[CR]Gran Sport Extra derail. on eBay

(Example: Racing:Jacques Boyer)

Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 13:46:50 -0700
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Gran Sport Extra derail. on eBay

There are some very nice photos of a Campagnolo Gran Sport Extra rear derailleur on eBay currently (incorrectly identified by Ken Denny, however, as the the first "production" model "Gran Sport").

eBay auction: http://ebay.com/<blah

eBay Auction Description: "1950 Campagnolo Gran Sport (GS) rear derailleur. This gear is considered to be the Holy Grail of cycle component collecting, and is EXTREMELY RARE. The GS derailleur was initially developed as a twin cable-operated gear in 1948/, but that model was never went into full production, and only 10 were fabricated (source: Campagnolo). Introduced at the 1950 Milan show, this is the earliest "production" model, with extended outer pulley cage and drilled jockey wheels, non-recessed pivot bolts, chrome-plated, cast bronze housing and pivots. It debuted professionally in the 1951 Giro d'Italia by Coppi and Team Bianchi, who later used the modified version with shorter pulley cage and set-screw cable clamp (source: BellaBici Film Archive)." -----------------------------------

The earliest complete Campagnolo catalog I have to reference is an undated and unnumbered one. I place the date at the end of 1951 (printed for the Milan trade show at the end of the year?) because it features pictures of Hugo Koblet's victory with a Gran Sport in the 1951 Tour de France, Louison Bobet winning the 1951 Giro di Lombardia, and Toni Bevilacqua's victory with a Paris-Roubaix derailleur in the 1951 Paris-Roubaix.

The "Gran Sport" derailleur shown on page 7 of this catalog has the set-screw cable anchor, the normal cage (no extended horn like the Extra) with bar end shifters (no down tube shifters existed when the Gran Sport was first offered). The Gran Sport part number is #1012.

The next set of Campagnolo catalog pages I have (not a complete catalog) shows on page 21 a picture of Fausto Coppi winning the 1952 Tour de France, so I place the date of the catalog later in 1952. On the same page is shown the "Gran Sport Extra" (pulley cage with "horn" extension, normal bolt clamping cable anchor). The Gran Sport Extra part number is #1012/1.

None of these early catalogs have the dates they were printed, so the dates of the catalogs are established by the photos of races shown, the known dates of races and who won on what parts, along with the trade show reports published of the introductions of new parts.

The part numbers of the two derailleurs (Gran Sport #1012, Gran Sport Extra #1012/1) and the page number that the derailleurs appear on in the catalogs (Gran Sport page 7, Gran Sport Extra page 21) and even the names of the two derailleurs (Gran Sport, Gran Sport Extra) clearly establish which of these two derailleurs is earlier and which came later.

I don't know why Campagnolo would start out with the "normal" (short) pulley cage (that they ultimately continued to use up through 1962) on the Gran Sport, and then try the extended horn pulley cage of the Gran Sport Extra shortly after the introduction of the Gran Sport, only to return to the normal cage again. Logically, the extended horn would be introduced to correct some short coming in shifting performance displayed by the normal cage. Strange!

Does anyone else have any more info?

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA

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