[CR]Fun with Campagnolo "Pave Style"

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

From: <velorosso@charter.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 20:10:49 -0700
Subject: [CR]Fun with Campagnolo "Pave Style"

For fun, I?ve put together a photo exhibit on various Campagnolo components that possess an aesthetic I call ?Pave Style?. This little exhibit began as a comparison of early Nuovo Record rear derailleurs where I?ve noticed different textures on the front parallelogram face, the most common of which features orderly rows and columns of dots (squares actually). The texture I?ve come to call ?Pave Style? is not orderly, but a more random, and to me, more beautiful pattern.

The term Pave seems an obvious reference to the cobbles on roads in France and Belgium. True enough, but Pave is firstly the name of a jewelry store in Oakland, California where my wife and I got our wedding rings. A signature style of theirs was a diamond-encrusted surface the resident master jeweler referred to as Pave Style. I don?t know if this is a formal term in the craft of jewelry. This style, however, certainly comes to mind when observing the jewel-like Campagnolo deraillleurs.

I?ve seen a few NR rear's with Pave Style, but only up to 1970. My experience tells me that the Pave may have disappeared after that date. The photo exhibit shows two pairs of Nuovo Record derailleurs, one pair from 1968/69 and another from 1970. Each pair has one derailleur with Pave Style and the other without. The derailleurs otherwise seem identical.

Well then I started to look back, and of course both the Gran Sport and Record rear derailleurs exhibit fine Pave and so I?ve added examples to the exhibit.

Thinking more broadly about the Campagnolo product line, Pave Style can be found elsewhere, on front derailleurs and tools. Since the QR was Campagnolo?s first product, I believe Pave Style originated in the earliest days of the business as these levers certainly were adorned with Pave, but this aesthetic may have met it?s end with the introduction of the curved-lever skewers of the late 1970?s. Examples of QR?s and other products are added to the exhibit for your perusal.

For me, a huge part of the hobby is the aesthetic, and each to their own. Somehow that Pave texture inspires in me a sense of ruggedness, craftsmanship and high adventure. I can?t explain why.

Here?s the link:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/PaveStyle

Comments and opinions welcome (see Chuck Schmidt?s in the exhibit).

Enjoy!

John Siemsen San Luis Obispo, CA