Mark Bulgier wrote:
>
(cut)
> Here's Coppi right-front:
> http://bulgier.net/
That's a photo of Fausto Coppi in the 1949 TdF (he won) using Italian Simplex derailleurs on his Bianchi. This victory is what motivated Tullio Campagnolo to design the Gran Sport and abandon the Paris-Roubaix (Coppi really hated using the P-R derailleur).
http://www.torelli.com/
Bianchi's mod. Tour de France bicycle goes back to this 1949 victory with Simplex (It.) derailleurs and it was originally delivered with these derailleurs only to change in later years to Campagnolo Gran Sport derailleurs. When Coppi won the Worlds in Lugano in 1953 on a Gran Sport equiped Bianchi, Bianchi offered the mod. Campione del Mondo with Gran Sport shortly afterwards.
Chuck Schmidt SoPas, SoCal
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