steel model 1030/2 Campagnolo pump adapter head.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THE CAMPAGNOLO COMPONENTRY:

Upon close inspection, I was struck by one aspect of this bicycle that I found somewhat perplexing. The original owner was quite resolute in stating that he first purchased the bike back in 1977, that it had not been built up by the local bicycle shop themselves from a bare frameset, and that he had not changed out or modified in any way its componentry over the course of his lengthy ownership other than to replace a chain, tires, cables, and purchase a second wheelset including freewheel. In fact, the serial number of 272162 which appears at the top of the left seat stay, as well as the presence of a Bocama investment cast fork crown and the particular rendition of Reynolds 531 tubing decals affixed to the frameset and front fork would all tend to corroborate a manufacturing date of 1977. And yet the Campagnolo components on this bicycle are quite consistent inasmuch as they all would seem to date from 1972 or thereabouts including the pre 1973 crank arms having no date coding, the pre 1974 52 tooth outer chain ring without any "roll off" pin, pre 1978 chain rings, chain ring bolts, and crank arm dust caps all marked "PATENT CAMPAGNOLO", early style Black 15 mm crank bolts and washers, Record high flange hubs with cone locknuts stamped "72" and "CAM 72" for 1972, pre 1978 non C.P.S.C. compliant beaded flat handle style QR mechanisms with conical adjusters, a 1972 specific version of the Record front derailleur having a pre 1978 non C.P.S.C. flat style "meat slicer" outer plate in conjunction with post 1972 enlarged pivot housings but without any circlip at the upper arm pivot, a Nuovo Record rear derailleur date code marked "PATENT-72" for 1972, pre 1974 Record "standard reach" alloy brake calipers with non-recessed acorn nut mount also having pre 1978 non C.P.S.C. "flat" style QR levers and no plastic wheel guide covers, interim style late 1972 to early 1973 Record "long arm / long reach" alloy brake levers with "U" shaped cable relief openings and pre 1984 "world" logo gum hoods, and a pre 1978 Record seat post having a non-fluted one piece cast alloy shaft without "limit line" and two bolt steel clamp with solid pivot boss. True enough, several of the other components such as the 3ttt Record 1A style stem and Record Competizione handlebars are more consistent with a 1977 build date. But why is that not the case with the Campy components?

My solicitation for input from knowledgeable others not withstanding, I do have my own working theory as to both how and why the earlier and somewhat incongruous Campagnolo components came to be fitted as original on this 1977 Mondia Prestige. I would be quick to caution any and everyone, however, that my attempt to detail this theory below ultimately comes down to a "best guess" on my part - albeit one which I believe to be well reasoned and buttressed with several key supporting facts, all of which when taken together still lack just enough empirical evidence to either prove or disprove its validity in absolute terms.

DIFFERENTIATING ONE "PRESTIGE" FROM ANOTHER:

Referring to the Gary Fisher penned review of Mondia bicycles published in the January 1977 issue of Bicycling magazine (...an article which would have actually been written several months earlier during the latter part of 1976), he states that at least as of that point in time "...Mondia produces three quality frames: a criterium model, a touring model and a cyclo-cross model". And while the focus of said article happens to be the cyclo-cross edition, the text does also include some interesting information regarding their touring oriented Special as well as the all new Criterium Prestige model. However, this is decidedly NOT the same manner of Prestige as my own example, and in fact, it is a variation of which I was totally unaware until that point when I read this article for the first time myself. While both Prestige versions may, indeed, be distinguished from all other contemporary Mondia offerings by their thorough and complete fitment of Campagnolo componentry, including most notably their brake calipers and levers, the Criterium Prestige frameset was specifically designed for criterium racing. As such, it has distinctively Continental style oval-to-round fork blades, a shallow fork rake, steep head tube angle, large diameter rear stays, and short Campagnolo dropouts - all features which are absent on my own Prestige. Furthermore, the Criterium Prestige uses a Bocama lugset, braze-on mounted down tube shifters, and traditional top tube brake cable clamps as opposed to Nervex Professional lugs (chrome plated in the case of the head lugs) with modified Bocama bottom bracket shell, bar end shifters, and braze-on brake cable guides as found in evidence on my bicycle. In all of these respects, the Prestige model that I purchased would seem to have more in common with the Mondia Special for 1977, not the least of which being its more conventional frame geometry. Still, there are significant differences worthy of note to be made in drawing such a comparison. Whereas my own 1977 Prestige features a chrome plated semi-sloping Bocama investment cast fork crown with Mondia logos on each shoulder, bottom bracket braze-ons in the form of cable guides for the front and rear derailleurs, and down tube braze-on fittings for mounting a water bottle, details which are all common to the 1977 Criterium Prestige, the Special for this same year still employed a flat topped forged steel chrome plated Vagner fork crown, a separate and detachable down tube mounted twin derailleur cable guide, and it necessitated the use of older clamp-on fittings in order to affix a water bottle cage. It was not until the 1978 model year that these three particular details which are present on my Prestige frameset became standard for Mondia Special framesets, but by then the Special had been additionally modified by virtue of having its braze-on brake cable guides moved from their original location at the 5:00 o'clock position along the right hand side of the top tube to a straight up 12:00 o'clock position, the venerable and somewhat ornate Nervex lugset was abandoned in favor of using more restrained Prugnat lugs having distinctive cutouts, and the center section of the seat tube between the CdM rings where the vertical Mondia logo decals would be affixed no longer featured a section of exposed chrome plating.

