You're right, the production in Italy was no secret, but I was under the impression that the Italian factory made essentially the same French-designed components that were produced in France, just as later Campy's factory in France made the same components as in Italy, except for the threading, of course.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> wrote:
Peter Kohler wrote:
>
(cut)
> But you gotta really put the blinkers on if you're excluding France, of all
> countries, in the equation. Amazing, really. These are the people that call
> it the TdF so they don't have to use the word. I am pretty sure Coppi,
> Bartali ecc. rode to victory with Simplex derailleurs. But someone will tell
> me they were really designed by Italians and secretly made there.
Hope you're sitting down Peter...
Simplex had a factory in Italy and Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi won their Simplex-equipped races on Italian made Simplex.
"Simplex Catalog, Italian Edition, 1950 -- 20 pages covering the following derailleurs: Champion Du Monde, Tour De France 1948, Tour De France 1949, Tour De France Competition 1950, and the Competition front changer. Also a picture of the complete "Gruppo Speciale Corsa Simplex" in its box! Catalog pictures Coppi winning 1949 TdF on Simplex. The color cover is the famous Art Deco Simplex poster! $ 12"
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA http://www.velo-retro.com (Reprints, Timelines, and T-shirts on line)
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