Tom, Wayne and others in the CR:
Reading all this I'm as confused as ever. I wish I knew as much as some of you when it comes to Campagnolo, but my main cycling interests are into bikes of the U.K. of which Campag has some impact, but only some as I only collect cycles through to about 1970 at latest. I believe the letter might be from Ken Denny, but not sure, but if it is and knowing his knowledge of Campag componants, I would defer to his knowledge and hopefully know these handles are as I thought, first generation. Below is a letter from this morning that I wrote to Wayne and thought I'd CC'd it to the CR, but apparently did not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wayne: I agree that the buyer got some nice levers and hoods, but now I'm puzzled as to what year these are. I compared these to the illustrations in the 1973 Catalogue, and apparently I didn't look close enough. To me the levers look the same, but maybe on closer inspection the bend on mine are not quite the same, but it's difficult to distinguish from an illustration. I did goof bigtime on the hoods, and no excuse for that !!
These levers came from a 1978 Teledyne which was one of two purchased from the Southwest years ago. Both had full First Generation SR Groups. All parts had been sold over the years and these were left over from those groups. I had assumed that since both cycles were complete and original, the levers were one in the same.
I've written the buyer and notified him of the listing error and offered to let him out of the sale if he so chooses. If he decides to back out, I'll relist with a correct heading, but the question is about what year are these. I assume it's still latter 70s. Although I've been collecting for years, I will admit to not being as much of a Campag expert as some on the list. I do put a disclaimer on the bottom of my auction that states in some fashion that I can make an error, and if someone finds an error in my listing I will revise, which I've done in the past.
As for what the levers are worth, it's anybodies best guess, but I'll say I think the winning price was still a fair one. But value is hard to figure, as I listed a very nice pair of Dura Ace AX brake calipers and thought I'd get about $100, and was nicely suprised to get $172. Pricing on Ebay these days for same or similar items is all over the map.
As for why I'm clearing out so much Campag stuff, and other componants !! I'm trying to concentrate on bikes from the UK, with Hetchins as everybody knows, being the heart of my cycling group. But my cut off date is about 1965-70. I'm trying mostly to collect complete bikes in original unrestored condition if possible, to avoid purchasing parts individually whether from Ebay or other scources in the U.K. As most know, building a Vintage Lightweight from the ground up, especially from the 30s through the 50s is getting extremely expensive. I useto restore V.W. Karmann Ghias, and left that to pursue cycles, because the original and repro parts for Ghias were going out of site for price .
I did recently purchase an original, unrestored 1954 JRJ (early Bob Jackson) from the U.K., and as soon as it arrives I'll get jpgs up on Wool Jersey.
Best regards, Peter Naiman Glendale, WI
Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com> wrote: The underbidder is Ken Denny, who is certainly a knowledgable collector. However, I have three concerns about the message that was sent to you, which I assume is from Ken.
1) The levers in the auction do not look fundamentally different from typical SR levers. The holes are less distorted than is typical, but this is a difference in degree, not a difference in kind. The holes do not look perfectly round as one would expect had they been drilled.
2) What's this talk about two reaches? The later Record and SR levers were of shorter reach, but I've never heard of them being available in the early 70s as a short reach option. The piercing, as opposed to drilling became standard before the shorter reach was avaliable, as far as I know.
3) The message is confusing. What levers is he referring to whan he writes: "See what I'm talking about on these later versions (incorrectly described as 1st gen levers)."
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
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