Something to check out on this bike. I didn't think you should be able to see the chain all the way thru the front derailleur. That would mean the front has at least half of the outer cage gone or it was a poor cut and paste to put a Campy derailleur in the picture.
Steve Leitgen La Crosse, WI
On Aug 3, 2006, at 11:20 AM, Sheldon Brown wrote:
> Jerry Elizabeth Moos wrote:
>> Rich, the graphics on this bike look early to mid-70's, although
>> I've never seen this color scheme before. As far as I'm aware,
>> Grand Records in that era were Reynolds 531 DB (metric gauge) AND
>> 531 forks. I always found this strange, because it meant only the
>> rear stays were not 531 (probably Vitus). Marketing-wise it would
>> have made more sense to just make it all 531 DB, and it couldn't
>> have cost much more.
>
> In the mid-70s all kinds of bike stuff was in very short supply,
> and it's quite possible that they couldn't get the Reynolds stays,
> but had a stockpile of metric main tubes.
>
>> Metric gauge 531 was lighter than English gauge 531 or Columbus,
>> so I would expect the frame to be a bit lighter than a Paramount
>> of the same era.
>> In this era, French frames that were 531 DB throughout typically
>> had half-chromed forks and stays.
>
> In the big Energy Crunch (I always thought that would be a GREAT
> name for a breakfast cereal...) of 1974, the use of chrome plating
> was abandoned by many builders because of the high cost of electric
> power required for the process.
>
> The presence of he crummy Nervar crankset also suggests that this
> bike was made during the great Bike Boom era of shortages.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/
>
> Sheldon "Guessing '74 Or '75" Brown
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> | It is amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too
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