image courtesy of www.classicsteelbikes.com
Colnago released the Export bicycle in the early 1980s. Whilst the frame design and geometry is based on the Colnago Super. Colnago reduced the cost of this frame by using a thicker, heaver mid-range Columbus tubes. It’s more expensive counterpart, the Colnago Super was built using lighter Columbus SL tubes. According to the Colnago catalogue page (shown below), this bike was sold complete with a mid-range Campagnolo Gran Sport groupset. This made the bike more affordable for amateurs and club racers.
Before you start with the identification process, you should start here;
How to identify a Colnago vintage bike.
Special features of an Colnago Export.
Images courtesy of www.classicsteelbikes.com
Club symbol on lower head tube lug.
‘Export’ lettering and club symbol on fork crown.
‘Export’ lettering on seat stay caps. 
Spool shaped chain stay bridge.
Not sure if chain stays are also crimped.
No ‘Colnago’ lettering on chain stays.
Colnago Literature.
The following websites have a large selection scanned Colnago literature including reviews, catalogues and brochures.
Article References.
I hope you found this article interesting. I have listed the following website pages as general references.
www.classicsteelbikes.com
www.steel-vintage.com
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.
Comments.
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