I recently listed some pretty nice bicycles on Ebay. A day or two after doing so, I was contacted by a gentleman who took a look at my listings. He informed me that one of my bikes has a very rare set of Nouvo Record brake levers fitted. Apparently, the curve of the lever was his first clue about the levers.



Additionally, he suggested that the levers had been subjected to the Drillium process in an attempt to mimic, or at least imitate, SR levers. His suggests that the levers were drilled after manufacture because the holes, in the levers are round, not oval shaped. Original drilled holes in a SR lever are oval, since the holes are drilled before the lever is shaped.

Anyway, I can certainly see these differences and invite you to have a look at the two pictures. The levers with the Campy hoods are Super Record, NOS and I took them from the box myself. The levers with the imitation hoods are the Drillium altered NR levers.

I might add that I have a Nouvo Record seat post, milled to imitate the SR counterpart and I got that post at the same time as the levers in question.


Any comments...

did those levers come stock on the miele?

I would agree with his assessment of the modification. Can't speak to the curve.

The SR (left) is long reach. Haven't seen a long-reach SR lever recently; hence, that is a bit of an oddity.

That said, the lever on the right is an NR with drillium, but I cannot tell whether its a short or long reach variant. At any rate, the early long-reach versions are supposedly quite rare, but I've found that to be anything but the case: Most every NR lever I've found has been long-reach (not to say I haven't found short-reach, but it has been in the minority).

-Kurt

RJ: Putting both levers side by side definately does the trick, doesn't it? Especially as it illustrates what Kurt has pointed out: long reach on the left, short on the right. And I'm glad you added the pic/info regarding the replicated millings on the post. That certainly suggest someone with some talent/correct equipment did a nice job of modding those parts.

Kurt: I've had the exact opposite experience in that I always find the short reach levers, be they Super or Nuovo Record. I've never actually held a long reach, nor had the opportunity to really tell how it would look on a set of bars. Do they look gangly when compared to short reach? Just wondering.

Someone with more room, money and sense than me should put in a bid on that Miele...

DD