In 1983 Campagnolo had not yet introduced conical cap nuts to the brake pivot. The 50th Anniv. group introduced the new caliper arm shape that later made it to the Nuovo/Super Record caliper. When that arm shape arrived, conical nuts came with it. The Gold capped nuts of course were only for the 50th special set, I am leaving out other details like the stamped identification on the arms.
Brandon stated & snipped: "Campy wasn't really about pushing the envelope in aesthetics or
performance. This of course is the main reason they lost almost all
their market share in the mid-80s."
>From 20 feet away the stuff did not change very much, if one were to look at the parts as a manufacturing or tooling engineer the stuff changed a lot!
Minor changes, yes, some imposed by regulation. Stalled aesthetics? I think they kept the family styling on purpose, if that was a good strategy or not is debatable.
In review of some of the patent applications of Campagnolo during this period of the late 70's early 80's, they appear to be desperate in an attempt to get around the slant parallelogram patent! Remember this period was a time of a shrinking market for road bikes as well, with the rise of the mtb.
I would not be surprised if during this period Campagnolo had some cash flow troubles as well. The Japanese parts producers as a whole hit a creative stride during this period to compound the troubles, with a noticeable willingness to spend money on tooling. With a confounding but profitable plan as well to ignore the past and make the new not compatible with the old.
John Jorgensen
Palos Verdes Ca USA