How to identify a Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck

Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck bike
Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck (circa 1981).
Image courtesy of speedbicycles.ch

The Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck bicycle is actually a Colnago Super with special Roger de Vlaeminck symbols in the frame as well as custom decals and a selection of high-end components. Here is a photo of the bike in an old Colnago brochure circa 1982.

Colnago 1982 rdv catalogue page
Early 1980’s Colnago catalogue page.

Who is Roger de Vlaeminck?

Roger de Vlaeminck competed as a professional cyclist from 1969 to 1984. Overall he recorded 525 victories throughout his career including one stage of the Tour de France, 22 stages of the Giro d’Italia (including winning the points jersey 3 times) as well as a stage win in the Vuelta a España. He is one of only three riders to have won all five ‘Monuments of Cycling’ (i.e., Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the Giro di Lombardia).

Features of a Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck.

This bike in the following images appears to be an original even though the decals do not match those shown in the brochure. Essentially this model would have shared all the features of an early 1980’s Colnago Super. Here is help on how to identify a Colnago Super.

As for the components included with this bike, I would presume they were top of the range Campagnolo Super Record & Nuovo Record. As you can see in the catalogue, the chain rings were pantographed with Roger’s full name and initials. Based on the brochure it looks like this bike was released to celebrate one of his four Paris-Roubaix victories (1972, 1974, 1975, 1977).

These images highlight the features that would identify this model.
Images courtesy of speedbicycles.ch

Colnago Literature.

The following websites have a large selection scanned Colnago literature including reviews, catalogues and brochures.

bulgier.net
2velo.com

Article References.

I hope you found this article interesting. I have listed the following website pages as general references.

speedbicycles.ch
en.wikipedia.org

Disclaimer!

Please remember that this information is only to be used as a guide.
I consider myself an enthusiast, not an expert. The information I have presented in this article is based on my many hours of online research.

In addition, there will always be frames that don’t quite match the characteristics of a particular model as they could have been a custom build, prototype etc. Note: forks can also be swapped between different frames.

About Me.

I have been riding and working on my own bikes for many years now. I wanted to share my experiences, knowledge and research with others. My aim is to inspire people to get involved in all aspects of this amazing sport. Cheers.

Comments.

I welcome reader feedback in the comments section. Should you wish to suggest an amendment, please include a note advising the source of your information so that myself and other readers can ascertain the accuracy of your information. Note: Trolling or argumentative comments will be removed as they are counter-productive.

4 thoughts on “How to identify a Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck

  • Great website but rdv has about 3-4 different models. Saronni also 4-5 all Colnago but different in the lugs and lugs combinations. I have same of those.

    • Thanks for your comments. Interesting to the hear some of these models were available in different variations. I have included only the models for which I was able to obtain good quality images. If you have time, please feel free to add a comment to both the Saronni and RDV web pages on this site describing the variations that occured. I’m sure this would be very helpful for other readers trying to identify their frames.

    • Hi, thanks for your comments. I did a quick Google and it appears there was a Colnago Super (limited edition frameset) produced for Roman Hermann,
      former general distributor for Colnago in Switzerland and 1980’s racer. Apparently, Hermann is engraved on the top of the seat stay and the top of the chromed flat fork crown. Rdv is engraved on both front and rear dropouts. I have no images of this framset. It was not documented in any of the Colnago literature I have. Details sourced from http://www.cyclebanter.com/showthread.php?t=109835

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