@veloham

"So if anyone has some bona fide knowledge, source material, pre 1974 bike with original ttt bars, or just more conjecture to throw in the pot please let me know!"

I do and I've already posted some collated info from the 1974 & 78 3TTT catalogs...

In 50+ years of riding, assembling, repairing, selling, importing, wholesale distributing derailleur bikes plus working with bike and component manufacturers I've gained a little insider knowledge.

Something to consider, 1973 was the peak of the US bike boom. There were also smaller booms going on in France and the UK at the same time.

Documentation was the least concern for European bicycle and component makers... They were pushing bikes out the door as quickly as they could box them up.

As I pointed out above, publishing literature was expensive back then and there was very little in those company's budgets for marketing so the catalogs were not updated regularly.

When I was running our shop in the 70's I had a library of bike literature and much of it was mimeographed or Xeroxed. I did the same with the monthly wholesale flyers that I sent out to dozens of bike shops around the US.

During the boom era from 1970-1974 Cinelli made 2 models of stems 1a Strada and 2a Pista. They offered 4-6 styles of bends in 3-4 widths.

At the same time, 3TTT must have sold a dozen variations of their bars and stems. Look at the pictures that you posted.... How many different stickers and engraving styles are on those bars?

"I have are two different versions, as you say one with the nut closure and one with the allen key bolt. The later one also has an 'INSERT TO LINE' line."

None of my earlier 3TTT stems have insert lines. BTW, those model names from the 1966 catalog were long gone by the 1970's (never saw them).

Jaques Anquetil
Louison Bobet
Nino Defilippis
Fausto Coppi


As far as reaming out a stem from 25.4mm to 26mm, don't try this at home kids! The big problem is holding the stem rigid and the reamer perpendicular to the bore. Reamers tend to grab at the split in the clamping area causing them to torque to one side creating an out of round hole.

The best way to increase the size of the bore in a stem is to take it to a machine shop that can properly hold the stem and enlarge the hole with a boring head on a milling machine. That way you can get uniform clamping contact with the bar.


There was an in depth discussion in the CR group a while back about 25.4mm 3TTT stems. According to Hilary Stone and several other knowledgeable folks in the UK, 3TTT made stems with 1" (25.4mm) bores for the British market.

Raleigh Pros from ~1969 until 1976 came with 1st generation 3TTT Record stems with 1" bores for use with GB Tour of Britain bars. (Nitto still makes 25.4mm stems and bars in some models)

@repechage I forgot about the nutted versions. Early Cinelli stems similar but when they switched to a recessed socket head screw they put theirs on the back side of the clamp. Both brands used bastardo 7mm Allen wrenches. I always carried one with me on the bike...


First pic, my Bat Cave bar stash.

Next pictures, 1965 "TTT" Gran Prix bars and TTT Special Gran Prix stem from my all original 1965 Tigra.

Late 60's TTT Special Gran Prix stem. The original brown and rainbow sticker disintegrated when I tried to clean it. That's a poor quality repro.

Original 3TTT Record stem and 3TTT bars with no model designation from my all original 1972 Motobecane Le Champion.

verktyg

Chas.