Re: [CR]Campagnolo "Mexico" Cranks Questions - kinda long

(Example: Framebuilders:Brian Baylis)

Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 10:08:09 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
From: "Marc Boral" <mbikealive@dslextreme.com>
References: <a05111700b92d0dc35254@[10.0.1.2]>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR]Campagnolo "Mexico" Cranks Questions - kinda long


As Brandon and Tom stated, the fact the Eddy's bike was a Pista model and did not have brake calipers leads one to question why the term "Mexico" is associated with calipers. I believe the term "Mexico" was used to describe the type of modification (removing material, reprofiling, polishing) done to Eddy's '72 stock Campy Record crankset. At some point in time, maybe the distributors/pantographers/framebuilders decided to apply the term "Mexico" to describe the the style of modification done, to another Campy component.. .........the calipers. But yes, technically Eddy's bike did not have the Mexico" mod. done to the calipers..........because there were no calipers on his bike.

I've never seen the "Mexico" mod. done on any components except from the beginning of the SR era. Later model NR equipped bikes sometimes came with the "Mexico" cranks. If the bike has "Mexico" cranks, typically the bike had other components that were panto'd. I do not know when "Mexico" mod. cranks started to become available. My earliest representation is a '76 Colnago Mexico.

I forgot to mention: Eddy's chainrings were pantographed. Nothing extraordinary about that. However, the inner webs of the chainring were cut out. I don't remember if this modification was offered by other framebuilders prior to '72. This web modification always seems to go hand-in-hand with the outer ring being panto'd with the framebuilders logo/name. The Colnago "Mexico" crankset usually came with a beautiful representation of this style of chainring. Sometimes, Colnago also mirror polished the chainring. Anyway, I wonder if Eddy's chainring started the web cutting mod. If so, then the "Mexico" would likely apply to that style of chainring. Or, maybe Eddy got the idea from the Super Record chainrings that were probably already being produced by Campy for beta testing by the pro teams. The web cut panto'd chainring became very popular in later years This was probably due to the enormous inventory of NR chainrings the framebuilders had around. Maybe it was cheaper to have their existing stock of NR chainrings panto'd and modified rather that buy new SR chainrings with the web already cut out.

Marc Boral Long Beach, CA

-------Original Message-------

From: Brandon Ives Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 07:49:33 To: Marc Boral; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Campagnolo "Mexico" Cranks Questions - kinda long

Excellent history Marc, Two questions: one, the "production" Mexico cranks were modeled after Eddy's but when did they really start coming out? I don't think I've ever seen one on a non-Super Record bike. Was it just in the SR era that they became popular. Second, the brakes were called Mexico after Eddy, but that was on a track bike and had no brakes. Is there any other reasoning behind calling the brakes Mexico? I'm not trying to be critical just looking for some clarification. thanks again, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives SB, CA.

