I remember the steel and alloy clips coming out at the same time. I remember a Nashbar catalog that announced the soon-to-arrive new items from Campy that included the braze-on ft. derailleur (after Shimano had theirs), the freewheel and the toeclips. All three items were introduced at about the same time. If I'm not mistaken the steel were labelled Nuovo Record and the alloy Super Record. At least they followed that yellow vs. blue box scheme. FWIW, I always prefered the steel for better durability.
I have Campy clips in steel and alloy where the winged logo is upright as viewed from the driver's seat (call 'em "type A"). The vast majority that one sees have a logo that is upright as viewed from in front of the bike (call 'em "type B"). Since the later shiled logo clips for the platform and Ergo pedals (where the winged logo is smaller and surrounded by a shield) are all type B, I assume that the type A clips are the earliest Campy offering. It is interesting that the finish on the type A is much nicer than the new ones. The chome is smoother on the steel clips and the alloy ones are better finished and appear to be more thickly anodized. In fact, seems pretty clear that the early alloy clips got an extra edge polishing step after the deburring. I have to wonder if the original clips cost so much to make that nobody bought them at the initial price. It may be possible that Campy reduced the finish in order to meet a lower price at the retail end. Just idle speculation, but perhaps someone remembers these coming down in price after a short time?
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote: Was 1982 the Campy alloy toe clips, or the steel ones? I'm presuming the steel ones came out sooner, but that may not be correct.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com> wrote: I have seen plenty bikes with the non-official bolts, but there was nothing wrong with the Campy bolts and no reason not to use them. The bolts that often were used in their place, such as those that came with Cristophes, were much longer than was needed, which left a lot of unused threads exposed behind the cage and took a few extra precious seconds of time to install. Also, you couldn't use the cool T-wrench. I suppose with the steel pedals the longer bolt would allow use of a nut, but that's not needed unless you've stripped the threads in the cage. On the alloy pedals the cage is built up around the hole, since the material is soft and would strip if the thread was only as deep as the rest of the cage is thick. Witness most other brands of alloy pedal, where the extra material isn't there and stripping is common. With the built up area on the back of the cage there is no good place for a nut to sit.
The bolts have come with the pedals since waaaaay back. I have an old set of SLs, NIB, probably from the early 70's based on the small logo. Yes, the older ones came in a waxy bag, and I believe there were a couple of logo styles. And yes, they have no real collector value.
The only variants on the bolts are: 1) the older ones had steel washers and the newer ones were alloy. 2) the steel pedals came with slightly shorter bolts (by maybe 2mm) because they engaged less material. The bolts on Ebay were the longer ones, had the alloy washers and the new plastic bag. To the extremely limited extent that a set of Campy toeclip bolts could be valuable (steel washers, short bolts) these bolts fall short. $27 for the "desireable" ones wouldn't surprise me if two of our friends in Japan wanted them for their $500 NOS Con Dentes, but $27 for those on Ebay is nutty. They are in many a junk box at your typical swap meet, and at such an event, I would consider $2.00 to be gouging. But you have to love E-bay.
BTW, the "official" Campy clips were not used "back in the day" becasue they didn't come out until about 1982. After that, people used them, but they were pricey. If you wanted "fancy" you could get Cinelli or Ale alloy for less... in colors! The steel Cristophes were a fraction of the price of the steel Campys, and essentially as good.
Tom Dalton Looking too closely in Bethlehem, PA
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