Campy made the "bullet-proof" Gran Turismo rear touring derailleur which could handle the biggest freewheels made at the time and double as a hammer for driving in tent pegs if you were cycle-camping. I mounted one on my Gitane TDF during my brief "day touring" phase in the early 1970s - it was heavy but well made and could wrap a spectacular amount of chain. Then there was the Rally which IIRC was Campy's first use of a (GASP!) horizontal parallelogram (early models). Back in the early 1980s a dear friend of mine used a Rally on his club-riding Rossin along with a Victory (?) triple crankset. He never complained about shifting quality.
Steve Whitting
Prairieville, Louisiana USA
Website at http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/
From: oroboyz@aol.com <oroboyz@aol.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Classic Compact Cranksets & Tiomphe To: walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 4:11 PM
<<.. Campy could make competent touring equipment if they wanted to. Why they didn't is a mystery. >>
I think it's because they didn't value it! Maybe there is a cultural tendency there, but the passion was and is for racing, or following that, pseudo racing. At the bike shows, we used to ask the Italian frame builders why no one would make a touring model and they would just look at us as if we were talking in some Martian language.
Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina USA
-----Original Message----- From: Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com> To: Thomas Adams <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Sun, May 2, 2010 10:34 am Subject: Re: [CR] Classic Compact Cranksets & Tiomphe
Off and on, Campy made half hearted efforts at covering the touring market. Their Grand Tourismo rear derailleur, for example, could theoretically handle practically any gear range.
Campy's Rally could handle wide ranges and actually worked. The Super Record could handle 50/36 x 14/26 (that's enough for almost everything but loaded touring).
As the Triomphe/Victory/Gran Sport proved, Campy could make competent touring equipment if they wanted to. Why they didn't is a mystery.
Amir Avitzur R"G, Israel
On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 5:00 PM, Thomas Adams <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>wrote:
> Don't forget the patriarch of the 110 mm bolt circle, the Sugino Mighty
> Tour, taking rings down to 34 teeth and fitting on a Campy BB. And of
> course you can run compact style rings on the TA Cyclotouriste and the
> Stronglight 99 if you want to pass up the triple option. But all compact
> doubles required a competent long cage rear derailleur able to wrap lots of
> chain, like the Suntour VXGT or Shimano Crane GS. So I don't think this was
> a viable option until, what, 1973?
>
> Tom Adams
> Manhattan, KS
>
> --- On *Sun, 5/2/10, Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com>
> Subject: [CR] Classic Compact Cranksets & Tiomphe
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 6:51 AM
>
> Old steel 3 arm cranks, the type that was popular from the 30's through
> the
> 70's, had a 116 BCD pattern.
> That enabled 36 tooth inner chainrings and "compact" cranksets.
>
> Zeus used a 5-arm 116 BCD pattern on their Criterium cranks from the 60's
> through the 80's.
> So Zeus cranks could be used on touring bikes as well as racing bikes,
> without modification.
>
> When Campy came out with their 116 BCD 3-arm Gran Sport cranks, in both
> aluminum and steel,
> they didn't bother making small chainrings.
>
> I never understood why Campy didn't go after the non-racing markets
> until their Gran Sport/Triomphe/Victory Groups.
>
> Amir Avitzur
> Ramat-Gan, Israel