Elio Special Classic Road Bike 1979

This Elio Special from 1979 is a small super sportster with the looks of a grand seigneur.

Elio is an Italian brand from Orbassano (Turin) which built absolutely stunning top class frames in small numbers for many decades. Like quite a few of the brands of the area surrounding the city, later Elio frames were often made by Giuseppe Villata, one of the most skilled frame builders of Turin. he was one of the last of the old Turin artisans who was still running a workshop and and kept the great heritage of Torinese manufactures alive.

Our Elio has everything a road cyclist could wish for in 1979.
The frame is made of the classic light butted steel tubing Columbus offered at that time for professional frames. These "Columbus tubi speciali" have been connected by lugs which have been filed down to save some extra weight. The fork was made by utilizing a Cinelli Aero fork crown. But as if to obscure all of its potential, the frame has been painted in a most moderate old school paint scheme. The minimalist Elio decals complement the paintjob quite perfectly.
The groupset is of course one of the best ones available: the legendary Campagnolo Nuovo Record . Yet like a number of other high class manufactures, Elio pre-empted some design features of the parts of the Record group. The front derailleur clamp has been milled out, as have been the brake levers. The seatpost and stem are nicely pantographed and the lock nuts of the brake bolts have been filed down.

The rest of the parts is top notch, too, like the 3ttt SL saddle, the leather cover of the handle bar and the Elio-branded rims by Martano. And as a cherry on the top the bike comes with a bidon which is wrapped ijn the original leather water bottle sleeve.

This is a bike for somebody who has a real crush on beautiful vintage bikes. Riding this racer on a historic cycling event is a must!