Kevin Stimpson wrote:
>
> The Universal levers on my 53 Bianchi Tour de France have much wider levers.
> I believe they were only made for a year or so. I have seen another 53
> Bianchi Campione del Mundo with the wider levers as well. My recollection
> is that the levers are rivited to the body and are not easily dissassembled.
> I have seen Universal 61 sets with both lever end profiles.
Yes, my feeling is that sometime in the production of the Universal mod.61 between 1961 and 1968 when it was replaced with the Super 68 they change the distinctive profile of the lever to the more "flowing" profile. Also they replaced the pivot pin with a screw.
The lever body on these brake levers (mod.51, 61 & 68) was a square extrusion and they cracked and broke very easily. Maybe the wrong aluminum alloy for manufacture by the extrusion process? When you see the broken pieces they have a crystalline look at the broken edges of the aluminum.
Chuck Schmidt SoPas, SoCal
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