I think Bob is right, regarding the set that came with my '74 Schwinn Sports Tourer. TA seemed to be proud of their work, and put their mark on just about everything they made. I still have the rings and guards that came with the bike, and there are no brand marks on the guard, spacer or rings. The only markings are 54 on the big ring, and 40 on the small. They feel like Nervar to me - if that makes any sense. Interesting that the drive crank is Stronglight 49d, and the left arm was a Nervar. I don't recall what the BB set was.
Andy's set definitely looks a bit more upscale than the Nervar - as usual. Very similar design nonetheless. It'd be neat to know if these were specified on a more upscale brand/model.
Alex Moll Seattle, WA USA
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:16:51 -0500 (EST) From: Stronglight49@aol.com Subject: Re: [CR] Curious about this part To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Message-ID: < d31e6.5fd9ecb7.3a6b7bf2@aol.com > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I believe it was Nervar who made the crank-chainring-chainguard ring sets for Schwinn... not TA. At least that's the set seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/
Could Andy's TA set have come from a different Schwinn model, or one dating from different year than the one seen on the bike shown above?
For that matter, I don't recall seeing any of the "smaller" (intra-chainring) guard plates in any Nervar catalogs - only the larger diameter outer guards for 52 or 54 tooth outer rings are shown. Maybe Schwinn had (wisely) thought that Americans would tend to shift sloppily and jam up their chains between the chainrings. So perhaps the Nervar sets were specially contracted parts and used exclusively on Schwinn bikes?
The TA chainguard rings were available for cyclo-cross (in matched pairs only) and sized for specific chainrings ranging from 43 to 52 teeth. And, they were indeed attached to the large outer borings of 152 mm. as is the case on Andy's example. But, that chainring set appears to have one of the largest and one of the smallest sized guard rings attached. I also don't recall seeing TA chainrings drilled for BOTH the larger guards (or chainrings) and the smaller BCD chainrings, too.
http://www.flickr.com/
The TA guards are not shown in any TA catalogs as being individually available. And there are no notations suggesting that this sort of configuration was offered by TA as a factory available chainring or crankset option.
Was the middle guard ring really even necessary? I've never had problems shifting between quite large ring size gaps. TA had simple spacers (12 mm diameter washers) of different thickness which they more easily could have supplied, if there was a perceived shifting problem.
Still has me curious...
BOB HANSON, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA