Sheldon is, strictly speaking, correct of course, but most bike collectors understand that "Tipo hubs" means Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo, grammatically correct or not. In fact "Tipo" is clearer than "Record", which can be used to mean pre-1967 Record, Nuovo Record, Super Record, C-Record or even the latest carbon fibre stuff.
I agree it was sad the Brits gave up their hub standards, but was equally sad the French gave up their metric thread standards at a time when the world had supposedly been moving toward universal adoption of metric standards for several decades already. It seems marketing trumps technical logic every time.
Regards,
Jerry Moos, Big Spring, TX
Sheldon Brown <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com> wrote:
Quoth Ken Freeman:
>First, I don't see too many high-flange sets that are not Tipo.
"Tipo" means "type" or "model." It is not a specific model
designation. You're probably referring to "Nuovo Tipo": "new type."
>the drilling combination is unique.
No, it is far from unique.
32/40 was the standard spoking for British bikes for many decades, ending in the late '60s.
It was actually quite a bit superior to the 36/36 setup used by the rest of the world. The only downside was that people had to deal with two rim drillings.
The resulting wheel pairs weighed exactly the same as 36/36, but they were stronger in practice. (Nobody ever has problems with front wheels, and the extra 4 spokes in back make for a noticeably stronger wheel.)
Generally these even used the same spoke lengths front and rear, because they would be laced cross 4 in back, cross 3 in front.
It was a sad day when the British industry gave up on their superior setup.
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