Yes and no. While a lot of riders used Delta during their Tour victories, they seldom used them exclusively. Typically they switched to Cobalto for the mountain stages because of both weight and performance. The common view is that the big Tours are won and lost in the mountains, so it could be argued that the Tours were not won riding Delta brakes.

The thing that amazes about Delta is that they don't work well with many of the Campagnolo rims that were marketed at the same time. Reportedly, Delta performance suffers greatly when the rims are too narrow and many of Camapgnolo's Delta era rims are too narrow for proper performance.

Of the modern bikes that I have I much prefer my Campy Athena over my bike with Shimano Dura Ace! Not that Dura Ace is bad, but it seems the the Athena shifts a tad better; but more importantly I have the piece of mind that if a small part breaks on the Campy I can get replacement parts, whereas with the Shimano I would more then likely have to replace the whole part.

Modern 11 speed Athena or the old stuff?

I would never opt for the original Athena over DA 7400.

I like its looks, but I found the performance to be just ok.

Actually, I wouldn't take the modern Athena over DA 7900 either.

Sorry, but that's how we lived back then. Different time, different place. And when I talk history, I tend to talk about all the history that mattered to the subject. And that IS how I got my Campy brakes - what I was paid at the bike shop barely covered rent, food, etc.

I was referring to the modern 11 speed Athena over the same period of DA, the Athena feels better, shifts a wee bit smother, and the parts thing I mentioned. BUT, That's just my opinion. My Athena is actually a 06 year I got new for big discount on a new 07 bike I had built, so the line of Athena I have is just prior to Athena going carbon on the crank and brake levers. The DA is from 02.

I have an 87 bike with same year Dura Ace along with a 84 bike with Suntour Superbe and the Superbe is way better then the Dura Ace of that time period. In fact I have a 88 Shimano 105 SIS on a bike and can't tell the difference in function from the Dura Ace of that same period. I do not have any Campy older then the 06 so I can't compare the older versions personally; but I know some who do and the Superbe is far better in shifting performance then the Campy and seems about on par with the Shimano's.