2009/9/7 Steven Maasland <themaaslands@comcast.net>:
> George asked: "I've wondered why a Cinelli would use a Weinmann caliper
> instead of a Universal."
>
> Likely because Cinelli was the sole distributor of Weinmann products in
> Italy. Cino's wife was Swiss cycling aristocracy and Cino was thereby able
> to become distributor for many Swiss and other non-Italian products.
>
> BTW, the Weinmann were lighter and a bit more resistant than Universal
> brakes.
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ
> USA
Which begs the question of why such a preponderance of the Cinellis- at least those I saw imported to the US- came out of the box fitted with heavier and less "resistant" Universal Mod. 61s. The Swiss and Italian CP brakes both seemed to work well enough to me but I preferred the Universal levers for feel and style, though the Swiss made lever bodies seemed better constructed.
Kurt Sperry
Bellingham, Washington
USA