[CR]RE: Check Your Steel Campag Headsets Please!

(Example: History:Norris Lockley)

Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 19:43:55 -0400
From: "Kurt Sperry" <kurtsperry@netscape.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]RE: Check Your Steel Campag Headsets Please!

David,

I checked two of my bikes, one I believe to be from '70, the other from '71. Both have the <C> on the lower cup and are otherwise as you describe with periods or full stops after the BREVs EXCEPT my Bartali- the '70- has one "BREV" and one "BREV." on the same lower cup! I believe these to both be original to the bikes. A transitional part perhaps, but most definitely odd.

Thanks for making me look, I doubt I would ever have noticed without being prodded into looking.

Cheers! Kurt Sperry B'ham WA

David Bilenkey wrote:

I asked this question a while ago but got no real answer so I thought I'd ask folks a favour and see if something clearer comes of it.

I'm working on a couple of project bikes and noticed some minor detail differences. Both of them have chromed steel Campagnolo headsets, and they are very similar but the one that's currently on the ~'65 Frejus says: BREV. CAMPAGNOLO ITALY BREV. CAMPAGNOLO ITALY on the top and bottom cups in a slightly recessed groove around the circumference. Note the periods after BREV.

The one that's currently on the ~'72 Bevilacqua says (in a slightly recessed groove around the circumference): BREV CAMPAGNOLO ITALY BREV CAMPAGNOLO ITALY on the top and BREV CAMPAGNOLO ITALY BREV CAMPAGNOLO <C> on the bottom cup.

Notice the disappearance of the periods behind the BREV (both top and bottom), the loss of one ITALY and the introduction of the <C> (on just the bottom cup and I think on the bottom of the crown race but I haven't checked that). Otherwise the headsets look identical (in shape).

So my request; is could list members having bikes with their (believed) original Campag steel headsets with similar writing on the cups, take a moment to check these details and report what details they found (with the year of the bike/headset)?

I passed my original question on to John Barron and he reported a few things including:
> The next gen is what most everyone knows with words circumferentially in
> a recessed path, or wide groove. These started with a <C> on the lower
> cup (early 70's) and finished without.

But I'm beginning to wonder if there were initially sets without the <C> but with the period after BREV, and then the <C> was introduced and the period got dropped (when is what I'd like to figure out), and then eventually we had sets with neither the <C> nor the period. So I'm hoping the list might be able to help uncover this bit of trivia. I'm of the opinion that this headset I have on the '65 Frejus is correct and that this style of headset dates from the early 60's.

David Bilenkey Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

-- http://fineartscrimshaw.com

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