Hello crew,
I believe I have 'fair dinkum' busted open the mythology surrounding
unusually dated Campy rear derailleurs.
We have all seen the 2nd generation SR units dated pre 1979 and NR units
with 1st generation SR plates. Were these secret prototypes that
originated from the development bunker under Campagnolo HQ? The prices
that have been paid would led you to expect as much......
Now my little tale....
I recently received a package from a close friend who lives in northern
Italy and it consisted of about a kilogram of small rear derailleur
parts and a Campagnolo stamped hand held punch set. The parts are a mix
of NR, SR1st and 2nd gen components. My friend lived in a town close to
the Campy factory, went to school with the children of Campagnolo
employees and played with them out of school. It was common practice,
and knowledge for some employees to take small components from the
factory and make up rear derailleurs at home in the evening as a
'sideline'. The village barber, an ex pro racer, had a glass showcase in
his shop where he not only displayed these but sold them as well.
When you think about it, what perfect sense this makes. So much easier
to stuff into your pocket than a crankset - and a reasonably high value
item to boot. I would say that there would be a lot of BB sets and
headsets out there as well that never had boxes. These guys would not be
a pedantic as us about dates and the details we agonise over....just get
it together and make it work! I imagine that the 'blue collar' Campy
workers of the '70s were only on basic wages and stock control would
have been fairly elastic. Obviously Campagnolo Pty Ltd would have done
something about this had they known, and this problem of staff theft is
still one of the largest security issues that exists in modern business.
I'm glad I didn't invest in a funky collection of mismatching rears when
the urge began to take hold a while back...now I can make my own!
Greg Softley
Coffs Harbour
Australia