Campagnolo Bike
 

Just saw this ad and wondering if anyone has heard of a Campagnolo bike. The seller claims he bought it in 1969 and that Campy built bikes for two years during 1963 and 1964.

I have attached the pictures that the seller posted.

Thank you,
Jim H
Las Vegas, NV

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Back in the 1970's I had a friend who was a bike rebuilder (flipper on modern parlance). He had taken in two of these and I had never heard of them previously. He showed me one which was in original finish and had a large script "Campagnolo" transfer on the downtube. Transfers are much larger than the small ones we are all familiar with which are used to indicate a Campagnolo equipped bicycle. Frame appeared to date from the 1960's which would agree with the above mentioned dates.

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All of the parts were made by Campagnolo, including the rear frame dropouts. The decals say nothing about origin of the frame.

The level of finish work on the fork crown doesn't seem to match that of the head lugs. Possibly a replacement?

Those large script decals were often used on team bikes for which Campagnolo was an equipment sponsor; the frames were not made by Campagnolo.

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The transfers seen were white script "Campagnolo" with black edges on a background of multicoloured stripes; possibly world racing stripes. There were no "burst" or "winged wheel" devices.

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Philco brake caliper and Cyclo derailleur and shifter.

The derailleur is junk, but the shift lever is kind of cool-looking. The brake calipers don't look like anything I would want to use, but I can be corrected by anyone with experience with these.

Yes, those parts were listed in the ad.
Thanks for all the input.


Jim H
Las Vegas, NV

Yeah - it looks like a throttle quadrant for a C&V motorboat. :D

Precursor to Delta brakes, those are.....

I won't say "never," but I'd be very surprised if the frame was built by Campagnolo. Tullio Campagnolo and Cino Cinelli were good friends (Cino once lent Tullio money when Campy needed a cash infusion) and they both went to significant lengths not to step on each other's toes, product-wise. It wasn't 100% (Cinelli did sell hubs and pedals, which Campy also made and sold), but there is a reason why you don't see Cinelli derailleurs and you don't see Campagnolo stems (or frames).

No mention of a frame being made in the Campagnolo time line, at Velo-Retro. There was a recent discussion about this topic, consensus of the knowledgeable members, some of which are replying above, was that Campagnolo never made a frame set. Should be interesting to see where this leads this go around.

Bill

Campagnolo made frame parts, but an individual builder can buy them, I did. for my DIY frame.

Now, now, let's not be too dismissive! :lol:

The Cyclo derailleur and shifter are pretty cool kit, and were popular for many years (1930 into the 70's). When set up correctly they work very nicely, and smoothly-- two cables, so no spring to fight against. But you're missing a lot of parts; the cables in particular are hard to find.

The Philco brake is on my experience a pretty terrible brake. Hard to adjust; no quick release; bad ergonomics.

Both were made in the early 30's, but we're still available many years later.