So ever since I got my Pinarello Montello a few years back I’ve wanted to restore it to its former glory. The 1984 Pinarello catalogue served as the guide as it included my frame:
As the bike came with an aluminium fork, my first task was to find an original Pinarello fork. It was a tough ask and I had almost given up when I had a generic steel fork installed. The very next day a fork came up for sale in Serbia of all places which I managed to purchase. The restoration could now begin.
Thanks to a work bonus, I got in touch with Steve at Sun Graphics to see what we could do. Before delivering it to him I stripped the frame of all components and sanded/rust converted/primed any hint of corrosion. Thankfully it was all fairly minor.
Steve had the frame and fork stripped, chromed, primed and painted with new decals and clear coat. I even produced two ‘maps’ for Steve to use which set out every decal and paint detail. This was the result:
Absolutely stoked with the result. The colour described in the '84 Pinarello catalogue was ‘midnight blue’, which looked in the catalogue as having a bit of green in it. Steve understood what I was aiming for and actually mixed in a bit of green pearl which shows up when the sun hits it.
Prior to painting I contacted Greg at Cyclomondo who did the decals to see if we could do a ‘MOD. MONTELLO 85’ top tube decal as per the catalogue image instead of the usual ‘MONTELLO’. Sure enough he had this on file - pays to ask the question!
Now that Chris at Pedal Cyclery has installed the fork and bottom bracket for me, the second part of the project can come to fruition - an Italian groupset.
