Status:  For Sale at $970 CAD
Made in Belgium
Size: 56cm/22"
Weight:  9.7kg/21.4 lbs
Frame:  Columbus with Campagnolo dropouts
​Fork:  Hylix carbon with 1" steerer
Groupset:  Campagnolo Athena/Veloce Mix
Wheelset:  Ambrosio WS 23 rims with Miche  hubs and Vittoria Zaffiro Pro 700x25 tires 

I bought this as a frame with a mis-matched fork, because it was obviously a well made frame and I thought it was worthy of a neo-retro build.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take detailed before pics of the frame and had to rely on the ones that were emailed to me from the seller.  I'm unsure what year it was made.  It has only one set of water bottle braze-ons, no top tube brake cable guides no shift lever braze-ons and above the bottom-bracket cable guides so I'm guessing late 60s to early 70s.  I thought it would be a fun challenge to turn this cool racing frame into a neo-retro build.  

I love the combination of blue frames with white lettering so I went with a favourite blue, Subaru WR Blue.  Martelly still makes bikes and it is a relatively small company so I sent pics of the frame to them to see if they could help me to determine the year.  They could offer me nothing so the year is still a mystery. 
​
I was disappointed that I couldn't use the fork that came with this bike.  The steering tube was way too long and I couldn't find anyone who could cut it down and re-thread it for me.  In the end, I used a carbon fork with a 1" steering tube that I had on hand and it definitely gave it that neo-retro look.

I had planned to use a really nice Campagnolo Veloce 10 speed groupset for this build, but unfortunately, I discovered that the rear spacing between the brake mount and the dropouts was 1cm too long for that brake calipers that came with that groupset, so I had to go with a mixed Veloce/Athena 9 spd groupset that I had on hand.  The Athena brake calipers fit fine.  So, it's neo-retro, but not as neo-retro as originally intended.  

In the end, I think the bike turned out well.  It shifts nicely has a great ride quality, and is relatively light for a bike of this age.  Someone is going to really enjoy it!