Matt's Pinarello Montello

While out riding one fine summers day with my BFFs I learned that Matt had bought himself a second-hand road bike of Italian origin. My curiosity piqued, I asked him if I could help him bring it up to mechanical scratch and he kindly said yes. The next week he bowled up and dropped off his 1989 Pinarello Montello, a machine I have lusted after since the early 90s, for me to deal to as I saw fit for Matt to get his roadie steez on. This was never going to be a full restoration to showroom condition, but such a beautiful machine begs to be ridden and ridden without reservations about its soundness or safety. That's where I come in...

Strip-down.

Beautiful seatstay and seat lug.



Columbus SLX tubing.



The fork crown and a Specialized needle-bearing headset.



Mavic 501 front hub and Mavic MA40 rim.



Nisi Mixer clincher rim - this bad boy is the narrowest rim I've ever seen!



Seven speed cluster which was at this stage too filthy for me to have discerned the manufacturer.



Relatively rare Shimano large flange Dura-Ace hub.



Campagnolo Chorus Monoplanar rear brake caliper.



Down tube lug and decal. According to my assiduous interbongo research skills I have determined that it used to say, "Campione Olimpico, Vincitore Tour de France 1988".



The head tube logo - even scrunched up how much cooler than the modern 'P' design is this?



Campagnolo C-Record crankset...on a Shimano cartridge b/b!



Shimano 600 rear 8sp derailleur.



Shimano 600 8sp STI levers. Fully gummed up and non-functional, it will be interesting to see if the Fabulous PB Blaster I liberally squirted in there will free them up.



3TTT Synthesis stem.



Some subdued yet still somehow garish Ambrosio Bike Ribbon which unfortunately tore to bits on removal.



The finely wrought b/b shell.



Even the front derailleur mount has room for a logo.



As do the rear drop-outs...



...and the underside of the bottom bracket shell: Pinarello, Treviso, Italy.



Some half decent workmanship is visible inside the b/b, in fact all the internal frame junctions seemed to be very tidily executed as far as I could tell.



The rear seatstay bridge.



The ghost Pinarello logo was left behind as the decals fell or wore off one by one...



So now we have the fully stripped down 1989 Pinarello Montello SLX. I have flushed out the insides of the frame tubes, so the next step was rustproofing it as best as possible using some odourless (yeah, right!) fish oil. Once I'd let that sit for a few days I gave it a couple of coats of wax, while I slowly cleaned and serviced the parts to be ready to put it all back together...



Resurrection.

The venerable Mavic MA40 touring/training rim - still sound after all these years, just needing a minor true.



The Mavic 501 front hub was as smooth as the day it came out of the factory.



Mavic quick release - oddly, the logo is only visible when it's open!?



Cleaned up perfectly with new balls, greased and finely adjusted, Shimano Dura-Ace large flange rear hub for screw-on cluster.



Always a desirable flag to see, the Nisi Mixer wears a Made in Italy decal with pride. The rim had a massive flat spot in it, but it was nothing a block of wood and a large hammer couldn't fix.



The cool old Shimano logo.



I should have guessed it was a SunTour Winner 7 speed cluster. After all these years it came up perfectly once it was serviced. A 13-19 straight block, no less.



Some of the Specialized needle bearing headset before I discovered that the locknut was stripped - in the end I had to use a Shimano 105 one instead.



Forks installed, bidon cage bolts fitted and dropout adjusters also...



Campagnolo Chorus front braze-on derailleur.



Brev. Campagnolo. Choice.



Front derailleur installed. It looks slightly wonky in this shot, but that must be a trick of perspective as it all lined up on the money.



Another shot of the Synthesis handlebar stem, this time after I'd removed the handlebars to check that the scoring was only cosmetic and not a snapped 'bar away from a sudden and brutal tarmac/rider interface. Sound.



The Campagnolo Monoplanar brake caliper cleaned and adjusted. Also, note the new Velox cotton rimtape.



The chain and sprockets, one of my favourite areas to look at whatever the age or era of the bicycle.



Only tyres, tubes, pedals, cabling and handlebar tape to go...



Finito!

Tyre choice not retro perhaps, but definitely wise on the rough streets of Wellington. 25s, natch, and day-glo valve-helmet installed. It's the Law.



White handlebar tape and cable housings were mandatory, so I used this nice Zero tape which is easy to wash in the inevitable event of a grime attack.



Once the hanger was aligned and the 600 STI levers de-gunged, the 8sp indexing worked perfectly with the 7sp SunTour cluster to give Matt flawless shifting.



The Big Dog.



Finito, and with Signor Pinarello's most famous son Miguel framed by the main triangle.



Proudly badged.



Bello!



Perfetto...



May it carry Matt for many pleasurable kilometres over many happy years...Thanks for reading, Oli