What year did Campag introduce the braze on front mech ?

[Simplex]

I can't see it in the 1978 catalogue. Does anyone have an accurate date ?

thanks,

 

[Gazelleer]

For Gazelle frames it was an option that was first mentioned in the 1982 catalogue.

 

[Citoyen du monde]

I can't see it in the 1978 catalogue. Does anyone have an accurate date ?

thanks,

There were a number of framebuilders who were building frames with braze-on front derailleurs far before it became an official Campagnolo product. Going by fuzzy recollection, Campagnolo introduced their braze-on front derailleur in 1980.

 

[Simplex]

Thanks for the replies. I've been looking at the "1978 Bianchi" in this eBay link http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=126335 and I'm puzzled by a few things. The braze on front mech , I thought they were early 80's too. I also thought the internal brake cable on the top tube came into fashion much later. The geometry looks a bit "slack" for a thoroughbred but then it is a fairly small size. I've got a 1980 superleggera ,the mech is band-on and the cables go through guides on the top of the crossbar. I've not seen any Bianchi of this era with these features.

Any thoughts ? :?

 

[madmax]

Thanks for asking this question Simplex, I have also tried to find the correct answer as I have two 1970's bikes with braze-on front derailleurs. One also has internal cabling along the top-tube for the rear brake cable, and internal cabling for the front and rear derailleurs from a braze-on shifter post on the down-tube to the seat-tube and chain stay. It's really quite cool for it's time. So don't be put off if you like that Bianchi, it's early innovation and makes the bike a little bit 'special' IMO.

Using the Campagnolo timeline I thought the answer was 1982 where there is the first reference to a braze-on front derailleur -

'the Super Record front derailleur with black anodized arms, three holes and braze on fitting option'

But that's not to say Campagnolo didn't have it available before the publication of the 82 catalog. I would not disagree with Citoyen du monde's recollection.


.

 

[Citoyen du monde]

Using the Campagnolo timeline I thought the answer was 1982 where there is the first reference to a braze-on front derailleur -

'the Super Record front derailleur with black anodized arms, three holes and braze on fitting option'

But that's not to say Campagnolo didn't have it available before the publication of the 82 catalog. I would not disagree with Citoyen du monde's recollection.


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You are more than welcome to disagree with my recall when we are speaking of more than half a life ago!

I did however find two catalogues from 1981 that show the braze-on:

http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/patelli81/3.jpg and
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/simonato81/2.jpg

I haven't yet found any 1980 catalogue showing it. This does not quite rule out 1980 as the launch date as cataloque photos were almost always taken months ahead of printing and therefore it might still be possible. In any event, I feel it is safe to say it was in either 1980 or 1981.

 

[madmax]

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Well it looks like your memory is very sound Citoyen du monde, I'm envious.

Good idea to look up the bulgier.net Catalogs. I have that list too but I didn't know what year the bikes were from. I haven't studied every brand on the list though. Do you know if they are all from 1981. I have a Francesco Moser I've been trying to date, but I think it's a bit later, around 1984.

 

[Citoyen du monde]

.

Well it looks like your memory is very sound Citoyen du monde, I'm envious.

Good idea to look up the bulgier.net Catalogs. I have that list too but I didn't know what year the bikes were from. I haven't studied every brand on the list though. Do you know if they are all from 1981. I have a Francesco Moser I've been trying to date, but I think it's a bit later, around 1984.

Mark writes the year of each catalog in the link. You can see that both links that I included are for 1981.