On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote: I intend to use Colbaltos, thus last night's posting seeking jewels. This may be the hardest Campy component to classify as On Topic or not, since I believe the levers were identical to C-Record, but the calipers are essentially Super Record. Does anyone know if there was any difference between Cobalto and SR calipers, aside from the acorn nut and the "jewel"?
Me: If there is a difference, I've never noticed it.
Jerry: Also, did these or other SR variation ever appear with jewels of a color other than blue? A CR member reports having red ones but doesn't know if they are original Campy.
Me: I have never seen any color besides blue in a caliper I knew to be original.
Jerry: The story I've heard is that there were problems with the first generation Deltas and that the Cobaltos were substituted in the C-Record gruppo until the second generation Deltas came out. I don't know if this is accurate or if the Colbaltos were just a very late, and maybe the final, SR variation that was used on C-Record bikes a lot because the owners didn't like the Deltas. How did the 50th Anniversary calipers campare to SR/Cobalto?
Me: Aside from the engraving and nuts, 50th, Cobalto and late production Nuovo/Super record calipers all appear identical to me. If I remember correctly Cobaltos were available concurrently with late Nuovo and Super record brakesets as those gruppi were still available for a time after C-Record being introduced.
Jerry: I think that's OK to discuss here since I believe 50th Anniversary is considered On Topic. I don't have any 50th Anniversary stuff, but I think I've heard they had a different cross-section, sort of triangular - my Cobaltos seem to have the regular SR cross-section.
Me: The Cobalto calipers I've seen have all had the same roughly triangular cross section common to all the late Nuovo/Super Record Calipers. The change to the triangular section seems to have been concurrent with the change from block lettering to script on the caliper arms. It's possible an early iteration had the older roughly half-round section. I had a set of late script logo/triangular section calipers that subjectively seemed to be considerably harder stoppers than the earlier versions of the brake, but that could be down to pad compound as I never wore out the pads before I sold or traded them to a list member years ago because they looked wrong on the '70s bike I had them fitted on. Those brakes I could use all the longitudinal grip the tires had with two fingers, something I can't do with my older calipers. I honestly wouldn't want more powerful brakes than those were.
Kurt Sperry
Bellingham, Washington
USA