At 11:05 PM -0700 6/11/02, Marc Boral wrote:
>Ok, all this "Mexico" misinformation is making my brain hurt. I really hate
>repeating myself, and not too fond of typing either.......guess I'm not a
>very helpful member of the list. :-( I realize everyone is just trying to
>offer their opinion in order to formulate an educated answer to the question
> So, again I'll add the little knowledge I have on the subject to help.
>
>
>
>The origin of the "Mexico" style Campy crank started when Merckx had his 72
>Mexico Record attempt Campy cranks modified. The crank arms were reprofiled
>(especially at the dustcap area) and the milled flutes in the spider arms
>were cut out.
>
>
>
>>From that point on, the high end framebuilders started to offer this Mexico
> style crankset. Typically seen on the Italian pantographed Super Record
>bikes. This was typically not available as a separate purchase to the
>consumer, but I'm sure could be had if persistent. It is important to note
>that these modified Campy cranks were not modified by Campagnolo. "Mexico"
>cranks modified by a separate company/s. In fact, this modification voided
>Campy's warranty right from the getgo. However, I doubt many customers were
>ever told this. I don't know how many companies performed this mod., but
>my guess is just one or maybe two. I don't know the name of the company/s.
>This was probably performed by the same source/s that did the pantographing
>for all the Italian builders.
>
>
>
>I have seen 4 versions of the "Mexico" style crankarms:
>
>
>
>a) reprofiled arms with cut out spider.
>
>b) reprofiled arms without cut out spider.
>
>c) reprofiled arms (more heavily at dustcap area) with cut out spider.
>
>d) reprofiled arms (more heavily at dustcap area) without cut out spider.
>
>
>
>"a)" & "b)" were the most common, "c)" & "d)" are very uncommon.
>
>
>
>The arms were always polished and not reanodized after that. A stock Campy
>crankarm was first machined to the desired profile, then the machined areas
>were polished and the remaining anodizing was removed mechanically via the
>buffing wheel. Once the job is finished, they don't remove the anodizing
>off the sides and back of the spider, that is left intact. The result is a
>beautifully modified Campy crank with a raw aluminum mirror finish. Very
>pretty, but very susceptible to oxidation.
>
>
>
>NOTE: Campy cranks that had the spider cut out, but not the arms reprofiled
> are not considered to be "Mexicos", just your run of the mill bitchin
>modified Campy crankarms. An example of this is on the Bianchi SuperCorsa.
>
>
>
>The little black specks that can be seen in used "Mexico" cranks IS
>oxidation, as Tom Dalton speculated. If this condition is still visible
>after hand polishing, chances are it will never come out, even with machine
>polishing. That is unless you don't mind having your crankarm buffed to
>extent of resembling a mirror polished stalk of celery. :-) This decay is
>typically very deep, and is due to the raw aluminum finish being neglected.
>
>
>
>Their have been other manufacturers that produced stock cranksets that
>looked very similar to the Campy "Mexico" style, but only a Campy Record
>crank that was modified with this "Mexico" treatment should be referred to
>as a "Mexico"......my opinion.
>
>
>
>As Matt Gorski mentioned earlier, the "Mexico" modification was also
>performed on Campy Record calipers. This mod. was done to the pre '83/4
>calipers, the ones where "Campagnolo" was spelled out in block letters on
>the stirrup arm, as opposed to the cursive font. The "Mexico" mod. on the
>brakes removed material so as to create more of a triangular cross section
>to the arms, as well as rounding many of the edges. Interestingly enough,
>Campy's introduction of the new style arms (cursive font) was almost
>identical, in cross section, to the "Mexico'd" mod. And like the crankarms,
>the "Mexico" calipers were raw aluminum with a mirror finish, front and back
>this time, and always pantographed with "Campagnolo" on the left arm, and
>the framebuiler name on the right arm. Mexico crankarms were sometimes not
>pantographed.
>
>
>
>"Mexico" crankarms were offered by almost all the high-end Italian
>framebuilders at one time or another. "Mexico" calipers less common.
>
>
>
>I have never heard of the "Mexico" mod. referred to any other Campy
>component other than the cranks and calipers. However, when you think about
>it, there is a style of pantographed Campy NR brake lever that might qualify
>as "Mexico". There are some NR levers that have the vertical Campy logo (
>CAMPAGNOLO") removed. Then, that area is pantographed with the framebuilder
>s logo/name. Then, the sides of the lever are cut out. The "cutting out"
>of the sides of the lever is common amongst panto'd levers, but not the
>removal of the Campy logo. Just food for thought.
>
>
>
>Hope I've added some useful info.
>
>
>
>Marc Boral
>
>Long Beach, CA
>
>
>
>
>
>-------Original Message-------
>
>
>
>From: Eric Elman
>
>Date: Monday, June 10, 2002 19:02:37
>
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
>Subject: [CR]Campagnolo "Mexico" Cranks Questions
>
>
>
>I know that the Campy NR/SR cranks with the "Mexico" treatment had been
>
>discussed a long time ago but I admit I was not paying much attention back
>
>then. Couple of questions.
>
>1. What company did the machining and polishing?
>
>2. Where they all done exactly the same or are there differences?
>
>3. Were they available only on certain bikes (like my OLMO) or available
>
>individually?
>
>4. Were they regular cranks that were de-anodized then machined?
>
>5. Were they always polished aluminium and not anodized? On this last
>
>question, up till now I have only seen polished ones but I just recieved
>
>some jpegs of a very nice OLMO for sale on the Campy Only site. This OLMO
>
>has the Mexico'd cranks but while the arms are polished and shiny, the
>
>spider part is anodized just like normal. How could this affect be achieved
>
>and how common was this effect on them?
>
>6. Lastly, my set is all polished aluminium but despite how much I polish
>
>and buff them they have darker "stains/speckles" about the size of crushed
>
>pepper in them that will not come out. The stains are only noticable when
>
>you look closely but are there none the less - any ideas on the cause and
>
>any possible way to eliminate these dark marks?
>
>
>
>Eric "full'a questions tonight" Elman
>
>Somers, CT
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>Classicrendezvous mailing list
>
>Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
>http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous
>
>
>
>.
>
>
>
>
>
>-------Original Message-------
>
>
>
>From: Eric Elman
>
>Date: Monday, June 10, 2002 19:02:37
>
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
>Subject: [CR]Campagnolo "Mexico" Cranks Questions
>
>
>
>I know that the Campy NR/SR cranks with the "Mexico" treatment had been
>
>discussed a long time ago but I admit I was not paying much attention back
>
>then. Couple of questions.
>
>1. What company did the machining and polishing?
>
>2. Where they all done exactly the same or are there differences?
>
>3. Were they available only on certain bikes (like my OLMO) or available
>
>individually?
>
>4. Were they regular cranks that were de-anodized then machined?
>
>5. Were they always polished aluminium and not anodized? On this last
>
>question, up till now I have only seen polished ones but I just recieved
>
>some jpegs of a very nice OLMO for sale on the Campy Only site. This OLMO
>
>has the Mexico'd cranks but while the arms are polished and shiny, the
>
>spider part is anodized just like normal. How could this affect be achieved
>
>and how common was this effect on them?
>
>6. Lastly, my set is all polished aluminium but despite how much I polish
>
>and buff them they have darker "stains/speckles" about the size of crushed
>
>pepper in them that will not come out. The stains are only noticable when
>
>you look closely but are there none the less - any ideas on the cause and
>
>any possible way to eliminate these dark marks?
>
>
>
>Eric "full'a questions tonight" Elman
>
>Somers, CT
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>Classicrendezvous mailing list
>
>Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
>http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous
>
>
>
>.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Classicrendezvous mailing list
>Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous

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