It is a most interesting story about Campagnolo and Zeus but according to Frank Berto in The Dancing Chain, "Soon Campagnolo was selling all the quick-release hubs, derailleurs, and pedals he could make. In 1940, he hired a mechanic, Enrico Piccolo, as his first full-time employee."
"Campagnolo history before World War II is folklore. There are no diagrams or pictures of these early hand-made Campagnolo 'cambio a bacchetta' (rod changer) prototypes. They probably resembled the post-war versions of the Campagnolo Corsa."
Still, a good story though.
David Beck Crystal Lake, IL USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of brad stockwell Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:31 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Zeus and Campy: The Rumor
After joining thia list circa March of 2000, I was told this story about Zeus history:
Campy built a factory for themselves in Spain in the 30's; in '36 General Franco took over the country and also commandeered this factory which was subsequently inhabited by Zeus -- and out of this the similarity of Zeus parts and Campy parts was born. The 100%-Spanish-stem-to-stern orientation of Zeus also derived from the nationalistic enthusiasm of the new government -- and this lead to copying of foreign designs for local production.
I like the story; I can't remember who told it to me, and I don't know how to verify it -- but I can spread an unsubstantiated rumor as well as the next fellow.
Brad Stockwell Palo Alto
Zeus was also a supplier for Campy for a number of items
"We've talked with several collectors and historians who suspect that production of some of Campagnolo's components was actually "farmed out" to Zeus, along with co-creation of new technology."
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