Hi everybody - sorry for this tl;dr post but I'm facing a (perceived ) problem & am looking for some suggestions...

For reasons...I had to cut my "stable" to the bone a few years back. I dearly love the few bikes I kept, but still can't find the time to ride each one as much as it deserves. That being said - it's been awhile so I'm getting itchy for something new-to-me. I'm thinking that considering my situation - if I am going to buy something - AFAIAC it had better be pretty damned interesting & out-of-the ordinary(?) so I was planning to avoid a bike built with Shiman-golo. To start on this project I was looking for some nice Supurbe, but am on a bit of a budget so am sick of swinging & missing...

Then - I was amazed to find a couple of interesting bikes in my odd size that actually fit my unusual desires. But let's not get bogged down comparing frames...they are both SIR & I would be quite satisified with either one. So everything being equal - for a semi-regular, special occasion rider...which would you pick? A bike with a good group from :

'90s Sachs New Success?
or
'80s Cambio Rino?

TIA.

I think I would go for New Success as long as it has DT shifters.

I love my Sachs New Success RD and 8-spd Ergo brifters. I've used them on five different bikes (2 sets in regular use now) over the last 24 years and roughly 40K miles. The brifters are rebuildable using Campagnolo Ergo rebuild parts and procedures. I have yet to wear out an RD, including the pulleys. BTW, I prefer to use these with Shimano 8-spd cassettes assembled from loose cogs. Some require Campy spacing (same as Shimano 7-spd), some need Shimano 8 spacing, all on Shimano 8-spd cassette hubs.

Before I make any calls, regarding the Cambio Rino, I would have to see pictures of the bicycle and know the width of the bottom bracket housing. Cambio Rino bikes sport inconsistent quality, some being just great and others being poorly made. I have even been told that the manufacturer did, at times, cheat on what bikes were made of.

Put another way - be very careful when choosing a Cambio Rino. This particular one had unequal length stays, one side being longer than the other...



To that add that the bikes were offered in a range of quality levels, from entry level...



to fairly high end...



Hope that is a help.

From a components perspective, I would choose Sachs New Sucess over any Cambio Rino that I have seen, regardless of the level. However, the latter did find its way on to a number of very nicely manufactured Italian frames, and even one Canadian brand, so I might be swayed, depending on the frame. For the record, I also preferred the shifting of my Sachs New Success over my Superbe Pro Accushift.

As we say on C&V, "Pictures or it didn't happen!" So here are photos of the New Success RD's (both medium cage here on my triples) on my two current bikes. I'd show the brifters, too, but they look just like any pointy-hooded Campy Ergo brifters.





There was a recent thread in which @El Chapo, as I recall, described New Success as being comparable in quality to Dura-Ace, and between Record and Chorus in the Campy hierarchy. There was a period in the 90's when many high-end bikes came with Sachs New Success.

FWIW, I use Campy Racing T front derailleurs with these setups, having never been a gruppo purist. And one of the beauties with Ergo brifters is that they work fine with any FD, being essentially a friction shifter.

[MENTION=325203]IAmSam[/MENTION],

If you decide to go with Sachs New Success, I have several short cage RD's, and I could be convinced to part with one of them.

Send me a PM if that's interesting.

I appreciate all your replies - at least there was a little encouragement here compared with another group I posted the same question in, where nobody had anything very good to say

I know everybody always wants pics, but in this instance I can't. Maybe if I buy either, but until then my poor descriptions will have to do. Let's assume for argument sake that in both cases the condition of the bikes as a whole are pretty damned good and that the groups are very clean and functioning well

The Sachs is 8-speed ergo brifters on an unknown model, likely mid-range, seemingly pretty basic chro-mo tubing, Fausto Coppi frame from the time period that Pelizzoli was in charge, repainted with a moderately artsy-fartsy paintjob.

The Cambio is 6-speed downtube friction on a Columbus Zeta tubed, amazingly unmarked original chromovelato Ezzalino frame.

Thankx again for any and all suggestions...

Another vote for sachs new success. I ran this for a long time on my racing bike; the stuff just worked.