Dale,
What I liked most about my Universal 68s was the picture on the top of the box they came in. I kept that box for years.
Someone is selling T-shirts on eBay with the Universal brake box picture on them. Somehow it doesn't look as good blown up though.
In our area Universal 68 brakes were not very common. We sold quite a few mid range Italian bikes with centerpull Universal 61 brakes, Legnano/Frejus, Botteccia and others, but not sidepull 68s.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
< Chas wrote:
<< My first "pro" bike was a NOS 1971 Gitane Super Corsa that I bought new in 1973. It had a Reynolds 531 frame with all Campy NR components except for Mafac Competition brakes. I got it new for a whopping $150! I wanted something more sexy than Mafacs. Campy brakes were both hard to find and cost almost more than I paid for the whole bike! I purchased a set of Universal 68s for about $18. >>
I may have written this here before years ago but I will risk repeating myself.
The first bike shop shop I managed was in 1972, and I had an affluent customer who wanted to buy a set of the "new" Campy brakes. This was an exciting and expensive development in our region, I knew of no one who actually had a set at that time.
Even though these brakes had been introduced a few years earlier, they were extremely rare and hard to find. I called all the Campagnolo distributors around the country, and no one had them except Mel Pinto Imports in the Wash DC area. The asking wholesale price was $125.00!
I think they had been advertised via mail order for close to that price ($129.99 at Bikeology I think?), and my customer would not pay the $150 retail (with a whopping $25 total markup to cover shipping, COD fee and minimal profit.)
So it would be a year longer before I actually had a set in my hands.
Dale
Dale Brown
< Greensboro, North Carolina USA