Re: [CR]A new record? - and way early sales!

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Campagnolo)

In-Reply-To: <101820071339.7194.471761F6000A974D00001C1A2200745672020E000A9C9D0A08@comcast.net>
References: <101820071339.7194.471761F6000A974D00001C1A2200745672020E000A9C9D0A08@comc ast.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:14:55 -0700
To: hersefan@comcast.net, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]A new record? - and way early sales!


The derailleur that was on e-bay was the very first "production" version of the Campagnolo Gran Sport - see the complete history of these derailleur in Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 2, No. 2.

I never have seen one for sale, and when I consider what the first Campagnolo headsets fetch - which don't even say Campagnolo on them - then the price may seem reasonable. Collecting Campagnolo is like collecting stamps - some people are willing to pay millions of dollars for a stamp, and anybody could argue that it's just a piece of paper, and that the stamp isn't even valid any longer! The later mass-produced Gran Sport may work better, but it certainly is not rare.

For Campy collectors, it probably is only of secondary importance that the Campagnolo Gran Sport was the first "inverted parallelogram" derailleur. All derailleurs you can buy today directly descend from that derailleur. So historically, it is highly significant.

One question I have is whether anybody ever has seen the very first prototype, without return spring and "twin-cable" actuation (in fact, one long cable that looped around the shift lever). We published a fuzzy photograph in the above-mentioned issue of BQ, but I have no idea where that derailleur is, and whether it is real or a replica. Are there any photos of one mounted on a bike? (It would be easy to identify, as two sets of cable housing exit the rear.) Does anybody know more?

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com