Chombi

I had one I got in a package deal that was rollng around in my stash boxes that I finally decided to clean up yesterday. Cleaned up very nicely as it turned out to be unused NOS under all that shop grease. One thing I noticed though, is how much heavier the RD is compared to all my others, including the NR RD I have. Despite the all aluminum construction, it weighs like three times most of my French derailleurs. It's a slant parallelogram design, so it should shift very well, but I can't figure out why Campagnolo can't come up with a more efficient design weight-wise when everyone else was doing so when they first made the Athena. I'm also surprised how it seems to be a wallflower of a derailleur at eBay with many of them in very good condition not selling at even just 20/30 bucks. Is the old Athena RD really such a dog??
The derailleur does seem very robust and should be able to stand up with lots of hard use and abuse, but that does not seem to be an attractive trait to C&Vers?? Is there a problem with these RDs that I need to know about?

Chombi

gaucho777 

Not sure which version you are looking at. According to velobase.com, the first Athena (not slant parallelogram) design came out in 1988, followed by a couple slant parallelogram versions in 1992 (link) and 1993 (link). All of these versions seem to be around 250 grams--about 50 grams heavier than the C-record and NR RDs, and 70 grams heavier than the SR RD. A price you pay for smoother shifting and greater cog range, I suppose. The slant parallelogram versions look very similar to the original Chorus RD (though without the B adjuster screw). Not sure how the performance of the Athena compares, but I'm very happy with my Chorus RD.

(Thanks velobase.com!)

cuda2k

And that's why VeloBase.com exists.

Perhaps I need to start watching eBay for an unloved Athena to add to the display shelf.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Its Campagnolo, what do you expect!?!

Chombi

It does not seem to match exactly what is posted on Velobase. Not sure when the Athena first came out, but it seems to have a date stamp on the inner surface of the inner parallelogram arm saying "96", so maybe it's the mid or later version? It does have the fully windowed inner and outer jockey pulley cages and the H L adjusting screws at the bottom of the front parallelogram arms. It also has a crudish looking, bent metal top pivot limiting plate, which I thought think was replaced with a pressed steel chromed part in later Athenas. Otherwise the rest of the RD seems to be well made with nicely finished alumunum front, top and bottom pieces with almost no casting seams of flash present.
I do see something on it that might have been done better. the cable stop at the top pivot does not swing to line up with the cable anchor bolt like on most other derailleurs do, so the cable has to bend at the tip of the stop nipple as the lower pivot goes through its full arc while shifitng. It's cable stress/friction that I think should have been avoided.
I'll post a pic of the RD tonight. for you guys to maybe give comments on.

Chombi

embankmentlb

The Athena, Chorus & C-record groups was the last of the classic Campagnolo groups. They were built to last forever. That came at a penalty regarding weight & function but it was rock solid. Bikes will never be built like that again. I love them.

triplebutted

Campy stuff in the 80's were always clunky. Brakes didn't stop, they slowed you down. Derailleurs "clunked" into place. I used my Campys stuff in road races and Suntour cyclones for crits. Suntour and Shimano stuff were super smooth compared to Campys.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

So why would you switch to something less smooth for road Races?

triplebutted

Didn't really have to be critical in road races. You can mis shift and still be fine. But in crits, it sucks to mis shift. Guy behind you will run into you.

Bianchigirll 

you can always put it on a diet

embankmentlb

It's my goal to own a bike with each of the 80's Campy groups. As of now I have C-record, Athena & Victory equipted bikes & lot of parts.