Leonard Bulger wrote:
(cut)
> In defense of the steel Sport, it probably won't break like a Nuovo Record and it uses a regular cotterless spindles. You don't have to mess with filing cotter pins and visiting 30 bike shops in search of a cottered spindle that will work. There are lots of different chainrings by TA, Simplex and others that will fit. The smallest ring that will fit is a TA Professional Trois Attaches 36 tooth. The smallest Campy ring is 42 teeth unless you mug a lucky kid with a Cinelli Baby Sport and steel his chainring.
-----------------------------------------------------
And I'd add that steel cranks break too, finding and working with cotters was no problem in the 1970s, and the Campagnolo NR crank only goes down to 42 tooth because it was designed for racing, while the Sport wasn't.
The steel Sport crank was pretty, but also odd in that Campagnolo made a cottered bottom bracket, but never made a cottered crank to go with it.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California
http://www.velo-retro.com (Campagnolo Timeline, reprints and T-shirts)