My 1951 Bianchi Paris Roubaix also came with Universal Mod. 50 levers, and originally I believe, with only half hoods. I too question the levers and hoods on the Bianchi up for auction.
Kevin Stimpson Darien, CT
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of Chuck Schmidt Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 2:32 PM To: Classic Rendezvous Subject: Re: I: [CR]Re: PR Bianchi on eBay
Steven Maasland wrote:
>
> (cut) The brakes are most defintiely
> correct and if you added the mudguards and larger tires that were common
at
> the time, the clearances would look perfect. The brake levers and hoods
are
> also correct. (cut)
It looks to my eye that the brake caliper and lever shown here on the
Bianchi P-R eBay auction has Universal mod. Super 68 (1968) brakes. I
say this because the brake shoes are at the absolute bottom of the slot
in the caliper and still look like they are hitting the rim too high,
and the lever shown does not have the small triangular shape at the
bottom (I believe the lever shown is from the mid-60s):
http://images.andale.com/
Here is the same model Bianchi owned by Gino Londi (unrestored original
condition) with Universal mod. 50 (1950) levers:
http://www.velo-retro.com/
If the bike for auction was slightly newer than Gino's it probably would have Universal mod. 51 (1951) brakes instead of the mod. 50.
Incidentally, I have just added some more catalog copies to my list, and a mid-50s Universal catalog with beautiful steel-plate engravings is there: http://www.velo-retro.com
Chuck Schmidt SoPas, SoCal
.