Hi, can anyone provide insight into the Gipiemme Exploit? When it was available? Compatibility with cranks? Etc. From what I have been able to determine this was a mid 1980's derailleur group. I have a 1986 Raleigh custom order (red with black chain / seat stays and fork, Reynolds 531 P tubing) that is all Gipiemme Chrono Special with Exploit derailleurs. Also has Gipiemme indexing shifters (underside of shifter is marked as Campy). The freewheel is an Gipiemme alloy unit. The bike is incredibly light!

Thx! DB

Sounds neat. How about some pics and a road report?

I've been slowly gathering up circa mid- 80's Gipiemme bits mixed with Campy Triomphe for a Basso. The style for both marques in that era are blocky, hard edged cool. That Exploit rear derailleur you have is clean lined vs. the Triomphe.

Sorry if I'm only talking of the aesthetics as I've yet to finish building the Basso. BTW: Curious if your bike is complete with Gipiemme pedals, what type? Was there ever an Exploit pedal?

I 've seen those before.....
IIRC, they have a cool dark anodized finish and ver geometric shapes with sharp edges, giving them a very modern slick look.
I think they still sell for quite reasonable prices at eBay when they pop up......

Rebranded Camapgnolo index levers would put it no earlier than 1987 and they could even be 1990s. It should be fairly easy to get an idea of the era based on whether the levers are Syncro style (1987-1988), Syncro II style (1989-1991) or post Syncro II style (1992+).

Good question. The pedals are Gipiemme Sprint I believe. That is the only non-Chrono special component except for the Exploit derailleurs. Seatpost is a fluted Gipiemme unit but not sure from what group.

I think you are right. The Exploit shifters do not look like Syncro 1 or 2 but the levers look close to Syncro 2. The mechanicals look different. So I suspect the levers are from around 1989. Hence, why it would be great to understand more about the Exploit series. The workmanship is excellent as is the finish.

One thing I forgot to mention but that is interesting. I believe those Raleigh frames were built for Shimano components even though they were built with Campy dropouts. To make the Gipiemme headset fit it was installed without the spacer. Fits fine without it. Also, the bike came with several items of Gipiemme promotional material (Gipiemme key chains, hats etc) related to the world championships in Colorado Springs in 1986.

Chrono pedals. Rare and right now at a super bargain >

Vintage Gipiemme 300 AX Crono Special Pedals | eBay

Did Gipiemme make the Exploit derailleur? I realize of the re-badged Simplex and I suppose as they faded, GPM either produced or had to source a replacement. But here the Exploit shifter is Campagnolo made, and yet the derailleur looks stepped up over the Triomphe and Victory.

Anyways, I think its a neat departure (in some sorts) from the usual all Campy. The hubs are virtually identical to Campagnolo Record with exception to the bearing cones. The cones have a black coating unlike Campy's polished.




Mild similarity~ Victory S3 graphite finish


and image of the rear side cage plate

The similarity to the Campy S3 is compelling. However, I found catalogues on the Gipiemme website and the 1982 catalogue shows the Chrono Special group that I have on my Raleigh. So, maybe the pedals are also Chrono Special, although not the unique ones that were apparently a later year. The derailleurs shown in the 82 catalogue include the Exploit units with the Chrono Special group and the Gipiemme branded Simplex units for other groups. That would make sense since this was the time that Simplex was starting to go down and Gippiemme needed an alternative. The 82 catalogue also shows the indexing shifters that are on my bike. Very, very interesting. I thought that maybe the date of the catalogue was listed wrong, but the Simplex rear derailleurs shown are not the slant pantograph like the Exploit. I would think that the Simplex derailleurs would also be the slant pantograph like they were in the next coup,e years. So, it appears that the Exploit in 82 was correct.

Campy made indexed shifters (and was willing to sell them rebranded) that far back?

