George wrote:
Also, will somebody please explain how the cut off year of 1983 was
>selected? What's magic about '83? Campagnolo's death?
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Campagnolo's death seemed like the main driver to me. Dale will say, if he cares to.
Valentino took over and oversaw creation of the Campagnolo's "aero" group, C-Record...which works really well, btw, mainly because of the double-sprung rear derailleur (which is why the first-gen Rally is so nice to have).. and with new black pads the deltas work just fine, imho...cosmetically though, the C-record group was, as Cinelli famously opined, "brutto" (to some, anyway. I find it grows on one)...and, so, 1983 is where bicycle life as we know it ended...for parts, at least.
If you were to cut off at click-shifting, wouldn't the date be more like 1986? I forget when the first click-shift systems showed up on bikes, but wasn't it around then?
And 1986 was also, technically, the last year for the super Record derailleurs, yes?
Charles Andrews
Los Angeles