<< I'm curious as to whether Mexico cranks were an officicial Campy modification or a mod. which could be and has been undertaken by any skilled metal worker? Does anyone know the whole story? >>
Don't know the whole story, but "Mexico" cranks were for sure an invention of words of Ernesto Colnago, this to celebrate his somewhat unsung victory with Eddy Merckx's hour bike (See references in the archives to Colnago being robbed of the glory with Windsor decals being appliede to Ernesto's special bikes.)
Mexico cranks etc were definitely not an official Campagnolo deal... Campagnolo officially frowned on these customized parts as the carving away of components reduced the reliability of these items...
Who exactly performed the after market operations on the brakes & cranks? (I think those are the only items treated in the Mexico fashion?) I guess there was a number of after market specialists that the makers could send parts to. I am sure it must have been with some chargrin when Colnago saw other Italian companies use the "Mexico" designation for their similarly machined & polished items..
Or did they? It may be just us using that wording. Did other makers avoid that term "Mexico"? Now that I think back to literature and brochures of that era, I think most other builders did not use that wording. The only exception that comes to mind is Ten Speed Drive describing components that could be bought as part of a Guerciotti bikes they imported...
Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, NC 27408 USA 336-274-5959 http://www.cyclesdeoro.com http://www.classicrendezvous.com Giant, Specialized, Orbea, Bianchi, Felt, Litespeed, Landshark, Colnago, Townie and other exotica. National Bicycle Dealers Association Board member
-----Original Message----- From: Rodney Handsfield <rhandsfield@cox.net> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 00:08:59 -0600 Subject: [CR]Campy Mexico Cranksets
I was looking at the Campagnolo Crankset with "Mexico" treatment at John Barron's excellent gallery site[http://www.velostuf.com/gallery.htm#CRANKSETS] tonight and noticed that the webs in the crank spider were not milled out as I have seen with other Mexico cranksets. I'm curious as to whether Mexico cranks were an officicial Campy modification or a mod. which could be and has been undertaken by any skilled metal worker? Does anyone know the whole story? Has anyone tried making Mexico cranks? Rodney Handsfield, Wichita, KS. - rode my Falcon fixie today