The Mondia Prestige configuration as depicted herein was only offered for a relatively short period of time, maybe a year and a half, before being dropped altogether (...or perhaps more accurately stated, it was subsumed by their Special model - but without the latter ever having Record brakes), and as such, not many of these bikes were made with even fewer yet sold stateside (...best estimates that I have heard would put their number somewhere well under 100 total). Moreover, I believe that their general resemblance to other Mondia models, where any differentiation to be made was really quite subtle, only further serves to promote the relative obscurity or even complete anonymity of the Prestige to this day. Worse yet, even the model name "Prestige" itself is nowhere to be found on either of the two types that were once offered, although at least the word "Criterium" is present at the forward most position along the top tube of the Criterium Prestige edition.

As for the full complement of Campagnolo components exclusively common to Prestige models, my guess is that Mondia came across, either through a distributor or even more likely from Campagnolo directly, a close-out buy on some earlier vintage complete Campy groupsets including brakes which they subsequently purchased as a lot at discount, and that these older gruppos then became the basis for their offering what were to become new "Prestige" models in limited numbers. To me, this theory makes sense inasmuch as I also know that Campy was inclined to dump select inventory at discount to various builders, most especially during that post Bike Boom timeframe leading up to their 1977-1978 manufacturing changeover which was driven by the well intentioned but rather ridiculous in some respects C.P.S.C. safety guidelines that attempted to save us all from ourselves. For their part, Mondia had developed for the 1977 model year both a niche market racing model in the form of the Criterium Prestige as well as a slightly more refined version of their touring Special simply known as their Prestige model, both of which shared a few unique details with one another, and Mondia would appear to have specifically chosen to use those older Campagnolo groupsets to further differentiate these bikes from the remainder of their model lineup (...this brief window of time being the only point at which I am aware that Mondia was known to have affixed the otherwise expensive Campagnolo Record brakesets to their factory built bikes - and then likely only because they could do so without substantially affecting wholesale and/or retail price points since said components were purchased at deep discount).

CONCLUSIONS / SOLICITATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

I would be most interested in hearing from anyone else out there who either has or used to have one of these unusual Prestige models to determine whether their own Campagnolo componentry also dates from 1972 specifically, or more likely than not, whether said equipment is/was consistent as a gruppo but different from mine with regard to its exact production year while still being of a pre-C.P.S.C. design. For whatever it may be worth, the only other two Prestige models whose particulars I have been able to examine carefully also had Campagnolo components which were seemingly incongruous to their respective frameset build date to the extent that they were of an earlier and non C.P.S.C. compliant configuration.

I also invite anyone out there who has documented facts, well reasoned theories, or even thought provoking insights into the particulars of Mondia Prestige models to please share your thoughts by contacting me directly at rsb000 (at) hotmail (dot) com (...where those would be a trio of zeros and NOT a repetition of the letter "O").