Torque and Chrome - Hello, I picked up this Moser 16 speed bicycle today at a yard sale. Can anyone give me information about it?

Hello, I picked up this Moser 16 speed bicycle today at a yard sale. Can anyone give me information about it?

Is it a F.Moser bike? There is not a trident on the bike, but there is a arrow symbol on the lower tube lug near the headset tube and also on the main tube lug that connects to the seat stay lug. And this arrow symbol is cut-out on the bottom bracket. See the Moser Bottom Bracket Cut Out picture. I think this arrow symbol is the key to identifying this bike. There is some other symbol between the seat stays in front of the rear brake, but I do not recognize it. It can be seen in the seat stay & lug picture if you use the enlarge button above the picture. Notice in the rear wheel picture, the left rear wheel stay is painted, but the right is chromed. I think it may have been customized (contract bike?) for the previous owner. I was told it cost over $1000 new. I think this is a 1980’s era bike (?). It has some serious surface rust now, and the braze-ons on the top tube are rusting off. Should I sand down to bare metal in the rusted areas & spot paint or will this reduce the “collector’s value”? I really do not want the frame to rust through. Thanks in advance for your help. Here is a link to pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27544233@N03/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/27544233@N03/page2/ Moser Frame The Continental 700 x 23 C tires are sew-ups Columbus Front Fork Dura Ace Brakes Forma Handlebars Dura Ace shift Levers Concor Supercoursa Seat Dura Ace Crank & Chain Wheel Shimano Front Derailleur Dura Ace Rear Derailleur Campagnolo Dropouts Mavic Rims

Public Comments

Nice bike! $1000 is about what it would have cost. I can't tell you much but Francesco Moser was an Italian racing champion during the 70's and 80's. The bike is likely about 1980 vintage or so. Handmade steel frame. It's appears to be original which would give it value as a collectible. I'm not familiar with what is the best solution to restore a collectors items though. You may want to search on-line for vintage bike forums to ask experts in the field.