Thanks to your care in dating the several components,
I take away a different message, one about the reality of manufacture. A lifetime of witnessing "new" models belies that whether we assembled the bike, or a small or large company does, component parts come from bins of many fabricators, perhaps from many places. The parts of our automobiles share a single model year because there's a single registered date of assembly of the bits and pieces, and a nameplate bearing it.
Further, where better to recognize than at CR that well developed as many of these designs are and were, not much technological change or improvement can be expected in the course of 30 months, the manufacturing date range of your Dura Ace parts?
said Harry, stirred by: Alfredo Marcantonio <alfredo.marcantonio@btinternet.com>'s message of: Monday 17 Sep 07 at 09:50 AM, On: [CR]"Period correct" and a Dura Ace pedal question. [echoed below, in part<=1] -oOo- I must admit to being in awe of people with period correct bicycles. But having spent the weekend, stripping an early Dura Ace groupset from a French 70's road bike, I don't feel quite so inferior.
The bike is like new and I was assured by the old guy who sold it to me that it was just as he had bought it. I am a Campag man and intend to sell the groupset, so with the aim of giving
would-be buyers an accurate description I consulted Mr Sheldon Brown's excellent Dura Ace timeline.
The Crankset is marked AH so is the bottom bracket shaft, and that signifies, August 76. The rear hub is AI, so is one month younger. The front hub is BC which is February 1977, six months younger.
The headset is marked BI which is September 1977. Interestingly , the brakes are both ZJ which I assume means they are October 1975, and pre date the 1976 Dura Ace launch date.
I can't find a mark on the front changer, but the rear changer has CB on the inside of the cage. Which presumably dates it at February 1978.
It all adds up to the fact that bikes aren't always 'born' with contemporary components and whilst this does nothing to detract from the sheer wonderfulness of having 'same year' equipment on a bike,
I now feel a lot better about the rag-tag dating of a lot of my bikes' componentry.
Oddly, the pedals are the one thing that aren't Dura Ace, they are Kyokuto, a very nicely made Campag clone.
Did Shimano launch pedals at the outset? Sheldon Brown' catalogue pics don't seem to show any.
Alfredo Marcantonio Twickemham, Middlesex
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