I checked out this auction and wanted to let CR list members know that most of the "Winner Pro" freewheels this seller is showing are in fact Winner freewheels. The Winner freewheels did not have precision-ground races or an oil port, both being upgrades featured on the Winner Pro. The easiest way to distinguish the two is the lockring color: silver on the Winner and gold on the Winner Pro.
There's no huge difference in ultimate performance, though the oil port is nice for those who clean and overhaul their drivetrains regularly. Despite there being no critical performance differences, I'm a believer in getting what you pay for. Be forwarned that if the picture shows a freewheel with a silver lockring and claims to be a Winner Pro, the pictured item is not a Winner Pro. If you can't see the lockring in the picture there's no way to tell what it is. What the seller actually ships is anybody's guess. I notified the seller about this a couple of months ago, and got some vague reply about not all pictures being the actual auctioned item, and they're both great freewheels so there shouldn't be any problem....
I'm straying a bit outside the CR timeline here, but figured some CR folks might be looking for post-'84ish freewheels for their pre-'84ish machines.
Cheers,
Paul Brodek Hillsdale, NJ
On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:26:23 EST, ABikie@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 12/31/2002 10:06:35 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>mitchell@gassworks.com writes:
>
>
>> One of my more amusing parts failures was with these shifters. I was on a
>> loaded tour up the California coast, got up very early one morning, and was
>>
>> more than a little tired and groggy. On one of my first uphills, I tried
>> shifting down with the right lever. The front derailleur shifted. In my
>> daze, I then tried using the left lever. The rear derailleur shifted. I
>> thought I had entered some bizarre reversed universe until I noticed that
>> the shifter's very thin clamp had broken. Each time I tried to shift, the
>> shifter slipped down the down tube and slackened the cable for the other
>> derailleur.
>>
>> The shifters were extremely light for their day, but I wouldn't recommend
>> them unless light weight is your only goal.
>>
>
>Properly installed and maintained, these shifters have never been any less
>reliable than any other I've used.
>There were also factory braze-ons for them and we even installed both brazed
>and cold bosses for them- a simple water bottle boss was all it took.
>One model 'topmount' lever set had a cam mechanism (the name is temporarily
>escaping me) that trimmed the front derailleur when the rear lever was
>actuated.
>
>Larry Black
>Maryland
Paul C. Brodek
Hillsdale, N.J. U.S.A.
E-mail: pcb@skyweb.net