Thanks to Steven for his info on Rino, I knew there was a Gardin connection but I didn't realize the extent. When I started racing in 1981 in Brampton and Southern Ontario, we saw lots of Rino (Gardin was based in Mississauga IIRC) my best friend at the time (and he still is) bought a custom Lovell frame that was equipped with Gardin components that Jocelyn had used very briefly.
Although some of the Rino stuff was based on Campy (cranks for example) the derailleurs were copies of Suntour designs (as can be seen on the one at auction). My experience with the Rino components is that they (like many second tier Italian components) suffered from bearings that weren't as smooth or as durable, and much of the aluminium was a bit on the soft side. I've always thought it would be fun to build a Rino equipped bike but most of the parts I've found have had basically rotten bearing surfaces. I've neat pair of early 80's pedals, an alloy headset, a hubset, and seatpost. Except for the seatpost the other parts are beyond use, but I can't seem to pitch them for the novelty and the nostalgia.
If anyone has usable Rino parts they'd be interested in selling let me know. If the auction bike was smaller and a bit cheaper I might even consider it (personally knowing the durability of Rino I think it might be slightly over priced), I may go check it out just for fun this weekend.
David Bilenkey Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
> -----Original Message-----
> From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
> [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of
> Themaaslands@comcast.net
> Sent: October 10, 2003 6:39 PM
> To: Classic Rendezvous
> Subject: [CR]Cambio Rino
>
>
> Ron asked:
>
> For a long time I've been meaning to ask whether anyone knows anything
> about the Cambio Rino bikes and components I occasionally see up here in
> Canada. Evidently mid-range campy knockoffs, but that's all I know.
> Anyway here's an examople on ebay Anybody have any knowledge to share?
>
> http://cgi.ebay.ca/
>
> Cambio Rino was the early progenitor of Gardin bicycles that came
> after Cambio Rino. More of these bikes and components were sold
> in Canada than perhaps even in Italy. Rino was a small producer
> in Northern Italy, that was producing parts for a variety of
> other manufacturers, I believe also for Ofmega (But I have no
> proof of this, so please correct me if I am wrong and don't take
> this as fact!) In the 70's Joe Gardin met Rino and suggested a
> joint venture whereby Joe would be able to enter the bike
> business that he was so passionate about. Until then, Joe had
> made his fortune selling mostly forklifts. The parts were
> produced in Italy and Joe would look after the marketing and
> sales in North America. To publicize the brand name, Joe went to
> all the North American shows and sponsored many top Canadian
> riders, including future world Champion track rider Curt Harnett.
> The Cambio Rino frames were initially built in Italy and imported
> to Canada. Then Gardin decided to have some built in Canada by an
> 'imported' Italian framebuilder. From what I understand, Gardin
> and Rino then got into an argument about money and Gardin dumped
> the ties to Rino and switched to making bikes with his own name.
> Later Gardin failed too.
>
> The top bikes from Cambio Rino (i.e. the ones they provided to
> the sponsored riders) were truly great bikes. The rest were
> rather variable in quality. The components were as stated, mainly
> campagnolo copies, but they did have some 'neat' parts, including
> what I take to have been the first top-mounted down-tube shift
> levers. The levers were designed to use a single waterbottle
> braze-on boss. I have a set of these levers on the first frame
> that I built for myself and find them to be singularly nice to
> use. They make shifting of both levers with one hand very easy.
>
> I have exchanged a few emails with the seller and have commented
> that at $399, it is a great deal when compared to anything you
> can get new and perhaps the perfect addition to the collection of
> the contrarians in our midst. How many late 70's Italian bikes
> are there that don't have any Campagnolo on them?
> --
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