All this talk of the fork drop-outs that are drilled out brings up another interesting piece of Campagnolo history. The first Campagnolo drop-outs with adjuster screws came out in the early 50's. Does anybody know who has the patent for such drop-out screws? I don't think it was a Campagnolo idea.
The oldest ones that I have seen were on Bianchi bikes. The drop-outs were different from others for three reasons: they have different writing, they have a larger size drop-out adjuster screw and they have a small hole drilled above the gear hanger hole. On the drop-out, they say Brev° Campagnolo instead of Campagnolo. The drop-out adjuster screws are 4 mm instead of the 3 mm ones that later became standard. The small hole is designed to allow the mounting of a spring.
All of these features only lasted a very short time and would seem to be sought after items. Does any other listmember have any bike(s) with such drop-outs? I would be interested to know. If anybody would like to see them, I can send them a photo of the Bianchi that I have with these drop-outs.
In Italy, I was told that the switch to 3 mm adjuster screws was due to frequent breakage of the drop-outs with the 4 mm screws.
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