I admit it seems strange. However, that is what the catalogues on the Gipiemme site show. Which is also why I noted that the catalogue may have been mislabeled as a 1982.

definitely a C-record clone - looks like good stuff
VeloBase.com - View Group

RD lever has big cable pull that would work with current Campy RD

v. short cable pull for Victory

Well there definitely has been some cross-over between Campy and GPM, they doing some contract work for the Big C on the forging/machining of certain products, maybe even making fully-finished products, but neither firm did much at all to advertise this relationship.
Or to even admit to it!

I got these last year out of Poland, never seen a White set before. NOS , just a bit of Shelf wear, No box.

Yes, the catalogue has obviously been misidentified. While it doesn't state that the levers have are indexed, the rear lever has the larger diameter and wider barrel of Syncro, along with the mode knob of Syncro II. I'm wondering if Campagnolo passed their old technology onto Gipiemme when they were finished with it? I wouldn't be surprised if these turn out to be early 1990s. Maybe it's a simple typo and 1982 was meant to be 1992?

Also note the catalogue picture of the pursuit team riding disc wheels. 1982 is a bit early for that.

Gipiemme catalog (1982)

On this, it looks like one Gipiemme model is C-Record and the other is Triomphe.

Those are beautiful!

Have two pair in black, one very well used and the other set needing a little TLC. Have yet to take them apart but was there another version with the eccentric axle adjustment?

[IMG]01gipiemmepedal by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]02gipiemmepedal by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Kool world wide novelty features those Pedals have...
I've tried to snag an NOS set of those for some years, but never found a good deal on them........yet

First white painted ones I have seen too......
Must be quite rare. Would be hard to keep looking new though. Touching up scratches will not be easy, unlike black ones that would do well with the usual Sharpy treatment.....

1985

Great video! Although it may offend some folks, I think that Gipiemme groups may have been superior to Campy in some ways. The finish of their components was better. The 1970's version of the Chrono Special strada crank is impeccable. They had some very innovative ideas such as their Chrono Special hubs. Looked like Campy record hubs but had cartridge bearings and a feature that self adjusted the bearings. Mine run perfectly smooth but I cannot figure our how to repack them or if that is even needed. Prior to Exploit, Gipiemme used rebranded Simplex derailleurs which many, including myself, feel shift far better than Campy Nuovo Record units (rear). Likewise, before producing their own brakes, Gipiemme sold rebranded Modolo brakes which many also considered a step up from Campy (depending on which Modolo model of course).

An interesting part of a brochure from 1982. Note the rear derailleur and shift levers are Exploit, but only mentioned by item / part number.

Indeed they produced by contract for Campagnolo.

Interesting indeed. Did you get this from the Gipiemme site or another source? My thought is the 82 catalogue from the Gipiemme site might be mislabeled and is really a circa 89 catalogue. However, the Sprint brakes shown seem to be from the early 80s. If this I'd really an 82 catalogue, it would see. That Gipiemme was ahead of Campy.

There is no doubt in my mind that the reported 1984 Gipiemme catalogue is much later than 1982. In 1981 Giovanni Battaglin won both the Tour a Espana and the Giro d'Italia riding a Campagnolo equipped Pinarello for the Inoxpran team. He set up his own company after these victories and for 1982 the team was riding Battaglin frames equipped with Gipiemme.

1982 advertisements feature the double fluted crankarms and the 1982 Battaglin catalog clearly show the bicycles equipped with this crankset and the rebadged Simplex deraillers. These cranksets have disappeared by the 1984 Gipemme catalog but the rebadged Simplex derailleurs are still present. So, the date for the 1984 catalog is realistic and the Battaglin catalog can be no older than 1982 as that was the debut model year for the brand. Consequently, the literature indicates that the rebadged Simplex derailleurs were the correct offerings in 1982.

Furthermore, for the Gipemme catalog with Exploit to be 1982, the company would have been violating SunTour's slant parallelogram patent., let alone the catalog showing a pursuit team with disc wheels, a full two years before Moser used them on his revolutionary hour record bicycle.

I'm still of the opinion that Campagnolo permitted Gipemme to use their Syncro II lever design after it had been replaced and that the subject catalog is early 1990s, possibly 1992, as opposed to 1982.