On Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005, at 12:17 US/Pacific, Fred Rafael Rednor
wrote:
> Then it suddenly seemed to change. Was this due to labor
> unrest in Italy that caused prices to rise? Or did Campagnolo
> suddenly realize that there was tremendous cachet related to
> all their parts?
I can't tell you anything about anything specific about the prices changing, but I can give you the impressions of shop jocks from the 50s and 60s. Over the years I've talked to a few folks that were shop lifers long before Sheldon or Dale entered the industry. One of the things these guys talk about is when Campagnolo made it into the U.S. and when it exploded. From what I've been told most of the Campy parts in the U.S. during the 50s and 60s were brought over by shop owners who went to Italy and picked stuff up personally. This kept the prices down because they cut out the middle-man. Sometime during the late-60s actual importers and distributors started carrying much more Campy inventory. Before this time there were only a couple Campy importers in the whole U.S. If this is all true then a lot of the rise in prices can be attributed to the middle-men. This would also explain why all the sudden you could get Campagnolo parts in most decent shops in the U.S. instead of a few limited shops in large bike markets.
I also wonder if the bike boom created an explosion for the demand for Campy O.E. parts thus driving up the price on after market parts. Either way it really boils down to a supply and demand or supply chain scenarios. As someone who was born only 7 months before the 60s came to an end I have no idea what the reality was. I can only extrapolate from what I've been told. best, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives Coeur d'Alene, Idaho