Well this is my final permitted post for the day, but this discussion brings up a question I don't think I've heard addressed in any of the past threads.
Did Spense Wolfe and others begin their homebrew long cage conversions of Nuovo Records before Campy ever introduced the factory-produced Rally, as I've always assumed? If so, where the heck did they get the cage plates? I mean, the previous Campy long cage RD was the Gran Tourismo, which appeared at least on the Schwinn touring Paramount up through about 1971 or 1972. But the jockey cage plates on the Gran Tourismo bore absolutely no resemblence (thank God) to the later homebrewed or factory produced Rallys. So where did Spence et al get the long cage plates to convert the NR's? And if the factory-produced Rally was already available at the time, then why did these guys go to the trouble of converting NR's?
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Kurt Sperry <haxixe@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Campy Rally Variations??
> To: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Monday, May 4, 2009, 1:32 PM
> Not in chronological (or any other sort of) order, but
> here's a
> collection of Rally pics showing all the variants I'm
> familiar with.
> I would assume that those "Rally"s with the Nuovo
> Record front pieces
> aren't factory as it's a dead simple mod to perform
> to a Nuovo or
> Super Record unit. But still only, an assumption.
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/
>
> Kurt Sperry
> Bellingham, Washington
> USA
>
>
> 2009/5/4 Jerome & Elizabeth Moos
> <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>:
> >
> > I was taking inventory a bit this weekend and
> confirmed that in addition to several of the most familiar
> horizonal parallelogram Rallys, mostly installed on bikes, I
> do have one drop parallelogram Rally, which is essentially a
> Nuovo Record with a long cage. In fact mine is marked
> Nuovo Record, not Rally.
> >
> > At one time I thought these NR-type Rallys were
> homebrews, Spense Wolfe being the most famous "home
> brewer". But there seem too many of them for that,
> and I think it has been confirmed that in fact Rallys of
> this type were produced by the Campy factory. Can anyone
> confirm that some of the factory-produced Rallys were
> actually marked Nuovo Record like mine, or does this marking
> indeed indicate a homebrew? Also, I had initially thought
> the NR-type Rallys would have been earlier than the
> horizonal parallelogram type, sort of a transition from the
> homebrews to proper Rallys. But some past posters seem to
> indicate that in fact the NR-type was later, perhaps to
> address problems with some of the horizonal parallelogram
> ones breaking just below the upper pivot.
> >
> > Does anyone have a link to a complete timeline of
> Rallys, ideally with photos? Finally can anyone compare
> the performance of the more familiar horizonal parallelogram
> Rally with the NR-type drop parallelogram Rally? I've
> not yet used my NR type, but I would assume it would not
> shift as well as the more familiar version, both because the
> more familiar one had a sprung upper pivot and because the
> horizonal parallelogram should have less variation in the
> distance between FW and jockey wheels, though not as good as
> the true slant parallelogram, on which SunTour still had a
> patent at the time the Rally and the similar design Shimano
> Crane were introduced.
> >
> > Despite the issues with some breaking, I consider the
> horizonal parallelogram Rally by far the best shifting Campy
> RD in the classic era, and probably the greatest advance in
> Campy RD history, aside from the replacement of the old
> rod-type rear gears with cable operated parallelogram
> RD's in the 50's. This Rally was particularly
> impressive when contrasted with it predecessor, the half-ton
> Gran Tourismo.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jerry Moos
> > Big Spring, Texas, USA
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >
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> >
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