Wayne, like you I have a couple of Cranes and an RD which appears the be a very slightly revised and relabeled Crane marked Dura Ace. I don't think this is an EX, so I think you are correct that at some point the Crane was just relabeled with minimal revision. Still don't know what year this occured.
Someone said this reveals a Campy bias here. I tend to agree, in that everyone seems to know what the correct markings on the axle locknuts were for a 1973 Campy Record hub, no no one seems sure how many versions of Dura Ace there were or when they were introduced.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
Peter wrote:
>>>While the Crane was in production, it was sold as part of the Dura
Ace
group. There was no rear derailleur named Dura Ace. So, effectively, the
Crane was the Dura Ace rear derailleur.<<<<<
(And Grant admonishes that we should all know...)
While it's generally understood that the first Dura Ace components (with the exception of the odd DA center-pull calipers) designed as a group were introduced in 73. And that the Crane rear derailleur was part of the original DA line. What's unclear is when the Dura Ace labeled derailleur replaced the Crane. I believe this was before the introduction of the EX series, which was fully five years later. Meaning there was an interim DA rear derailleur. I have versions of both the Crane and what I had believed to be the first DA derailleur. They are very, very similar, but not quite the same. I don't have an EX version for comparison. Does anyone know when the change took place? Or am I wrong and the Crane hung on until EX and that's the first true DA r-der?
Wayne Bingham
Falls Church VA