I stumbled on this Classic Rendezvous list looking for information on a Windsor bicycle I bought in Redding, California in the late '70's, and have just recommissioned. Back when I bought it, Rex at the Redding Bike Shop told me he thought the frame was built by an old Swiss builder who had set up shop in Mexico, but definitive info on the frame-bulder's Italian origin is mounted on the Classic Rendezvous Mexico web page, from a guy who raced on the Guadalajara university team back in the day.
I don't have much useful to add, but since I've searched the web off and on for years for references to this bicycle, and mentions of it seem to appear briefly and disappear into lost links, I will submit the following trivia for anyone who happens to have an interest.
1) I found the Windsor manual in my old papers and was thinking to scan it, but it is unremarkable, really just generic rules and intructions on how to set up and ride a bike. I also have a manual that came with the SunTour Cyclone deraillerur, but it too is pretty much just generic instructions on how to install and adjust derailleurs. If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to scan these and send them along.
2) From the pictures on the Classic Rendezvous Mexico page and the catalogue linked below, it seems like all the pictured Mexican Windsors have bolt-on brake-cable guides. My bike came with three braised guides on the top tube. I crushed the middle one easily during a move, so maybe the frame-maker came to see them as too fragile and not worth the class added. The bike also came with a braised boss for the shifters, which are interestingly difficult to install, since you attach them by screwing the rear derailleur shifter axle into a curved nut that has to hook its outboard rounded ends into holes on the ends of the mounting strap while you are trying to hold it closed around the down tube. Maybe you Campognolo guys know all about this, but it is about the trickiest mechanical operation I've ever had to perform.
3) I spent a week in Guadalajara in the mid or late-'80's and looked around bike shops for Windsors. There were a lot of them, but they were all crudely-made work bikes, BMX-style kids' bikes, and children's tricycles. There was no sign of the ex-Cinelli frame-maker, and I wonder what happened to him and why they kept the name alive.
4) Anyone owning one of these bikes might be interested in scans of the 1978 Windsor USA catalogue and price list currently on
http://bulgier.net/
and
http://bulgier.net/
The catalogue lists the components on the various Mexican Windsor models, which allowed me to identify mine as the Super Carrera, all the decals having been removed decades ago.
Thanks for your group, and the information it provides.
Andrew Hamilton
Sacramento, California