I made the leap from "vintage" Japanese to Campagnolo yesterday, with the purchase of a very clean, muchly unused, useless to me, donor bicycle (unless someone on this list collects 80s Vitus - I didn't think so!) and have happily stripped it for parts.
The Velo Retro site Campy time line have helped me ID a few things, but since this poor bike had a mixed group on it I'm not sure where everything stood in the Pantheon of Campagnolo, or if it is all the same vintage.
Square on the Strada cranks has an "11" in it. The Record hub's lock nut is stamped "CAMP" and "11" The brakes are a mystery - they say Campagnolo in pretty script, but nothing else. Front derailleur is also Campy, but nothing else to tell me about it, except an "M" stamped on the movable arm where the cable anchors. The only thing I am sure about is the rear derailleur, Nuovo Record, stamped "PAT. 84" - eeek! out of CR timeline.
Can someone help me ID this stuff? I'll send jpgs if need be.
Should I beware of anything when cleaning parts up? I was going to use the parts washer at work to get the fine layer of grease and dirt off, but I'm unsure as to proceed with my next step. Any other tips?
Are there any pedal considerations I need to have? The crank came with some old LOOK pedals, neat, but not my system.
I know I need to buy one of Chuck Schmidt's wonderful reprint catalogs, but my bike budget got spent this month on a naked pink Vitus now residing in my closet, last stop before the basement bicycle archives.
It's nice to have every little screw and part. I cannot but help admire how nicely everything is made, every little spring is shiny, considering this is probably far from top of the line. I am going to enjoy cleaning all this stuff up and making it work on a deserving bicycle.
Now to find the correct, fine, early 80s, steel, possibly Italian bicycle, perhaps in a color not normally of my choosing, in a petite 50 or 52 cm size...
Ann Phillips Atlanta, GA - Could it be getting a bit warmer?