Further to the "interesting" response Steven Thomas received after his email
to the guy selling the straight-caged Campag derailleur, I asked the seller
the question below and received the answer that follows. I'll leave it to
Chuck and the other Campagnolo enthusiasts to say whether it has any
validity.
> I was interested to read that this derailleur had been "pulled" for safety
reasons. Can you say what those reasons were?
The seller replied: While way back in the days of the 70's - there were a few "incidents" that led the US Consumer Protection Agency to have issues with the features of some of their products - this front derailleur being one of them.
While the exact reasons and incidents can not be fully explained here at the time - most problems were with non-rider / non-racer types of problems - mostly mechanical issues of installation, maintenance and other somewhat simple things at the time (although there were a few personal injuries also related) Hence, the USCPA put a lot of pressure on Campy to change some very basic design changes at the time.
The very minor changes they made along with all of the other minor changes in cranks, bottom brackets, etc. all added up to a "safer" and easier to maintain bike parts and really probably didn't mount to much at the time - let alone in today's world given newer standards.
It was considered "unsafe" was probably an unfair ruling that had more to do with minor incidents (all of which could happen at anytime without proper maintenance on any bicycle) along with a climate of in the 1970's of import regulations, restrictions and politics (some of which go on today). Many other parts and cycling related clothing, food / supplement products were affected by similar issues at the time and have never been allowed to be imported since.
Campy complied to the US legal requests (not to be confused with restrictions) to alter basic designs and all things worked out. Campy in Italy had be requested to "pull" the items as not to be imported to the USA - or face further and rather harsh import quotas or additional tariffs / taxes / limitations or total restriction to the US trade market at the time.
The derailleur was not (in my legal opinion) ever unsafe - it was pulled and therefor had a limited shelf life and was never imported after a certain year to the US market but was still sold around the world until their inventory ran out. Later designs were incorporated into following lines, etc.
If you feel that you lack the necessary skills to install any vintage equipment - please do not purchase this type of older product, since they do not meet the current US regulations at this time. It's simply a nice older piece of equipment, that IF properly installed, "should" never cause any problems with anything at all.
Thanks
Howard D.