CAPO Date by Serial Number
 

Hey, friends! I recently acquired this CAPO Model Campagnolo and need help determining it's approximate age. SN = 51280 - I have pictures but not sure if I've participated enough to post them. Stock components = Capmy Gran Sport (front and back), Campy hubs, Agrati steel rims, Pivo stem, Stronglight crank, 26.4+- seat post, Invincible leather saddle, and Weinmann Vainqueur center-pull brakes. She's blue with white head tube.

Thanks for your help! Thanks for posting amazing pictures of your rides!

Welcome to club Capo -- I have owned three (see signature), the first of which fell victim to my one-and-only collision with a motor vehicle, back in 1976. Company website: www.capo.at

Harald Cap, son of the company founder, Otto Cap (hence Cap,0), has told me that they built about 5000 units/year back then, so yours is probably circa 1962. Your seatpost diameter matches mine, indicating plain-gauge moly steel, rather than the butted tubes used in the top-of-the-line Sieger model. It is interesting, though probably not significant in terms of ride quality or weight, that Otto evidently switched from Reynolds 531 (MnMo) to CrMo sometime in the early 1960s.

With 72 degree parallel geometry and somewhat long and thin stays and a moderate fork rake, these frames have a delightfully balanced sports touring geometry, making them very comfortable for long rides, although a little "squishy" for hammering or carrying a heavy load. Yours looks like a nice specimen. Although the marque is somewhat known in and around Vienna and on into central and parts of eastern Europe, it is pretty rare in the U.S., where only a few hundred were imported ca. 1960.

Top-to-bottom:
1) recent shot of my Modell Campagnolo, showing the Nervar Star crankset and new maroon(!) Brooks Pro saddle;
2) earlier shot of same bike, 13 years ago, shortly after the CyclArt paint job went on;
3) my Sieger just before I bought it several years ago;
4) another Sieger's head badge closeup

This is a very pretty and unusual bike. Enjoy it.

He has good taste -- Raleigh Competition and Capo Modell Campagnolo. :)

Great looking bike. I love your workbench.

Much Appreciation
 

Thanks for the responses. Now I'm a serious Capo fan. More questions to come. Photo: I extracted these hubs from the rusted-out Agrati rims.

Thanks, John! Sweet bikes.

Thanks, bikemig - I'm enjoying the debriefing process, right now. Awesome details!

Thank you, Bianchigirll! That "bench" is an inspiration when working on bikes, but embarrassingly less than brawny when I have car stuff to do there. You won't see pictures of my disassembled cooling system atop that counter.

My Raleigh Competition
 

My Rat-a-tourer.

Those are Campag. Tipo hubs from the early 1970s.

Otto Cap used Agrati components, including cranks, on many of his bikes, but STEEL rims seem out of place.

I have always seen circa 1960 Capos with Record hubs and aluminum rims, either wired-on ("clincher") for the Modell Campagnolo, or tubular for the Sieger.

Details
 

Campagnolo Sportsman? It came on the 62 Capo - no scallops on the wheels and a black-satin (original finish) cage plate. The front derailleur is obviously early Gran Sport with a black-satin (original finish) cage.

Rims and hubs
 

I can't find numbers on the lock-nuts of the axles. The pictures of my hubs don't show the large holes well enough - there are 9, each flange. Here is a picture of the rim that came on the bicycle when I purchased it - front and rear match. Thanks, again, for your help with this.

Hubs could be Campy "Sportman" models.
RD could be Campy "Campagnolo" model.

-----

+1 :thumb:

Sportman hubs were only around for about three years or so, roughly the 1959-63 window.

All the examples which have come through my workshop had a date mark on the inner face of the axle locknuts. If your examples lack a date it may be that the axle set has been replaced.

It is easy to understand possible confusion regarding this model as it launched a whisker too late to get into catalogue nr. 14 of 1960 and was discontinued prior to launch of catalogue nr. 15 of 1967. So its image was never found in a manufacturer catalogue.

VeloBase.com - Component: Campagnolo Sportman


-----