Hi there.

So I don't post much but have been given a fun winter project. A good friend gave me a mid 80's Viner Super Professional in a kind of rose pink color. I will post some before build pictures soon. I have been reading up on them and had a Torpado way back in '82 until '97 which was of course all Campy. I want to build it up a bit differently and was thinking a bit more obscure. What does everyone think about Galli front and rear derailleurs and brakes? Crankset I would go modern 10sp Campy compact. Wheels I have some Campy hub tubulars which will polish up nicely.


Or go modernish and go all Campy 10sp, which I already have one my main bike. Or a mix mash of each. This will be a rider and not a garage queen so I'm not worried about being period correct.

Thanks for everyone's input.

This is my impression of the top component group sold by Galli in the early to mid 80's.
Galli is considered by most as an upper middle tier Italian component manufacturer. It is comparable to Ofmega and Gipiemme
What's typical with these mid levelers is they have components made by popular French Compsnoes like Stronglight snd Maillard. Galli sold rebranded pedals that wereactually Maillard 700s. I thing they also dold a rankset made by Stronglight. Their dtuff is quite good, but a bit lagging in the tech department, having older designs like their RD, with just a straight parrallelogram design, like Campy's Nuovo and Super Record RDs, so don't expect quick shifting from it, but I suspect they would be quite reliable, otherwise, because of the simplicity of its design. IIRC, the brakesets were not really that special with very rudimentary, double jointed quick release mechanism similar to I think on Campy's Gran Sport brakeset calipers. Headsets were excellent, because they are rebranded Stronglight A9s

I'm for it. Instead of modern Campy use an old 114 or 110 BCD crank with modern chainrings.

I just swapped out Dura Ace 7700 brakes for Dia Compe BRS 300s. The braking is still excellent - a lot of older stuff works really well. Same with those old derailleurs - put them together with HG style freewheels or cassettes and they shift surprisingly well.

^ Concur with Chombi1 on some points but not all. Yes, can compare the KL aerodynamica (funny name because I see nothing aero about it) derailleur to Campy N/S Record but the Galli can be fully dismantled and bench serviceable at the parallelogram.

Story goes Galli was first in producing calipers in ally. Whatever. Anyways, they did job lots for some parts for Campagnolo. Later years as all were growing for market share, the groupo ensembles was becoming difficult to compete with Campagnolo, considered by some as the creator of group sets. So Galli ganged up with brand labels French and Italian.

The 80's era KL vs Criterium brakes are notable different. The Criterium are lighter in weight and even had offered with ti fitted fasteners. Though their top line KL were a few grams heavier but really are the better brakes, shaped different and beefed up arms especially the area where the shoes attach. The slots too are for larger diameter bike shank / shoe stud.

Headsets are nice stuff. They did have the tapered needle caged bearing type from Stonglight.
However they also had their own Timken like tapered roller bearing. Top and bottom. They're rare. If you find them, make sure its all complete with the lower race and seal. Robust headset. Takes a little more patience in setting pre-load and tolerance.

Like the above headset, they also offered a Timken like tapered roller bearing bottom bracket and ti spindle. Doubt anyone has worn them out. This stuff is like automotive or tractor grade applications.

Some of their upper model cranks are beautiful and lightweight. They finished both sides of the arms, fluted etc.. Most if not all can interchange with same era Campagnolo.

https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site...railleurs.html

I have a bike with Galli Aero KL derailleurs. I had the same idea you did, setting up an early-mid 1980's Italian racer with something besides Campagnolo, just to be different. It has Ofmega CX cranks/HS, Miche pedals/hubs, Modolo brakes/levers, etc. All basically Campy copies although the HS is a different design. The derailleurs are really good-looking and work fine, actually everything works fine, I can't really tell the difference between this stuff and Campy NR/SR.

Galli's first headset used tapered roller bearings, but this design proved to be too fussy about alignment to gain widespread appeal. Later Galli headsets were rebranded Stronglight roller bearing units, but Stronglight's rollers were cylindrical, not tapered. That, and the floating races Stronglight used, made them much more accommodating to misalignment than the original tapered roller design, but it does mean that there is always some sliding, rather than rolling contact between the roller and the race. But for a bearing that is not in constant rotation (like a hub or bottom bracket bearing), this was felt to be an acceptable compromise, giving the headset much better handling of thrust loads without damage than a "ball and cup" unit, much lighter weight, and only minimally more friction than a ball and cup bearing (not enough to affect performance in use).

Here is a picture of my Viner before any work commences. I was thinking also black stem and seat post to make the frame the main attraction.

I think that Galli made some of the most beautiful parts around, they also had their share of lower end stuff......similar to Modolo, some good and some not so good.
My preference happens to be the anodized components, I think that they are quite handsome and for me add a bit of flare to any build.....if that's your wish.
If you are looking for their nicer parts, be prepared to pay a premium for them as they can be pricey and at the level of early Campagnolo bits.
I am still looking for a Gold rear derailuer to complete a build, so if you run across a few ,let me know...........
BTW, very nice looking frame.
Galli stuff anyone know about


Best, Ben

^ That's going to be a beautiful bike and fun build. Deserves precision paint touchup work. Suggest taking the frame to a Walgreens and match with acrylic nail polish. Very fine wet sand then 2k clear coat. That finish will pop with depth.

Difficult to see but appears the seat stays might have a taper on both ends. Viner was known to use Falck on some frames along with Columbus for main tubes and fork.

Definitely could see contrast black components. If you're still considering Galli, shouldn't be that difficult to find in black as was popular.

Lastly, Matt Gorski of South Bay Wheelman outed on the CR list a 27.2 Campy seat post with pantographed Viner.

That's a beauty!!!!
Best, Ben

If your aim is "black", I would suggest Modolo" instead of Galli, they have a wider range of components in black.
Best, Ben

Dale Brown had a nice Olmo on display in his shop at a recent-ish Classic Rendezvous gathering. The black components are Galli. Pretty nice looking!



Steve in Peoria

^^^ I forget the significance of the cork. but there's a vintage factoid there.


I sold my Romic with gold Galli brakes/levers, shifters, headset. Not ders or crank - which I tried to source and gave up when learning the asking prices and losing an auction offering $400 for a nice gold crankset.