I don't find it that unusual that the Universal brakes could come in Root Beer brown. I have seen these brakes anodized BLUE before. Yes, they are rather rare, but I am not surprised that they exist that way straight from the factory. Speaking of the Super 68 models. They came Stock on a 1971 Cinelli I had bought in the early 70s. I found they worked plenty fine for me once I used a thicker 1.8mm cable. It really made a difference. Plus, I felt the unique quick release mechanism they used worked just fine and I am guessing--but far from being sure--this arrangement added some stiffness to the calipers. Ultimately I was never a big fan of their brake-pad arangements, but felt I had to join the band-wagon and switched out to NR brakes because I wanted the "full Campy" effect. In any case, the super 68s still hold a soft spot in my heart even though I don't use any at the present. Cheers, Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT
In a message dated 1/27/2004 6:41:52 PM PST, teaat4p@yahoo.com writes:
I don't know enough to discuss. You may be correct. Just reporting what I see - root beer brown or copper colour depending on how artsy once chooses to describe - is uniform across all brake components. Several minor scratches to aluminum do not reveal black nor another colour. But yes, look just fine on the brownish Competition. Now I have to hunt for Universal brake hoods. Maybe baby booties can be trimmed....? Richard Cielec Chicago, Illinois
David Bilenkey <dbilenkey@sympatico.ca> wrote:
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that those Universals were
originally black anodized and have faded. I've had this happen to a number
of black anodized parts. Fine on a brown bike, but it looks odd on a black
bike!
David Bilenkey
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada