There was also a big dockworkers strike in the US around 1971-72. Lots of goods were in the country but couldn't clear customs or leave the ports. DF
> In a message dated 3/18/01 2:56:18 AM Eastern Standard Time,
davidg@iag.net
> writes:
>
> << The 1973 Campy catalog (No. 17) has a Super Record derailleur listed
>>
>
> I think when Chuck Schmidt, Gabe Konrad and I were working on aspects of
the
> Campy Time Line, we finally researched the issue and discovered that the
SR
> group, including the derailleur, was introduced in the fall of 1973 and
> winter 1974 at the various trade shows.
>
> The components as previewed did not make it into actual production as
> displayed. One of the differences were the black colored chain rings which
> were reported as being a strange new alloy and "black clear through." They
> ended up being silver aluminum ally as we now know. The preview rear
> derailleur was pretty much the same in its production form.. BUT the
reality
> was that the consumer (non pro-team, etc.) might not have had the ability
to
> purchase a SR group for at least a year after the introduction. So
> functionally the SR stuff was really distributed until maybe 1975ish...
>
> I remember in the early 1970s it was extremely hard for bike shops to even
> buy normal Campagnolo parts at times, supplies were scarce and fought
over.
> In maybe 1973, I remember trying to find a set of NR brakes for a
customer...
> No distributor had them for sale after months of searching...finally I
found
> a set available at the wholesale price of $100.00, which was about half of
> the total price (wholesale) for most complete Pro bikes! Outrageous!
Actually
> that was also the normal retail price if you could fin then so that
> particular distributor was sorta profiteering because of the scarcity of
the
> parts.
>
> There may have been a strike about then at Campy or something because I
think
> that was when Raleigh came out with the well known RRA (re-using an old
> name) which featured mostly all French parts. The word was that they could
> not deliver Pros and Internationals adequately so introduced this yellow
and
> white model to address the need for high end models.
>
> Dale Brown
> Greensboro, North Carolina