Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 18:33:36 -0000 From: "peter geldard" <peter.geldard@virgin.net> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR] Pre CPSC Campagnolo front derailleur with lip
I do not think that these are pre CPSC. They are I believe post CPSC gran sport. I guess the reason they are on so many bikes from the 70s is that front derailleurs were quite prone to breakage - overtightening of the clamp and misadjustment causing them to hit the crank. After 1978 the choice was simple - lipped with holes (super and nouvo record) and lipped without holes (nouvo gran sport). As the gran sport looks more the part many go for this. It is surprising how many "nouvo/super record front derailleurs" appear on Ebay that are in fact gran sport
Peter Geldard Surrey U.K
Cold but dry
Pete: You are essentially correct. They are post-CPSC, but initially they were the "new" Record front mech. in 1977 as a stopgap measure, until the "four hole" Record der. was released in perhaps mid-1978 (that's a SWAG). Then the "new Record" got demoted to being the "new Gran Sport" with slight hardware changes and a wave of Marketing's wand. Presto change-o. Then soon after that, the four-hole Record became the three-hole, then it became the three-hole with the second-generation pointy band clamp. (I've seen NOS three-hole Records with both clamp styles). We have to keep in mind that Campag didn't throw out in-process and/or in-stock material unless absolutely necessary, so there were almost always ways to use that stuff up. There are many, many examples of this. (Undated post-1984 NR rear derailleurs, funky Ralleys, 2-bolt SR posts boxed as GS, etc.). The Super Record front mech. (which is just a late three-hole Record with black-anodized pivot arms) didn't debut until later (1982-ish), and brought with it a braze-on version for both mechs. I've never known anyone to break a Record front der., other than the thin-banded one. Huret Jubilee, all the time, but not Record. I suppose it's certainly possible, even likely, I've just never personally heard of one being tightened to the point of breakage. Maybe if the paint were really thick on the seat tube? I agree about the relatively high frequency of mis-identified GS/R/NR/SR stuff on eBay. Campy created some of the confusion, though, by re-naming stuff from time to time, and/or changing Marketing strategies, so it's not real surprising, I guess. Engineers wouldn't have done that - it was those darn Marketing and Sales types! :-) (BTW, even the VP of Human Resources at my favorite car company is a PhD Engineer, last I heard. Now *that's* a great (Bavarian) Company!). Cheers, Greg Parker in seemingly perma-frozen Ann Arbor, Michigan