Re: [CR] Repro Campy hoods

(Example: Framebuilding:Paint)

To: Patrick@aardvark-pro.com
Cc: GPVB1@cs.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 13:02:47 -0400
Subject: Re: [CR] Repro Campy hoods
From: "Richard M Sachs" <richardsachs@juno.com>


Patrick@aardvark-pro.com wrote: "Candidly, as a collective unit (the CR list) perhaps we should try to petition Campagnolo to maintain or start up some sort of "historical" division, as they could possibly replicate other sought after parts from time-to-time..."

does anyone want to venture a guess as to the market for this stuff? if the CR list has 600+ subscribers, i still think it's the same 40-50 listees that do all the posting. from these numbers, i still question how many people really want these items, how many really need these items, and how many would pay for these items. what next? a picket line at the old simplex factory? a lobbyist to work within the italian trade commission? you tell me! if the fork on your old gillott breaks, and the only 531 blades available for the repair are drawn to a different shape, do you pester reynolds to re-manufacture to their 60s specs? lotta issues here... e-RICHIE chester, ct ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ snipped from: Actually,

You can cut your mold costs significantly by going to Taiwan/China/Hong Kong etc. Expect to save 60-70% over U.S. prices for tooling, which makes the proposition a whole lot more attractive. I source parts from Asia all of time, including custom plastics etc., and their quality is excellent. And you could then lower your price point, if so desired. The kicker would be to get Campagnolo to authorize a third party to use their registered trade-marks, as I suspect that they would protect them very aggressively. Without the world logo, the repro hoods would not be worth replicating, in my view at least.

Candidly, as a collective unit (the CR list) perhaps we should try to petition Campagnolo to maintain or start up some sort of "historical" division, as they could possibly replicate other sought after parts from time-to-time. As the Reynolds tubing ad used to say, "there's strength in numbers". Take the issue right to the Campagnolo family (Valentino?). There must be quite a few projects/items they could reissue. The pricing would be steep, I'm sure, but it seems market prices may be support some of this. How about a reissue of the Cambio Corsa? Do you think they could sell 500 pieces world wide? 1000 pieces? I'm sure they could contract out some of the manufacturing to third parties. Then we could get Bianchi etc. to build a replica bike to incorporate the Cambio Corsa dropouts etc. Look out, I'm getting carried away here! I feel light-headed!

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Dave Patrick
Chelsea, Michigan