At the 1973 Paris bike show, Campagnolo introduced the following parts (from Daniel Rebour's article in Le Cycle 12/1973):
- Nuovo Record derailleur with titanium bolts. The article calls it just the "Campagnolo rear derailleur" and the Rebour drawing clearly shows it's labeling "Nuovo record." Also, it does not appear to have black pivot housings. So no trace of a Super Record yet. (In fact, the name Super Record is not mentioned.)
The whole stuff seems to have been called "Serie Ultra-Legere" or "Ultralight Series."
- Titanium chainrings. These were black, and look like Super Record ones. The weight gain comes from the cut-away profile made possible by titanium being stronger than aluminum.
- Titanium spindle, with pressed-on steel bearing races.
- Titanium pedal cages, black. 270 grams per pair.
- Titanium headset, weight 110 grams without balls, black.
- Drilled-out brake levers. Look like Super Record to me.
The text also mentions that combined with seatpost and hubs - about which they don't give any specifics - the weight savings of this new group are more than 600 grams (230 gram from the chainrings, 140 gram from the bottom bracket). The article says that the plan is to have these pieces available by early 1974.
Questions: Has anybody ever seen the titanium (or any black) SR chainrings? How about the ti pedal cages and headset?
Also, when were the aluminum SR chainrings first available? What about SR derailleurs - when were they available?
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com