K. A. Thomas wrote:
> I have heard from many a LBS that Campy stopped making these as a
> "kit" years ago. Can anyone shed some light on when this died out and at
> what price level. I was shocked lately to find that the BB
> tapping/facing tool in the kit now "retails" for almost $1K!
> Do you all think that they died out due to price, or thin interest
> and sales? Inquiring minds want to know!
I'm not sure when Campy stopped producing the tool cases, but I suspect the reason had something to do with the fact that many of the tools were quite specialized and only suitable for work on frames with "vintage" tubing sizes and materials -- e.g. steel 1-1/4" head tubs, 1" steer tubes, etc.
Campy never seemed in too much hurry to update the toolkit even when it was still in production. When I bought mine in 1984 (directly from Campy in Italy), it still included the archaic Regina two-prong freewheel remover (with a special, separate adapter for those new-fangled 13T freewheels that came on the market in the mid 70s) despite the fact that Campy's own freewheel had been on the market for a couple years already.
The mid 1980s were a time of rapid change in the bicycle industry: think oversize and/or non-ferrous frames, clipless pedals, indexed shifting, etc. Campy may have decided that it simply wasn't worth the bother of chasing down all these new ideas with new tools and let the tool case die a quiet death.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA