Originally Posted by
Bikegeek1968
The Fignon Event happened in Blois-Cheville. It has since been renamed Paris-Tours. It is usually a sprinter's classic.
Amazingly, there is footage of the incident.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1164758...20429142514466
I started racing in 1984, and I remeber reading an article about the race in a copy of Winning. Needless to say, impressionable 15 year old bikegeek1968 made sure he had steel spindles on his brand new SR equipped bike.
Boy, that must have hurt! I had never seen the footage of this incident until now.
As to the Super Record rear mechanisms with aluminum bolts, guys who saw them back in the day for sale felt short changed as everyone felt ti was to be more expensive, and aluminum not, and aluminum being easier to machine. From behind the counter we observed that they would be a bit lighter as aluminum is lighter than ti. There was no official Campagnolo USA explanation as to the change. As they resumed using ti a bit later, we assumed it was a supply issue.
I was never a fan of the original Campagnolo Super Record ti bottom bracket spindle. It was hollow clear through. We had experience with the Teledyne ti spindles that were not bored out completely, and all noticed the extra flex in them. The later ti spindle Campagnolo issued that was solid and had steel fixing nuts appeared a bit better solution, but by this time racers were happy with the steel spindles. The enthusiasts market was very small. I am surprised at the quantity of Super Record bottom brackets offered on ebay today considering how uncommon they were back then.