Martin Appel wrote:
>RHD> Since I had been in the market for Campagnolo track hubs
>RHD> (thanks again to Curtis Anthony), I've been looking around for them.
>RHD> Even used ones go for an exorbitant amount, the last 36 hole rear
>RHD> I've seen on ebay, by some guy called "bobbesrs" went for nearly $120.
>
>sorry about my ignorance, but what exactly makes them more desireable
>than other Campagnolo stuff of the same vintage?
Most of the Campagnolo stuff of that vintage has been surpassed by improved technology. Derailers and brakes of that era don't work nearly as well as even quite low-end modern stuff.
The road rear hubs are obsolete because cassette freehubs are superior.
All of these parts have what value they do because of beauty, rarity or sentimental attachment, not because they function well by modern standards, 'cause they don't.
The track hubs, however (also road fronts) are superior to anything you can buy nowadays. Nobody polishes cups and cones to the preternaturally perfect degree that older Record stuff was.
Later record track hubs were prone to flange failure, but the old "NR" hubs with the oval cutouts in their flanges remain the best track hubs ever made. The only thing that gives them a run for their money, in my opinion, is Phil Wood.
Most of the ones you see are the no-longer-fashionable 36 hole drilling, so the fact that the set on eBay are 32 hole makes them especially desirable.
Sheldon "Those Are The Best" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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