In my experience, brake levers intended for drop bars are curved too much to use on a straight bar (such as the straight part of a North Road bar). The lever will usually hit the bar before the brakes fully engage.

Conversely, brake levers meant for use on straight or upright bars (such as found on a Raleigh Sports) won't work on the drops of a drop bar, because they stick out too far and you can't reach them. Well, I can't; those with longer fingers might be able to. You could use them on the straight part of the bar at the bottom if it's long enough, but I found it awkward braking from that position when I tried something like that once.

Of course then you also run into the issue of different bar diameters and such when you mix-and-match like that.

There was a variant of the moustache bar intended for mountain-bike levers, that had a bit more room in the straight section at the end. I think someone (Soma?) has reproduced it recently.

yeah, that all makes sense Knife, thanks. Curved bars= curved levers. I did place the old Mafacs out on the bends where I felt I had enough room for plenty of pull, and adjusted the brakes to a fairly tight tolerance, but it still may not be ideal. Works OK, but I sometimes wonder what it might be like in a panic stop situation.

Well, it took me a while to find the (deeply buried) box with my original Tipo hubs from the TdF I bought new in the summer of 1971. The Tipo hubs ARE dated. Mine are 1970 hubs.

Hmmm.

My 1971 Super Corsa was sold in March 1971, and it's NR hubs are dated 1971. My 1971 TdF was sold in the first week of June 1971, but has hubs dated 1970. And it was fresh off the truck from Mel Pinto Imports. What this tells you is that these are French bikes, and you get the components that were in stock/on hand when the bikes were put together. JIT inventory wasn't exactly a French practice back then. (As if...)

SO, the dates on components are not necessarily a guaranteed date stamp on the frame. But they help narrow the parameters.

Anyway, it is nice to look over the old Tipo hubs again. I'd cleaned them and put them away disassembled years ago, so I could see just how clean the races are. The Tipo is a handsome design. But I digress.

I promised I'd look, so that's my report. And I'm stickin' to it.

:D

Oooooohhhh! Sooo pretty! Me jealous...

[QUOTE=LeicaLad;12643773]Well, it took me a while to find the (deeply buried) box with my original Tipo hubs from the TdF I bought new in the summer of 1971. The Tipo hubs ARE dated. Mine are 1970 hubs.

Hmmm.

My 1971 Super Corsa was sold in March 1971, and it's NR hubs are dated 1971. My 1971 TdF was sold in the first week of June 1971, but has hubs dated 1970. And it was fresh off the truck from Mel Pinto Imports. What this tells you is that these are French bikes, and you get the components that were in stock/on hand when the bikes were put together. JIT inventory wasn't exactly a French practice back then. (As if...)

SO, the dates on components are not necessarily a guaranteed date stamp on the frame. But they help narrow the parameters.

Anyway, it is nice to look over the old Tipo hubs again. I'd cleaned them and put them away disassembled years ago, so I could see just how clean the races are. The Tipo is a handsome design. But I digress.

I promised I'd look, so that's my report. And I'm stickin' to it.

**********************

.....Very interesting LeicaLad. Thanks for checking. Having been thus inspired, I just went down and looked at my front hub. Popped off the lock nut and lo and behold, my hub is dated 1971. Which, of course, given the French inventory theory, doesn't mean too much. Bike could be a '71, or 72. This Campagnolo practice of dating certain components fascinates me. Let's see; the rear derailleur on my Champion Team is dated '72. The crank arms weren't dated until, what, 1973? '74? All very interesting, if inconclusive as it pertains to dating a bike. What else did Campy date, if anything?
Thanks LL.