i guess no one enjoyed my typeface humor :innocent:

I read that Ofmega was the 1980s name of Magistroni, a maker of decent mid-level cranks, headsets, etc. If you have Bianchi branded cranks, as I do, they are Ofmegas.

Simplex was known not only for plastic in the 1960s, but also for archaic designs. They were selling pushrod front derailleurs when everyone else had gone to trapezes. At least Campagnolo's old pushrod front derailleurs moved slighly upward as they moved outward, whereas the Simplex units moved straight in and out, which is not even that great for half-step. Simplex was still selling bandspring rear derailleurs after parallelograms had taken over the market.

I think it started my brain bleeding...

I still have a set of the K20 Criteriums, almost no miles on them.

Being a huge fan of fonts of all kinds, I found it quite interesting ..

Scott

Bontrager: mid-quality, no-nonsense, not hard on the budget bike stuff.

I've used the gel padded gloves and "B" series tires all summer for everyday biking....no complaints, no problems. I'd buy 'em all over again when they wear out.

I really miss Avocet tires. those slick Criterium tires were fabulous.

Ofmega was a Italian component company who Like Miche, and Gipiemme (GipMe) made lots of good quality Campi clone stuff and some products of there own design. one big problem with the Ofmega cranks and Avocet for that matter was a unique taper to their cranks, so once the BB goes the crank is sort of an orphan

I think this is some sort of urban myth that got onto Sheldon's site and has become accepted fact.

Not knowing the "problem", I bought an Avocet triple for a PX-10 overhaul back in about 1980. I put it onto a French threaded OMAS sealed bearing BB, which was standard Campy taper. Ran it that way for years. Recently, when I was playing with the first build for my 1963 Hetchins MK, I put that same crank onto an original plain vanilla Campy triple BB (thin cups) of 1970s vintage. Again, no problem. I took it off to run a Stronglight 93 on that bike, with an original plain vanilla Campy double (thick cups), also of 1970s vintage.

I don't get where this "unique and unmatchable" taper bullsh*t comes from. Those Avocet triples are fantastic touring cranks. They're really good looking, to boot.

IMHO.

It seems to me like Sampson started in components, many people still use and love his old pedals. In the mid to late 90's he seemed to make a name for himself with titanium frames, and was featured in bicycling magazine's as the low cost alternative to Litespeed for titanium bikes. I bought one in '98. His next interesting development was SAS, a foam polymer that he would fill frames with giving them a much better ride quality, especially aluminum. Today, he has his own component group, OEM'd from Microshift and other taiwanese suppliers probably. They still sell complete bikes, often decked out in their own groupsets. Frames are no longer made of titanium, but carbon fiber and alum/carbon mix. I'd guess all the frames are made in Taiwan. They are still making great products... I still ride my sampson regularly and I'd buy another if I got the chance.

i had a chuckle, u can't win them all though frantik.... u are usually one of the guys with a better sense of humor on these forums :D

Or maybe everyone on these forums are way too serious?!

http://www.vincentchow.net/wp-conten...cat-joker1.jpg

I should have gone into detail: there was nothing wrong with my Sampson clipless pedals except that they were made back when nobody knew that "float' was important, and the Sampsons had zero float. Result was my knees hurt...luckily I stopped using them and my knees recovered. By the time I decided to give clipless pedals another try, there was all kinds of float available in many brands. But Sampson was not one of those.

haha right on man :D

THAT is a cool crank, any pics with rings mounted?

I never laugh at Frutiger...like feminism, it's just not funny.
Comic Sans: now that's hilarious, but not intentionally...only ironically.

I have a question, then, for you and frantik......

Why can I get 10,000 fonts for free, but the one for the local school district is $20 for one, and doesn't include traceable, bold, or italic? I mean, after all, we're trying to get kids to write, durnit.

I've downloaded the PrintClearly and a couple others, but the Z-B is the one spec'd. I end up using TW Century and modifying the letters that don't match perfectly. The kids don't know the difference, but the evaluators do.

I didn't see the point.














:innocent:

Missing from your font of knowledge?

Yes, that was an awful joke. I really can't justify it.

Don't know much about them but I love the look of these Rolf wheels on this Raleigh ProLine 200.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=219015

I guess you could go either way...., or both.

Miche made campy knockoff hubs and now makes stuff for hipsters. The Miche Competition hub on my Peugeot seems nice enough.

My wife had an Avocet woman's saddle on her Colnago Super back-in-the-day. She said it was very comfortable. The glue on her saddle's lycra cover eventually deteriorated after 20 years.

I currently run vintage 47-41t Avocet chainrings on my Ciocc's Campy Nuovo Record cranks (retained from my purchased-in-1977 Raleigh Pro).

Sampson Titanium Hub Wheelset, laced to Mavic SUP rims. Beautiful and very light, looks NOS. I got them really cheap....too cheap.... Oh, it had a 8 speed Sachs Airis Freewheel, looked new too.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...4/P1010015.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...4/P1010016.jpg


They are still around

http://www.sampsonsports.com/Sampson...Components.asp

Lucien Juy started Simplex in 1928 with a 2-speed derailleur. He was one of the first to develop derailleurs for racers instead of touring. By 1936 he made one with a capacity of 10 teeth over 5 speeds.

Also, considering Miche has been around since 1909, I don't think they could make knock-offs of a business that started in 1933. I'd love a pair of their Supertype 358 wheels. No distribution in the US and right now the Euro is still of bit spendy.

Only some of Simplex' product line used plastic. The Super LJ derailleurs were all metal, marvelous performers, and are highly sought-after to this day. The metal Retrofriction shift levers are legendary. And even the lowly plastic "Prestige" derailleurs performed well when new (and clean) and were even used on more than a few TdF bikes because of their light weight and good performance. Simplex' dual-spring rear derailleur design was copied by Shimano for their early derailleurs, and later Shimano and Simplex derailleurs continued to show strong resemblances.

Shimano 3.3.3:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...AE855BAE3.jpeg

Simplex 303.T:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...9FC5C1526.jpeg

Shimano Skylark:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...C4AF90862.jpeg

Simplex:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...EE7CCEF4F.jpeg

Shimano Crane:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...E24959E4D.jpeg

Simplex Super LJ-6600:

http://www.velobase.com/CompImages/R...E20853AF4.jpeg