You wrote: What would be the best gruppo to install on a 50th Anniversary Paramount? C-Record is correct chronologically, but looks way too modern for a vintage style bike.
A kind list member informed me that the 50th Paramount was made in 1988. In my mind this is all the more reason to stay away from the 1983 50th anni Campy group. My suggestion of the earliest DA 7400 is also off base, since that was around in 1985, possibly 1984. By 1988, DA was at least 7-speed, possibly 8-speed. Those groups were excellent mechanically, but I don't think they are quite as historically significant as the earliest (6-speed) group. If the 8-speed had just been introduced in '88, it might be cool on the Paramount of that year just because it was the newest of the new at the time, and had the historical significance of being the first 8-speed group (though that's not a good thing with this crowd). I have to wonder what the spacing is on your Paramount. If is was 130mm, the 8-speed would be reasonable, though not necessary since some 7-speed bikes were 130mm by then. Ultimately I'm guessing that you want something more classic-looking, but my opionion is that 1988 groups, none of which look classic to many of us, are appropriate .
While I think the 7 and 8 speed groups may be out there at bargain prices (stripped from bargain-priced bikes), you may find very late SR more visually appealing, and I know that it was still being sold in '88 because I bought a group from Oschner that year for $500!. There were a lot of little end-of-production details with late SR that make it interesting. Conveniently, some of these details are conspicuous and dilute the original NR/SR asthetic, making the stuff a bit less sought after in the collector market. The no-flute cranks are the most obvious, but there are a few dozen features unique to the late-production SR. It would be cool on your Paramount, but.....
I want to make the case for 1988-or-so C-record. It will be expensive, but I think it would be pretty cool on your Paramount. I know that you think it doesn't look classic, but if you forego the Deltas and use the Cobaltos, as even Campy-sponsored racers often did at the time, the bike will look appropriate for its age, but not like a futurtistic robot. The Cobaltos allowed conventional cable routing (of which many people took advantage in the day) and this contributes greatly to an overall classic appearance. Also, by 1988, C-record Ergo pedals were available, which were a return to the cage pedal after the earlier platform model. So, not only could you retain clips and straps, which are another huge contibutor to the classic asthetic, but you'd have the ultimate incarnation of a conventional (non-platform) Campy pedal.
You said: "Super Record was the last of the "classic" road gruppos..."
I don't see it that way at all. The SR group was the last Campy group within the CR timeframe, but there is barely more cosmetic difference between SR and CR as there was between NR and SR... okay, a little more, but it's mostly the styling of the crank and rear der. Mechanically, early CR was virtually the same as late SR. In support of my opionion that CR was the last "classic" group (whatever that means) consider that pre-1990 CR, and not SR, was the last Campy group to have:
cup and cone BB screw-on hubsfriction shifters downtube shifters
drop parallelogram rear der conventional cable routing single pivot sidepull brakes (cobalto) clip and strap pedals with cage design.
The last 5 items are huge contibutors to the classic asthetic. With these features, even C-record bikes maintain a classic look, at least macroscopically.
In 1988 we wrung our hands about how the new racing bikes looked too modern, not classic. looking at race photos from that time, many rider's bikes still had the 5 items above, in additon to lugged steel construction and box section rims. OS tubes, sloped top tubes, super- deep rims, STI/Ergo, the BIG asthetic differences came well after the arbitrary 1983 end of the classic era. This is not a push to change the list scope, just an observation of when the biggest visual and mechanical changes occurred.
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
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