Richard Robinson wrote:
Wow! Why are these Campy brakes going for so much? Long reach? I thought there were only "Normal" reach and "Short" reach sets. Could it be the hoods? See the below link...
Regards, Richard (Searching through my extra parts bin) Robinson Jacksonville NC
The $400, in and of itself, isn't that unusal. It really is pretty common to see various Campy brakesets sell for $400 or more. A new-old-stock set of the very abundant script logo brakes will fetch often that much. A very nice used set of Cobaltos or Deltas will too. This is to say nothing of clean or NOS examples of the older sets. I saw a set of Colnago pantographed brakes sell for $700 recently, I think from the same seller as the "long reach" set above. All this having been said, there are a few things about this brakeset worth noting. First, as you pointed out, the hoods are a selling point. Good condition globe logo hoods are getting very expensive. Also, the brake levers are the early type SR, with a longer reach (from the bar) and more pronounced curve. These are a lot more rare than the other versions of the SR brake lever. The caliper is the pre-CPSC version with flat QR, again a lot more rare than the more recent versions. On the other hand, the calpier arms and levers have apparently been polished out, removing all of the original finish. To me, this makes these brakes virtually wothless (emphasis on "to me"). Now, it may be that this exact polish treatment was used by some famous frame maker on their team bikes, or whatever, but it sure seems to me that these might have just bee a ratty set of SR brakes that got a good buffing. To that, I say, "no thanks."
As for the "long reach" description, as the brakes that were initailly called "short reach" became the norm, the brakes we had called "normal reach" became referred to by some as "long reach." I ain't sayin' it's right, but that's how it went.
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA, USA
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