The Famous Master..
Looking back, the idea of owning a Colnago Master must have lingered for a longer time. Having seen quite a few on my quest for the Tecnos and despite my opinion that the Tecnos is still superior in both build and appearance, the Master kept on crossing my mind. Being a fanatic cyclist and with an increasing love for bike tinkering and admiration of the fantastic combination of steel and Art Deco Style, I soon decided that looking out for the famous Master was the right thing to do. The winter months would be the perfect time for the search, with long evenings and ample time behind the screen. Ample time, indeed, to find out that a Master in the preferred type and style is not easy to find. Despite its overall presence on the web in general, an available version meeting the desired fit in both color and correct size is quite hard to come by. The AD10 (Art Decor Blue/White) coloring had my preference combined with a full chrome fork. A commonly available outfit upon release in the mid nineties, but nowadays the availability is surprisingly limited and specimens in good condition are simply unaffordable. On one occasion an X Light 57 seemed within reach however. In the southern part of France on Ebay. But with negotiations still going on, the seller suddenly decided he wanted to keep the bike after all. Although this particular version had the right color and size, it was equipped with a blue-white fork instead of the desired full chrome, but the condition was so very good that I was still disappointed to have missed it, especially considering the amount of time spent on searching. But in the end, the chrome fork came. I had already decided that Colnago #3 would also have carbon wheels together with other accents in black, so what color would be a better match with black and white than.... yellow! As a very neat version suddenly showed up on the Dutch Marketplace. A 1993 Master Olympic AD14 in size 57 in apparrent neat condition. Not so perfect as my Tecnos from Belgium it would turn out, but still very good. It took a 200 km drive to the northeast to discover that it had two paint chips around the bracket area on the left side, some paint missing on the edge of the seat tube next to the seat post and one paint chip on the dropout on the drive side. The lemon yellow, enriched with pink and blue decorations, looked marvelous. The chrome fork was perfect. The groupset was Shimano Ultegra 1st generation & the wheels were a rarely seen set of Cane Creeks. A fair deal.. I was the proud owner of a Colnago Master.
With a similar idea about the outfit, plus the experience of Tecnos two, and having the special tools already in place, I had a good starting point. There would again be as many parts possible in Campa New Old Stock, but with one difference: I wanted parts in black, making a great fit with the yellow & white of the frame, besides two exceptions: the new Campa Record headset which I already found, and the brake set. I decided not to search for the Monoplanars this time, but the equally well shaped Campa BR-04 RE in blank metal to fit with the chrome fork. For the rest of the parts, besides the black, I had no idea or further preference yet. But that was the nice part of it. As searching on the web while not knowing what you will run into is highly exciting. And very useful and informative. The quest was ready to start...
