This isn’t Chris Bishop‘s latest build at all, but I only stumbled across it recently and was awed by its striking features. Chris managed to acquire a few sets of Gilco’s star-profiled tubes a couple of years ago and it would have been remiss of him not to build a frame for himself from one.
Gilco is a portmanteau of Gilberto Colombo, a member of the hallowed Columbus tubing dynasty. In 1966, Gilco was incorporated as Trafiltubi, specializing in the technical development of the business and contributing to legendary frames like Colnago’s Master and the Cinelli Laser.
With that heritage in mind and a perpetual longing for a Master Lite, Chris formed a classic Italian road racing frame of his own — with some special differences. The traditional chrome embellishments were replaced with high polished stainless steel and Columbus XCR was introduced to the rear triangle.
Windows were cut into the head tube lugs, adding a modern touch and an old titanium Syncros seat post was recommissioned into a wedge-style arrangement. The real showstopper for me, however, is the stark contrast between the red hues, black shades and the weathered patina on the custom stem.
See more details on Chris’s flickr set and stay tuned for a new website, which is also about to appear.
