Conference noted::bicycle

591.0. "Nuovo Record" by CIMNET::MJOHNSON (Matt Johnson) Mon Mar 28 1988 23:24

    As soon as I heard the weathermen predict our first warm Spring
    weekend, I vowed that I would have the bike running in time to enjoy
    it.  My Olmo had been in pieces for three months, waiting for a
    Japanese derailleur part. 

    I gave up on the shop where I had ordered the part, and decided to
    check others. The one in Harvard Square was swarmed with people. I had
    no luck finding the mainspring for the eight-year-old rear derailleur. 

    I told the guy at the parts counter that I didn't have much money to
    spend, but that I needed something good.  "Hey, I've got a deal for
    you," he said, as he pulled out this Campagnolo 990 (Nuovo Record) rear
    derailleur. 

    I laughed -- I hadn't seen one for sale in a long time.  Campy had
    brought out half-a-dozen models since the Nuovo Record -- Chorus, Super
    Record, Victory....  I didn't know they made Nuovo Record any more. 

    Friends described the Nuovo Record derailleur as "a shifter you can
    curse the rest of your life."  Its mechanism is practically
    indestructible, but slow shifting.  Like a green polyester carpet, or a
    clunky Volvo with bad steering, you wish it would wear out, but it
    never does. 

    Since the Nuovo Record was designed, slant parallelogram derailleurs
    have taken over the market.  My previous derailleur, the Suntour
    Superbe, had been one of the first.  Even Campagnolo uses the slant
    parallelogram design, now that Suntour's patent has expired. To be
    offered Nuovo Record derailleur today is like walking into the auto
    dealership and being shown a brand new "leftover" 1977 Fiat.  As you
    drive it home, people stare, and figure that you're a bit nostalgic,
    or just plain out of style.

    But I had to admit it was a great deal -- $25. 

    "My drive train has all Dura Ace except for the derailleur," I
    protested, half-heartedly.  "Will the combination work?" 

    Then the lead mechanic walked by, telling me, "Buy it.  I get them for
    all my friends.  We use Dura Ace, too.  You won't regret it." 

    So how could I refuse?  The Nuovo Record looked funny next to the
    Superbe on my apartment floor. The Campy was a big flat block of
    aluminium; the Suntour could have been a medical instrument. 
    
    Screwing the new part onto the frame with a hex key, I thought,
    "Something's wrong."  There were metal shavings coming from the threads
    -- but the bolt was just tight, not misthreaded. Japanese parts never
    did this, and somehow I was impressed, though I wondered whether it was
    close tolerence or poor production quality that was causing the
    shavings. One way or another, the derailleur seemed there to stay. 

    "Damn it!" I said, when I realized that the cable binder bolt wasn't
    hex. I'd have to carry an extra wrench now when I rode. It also hit me
    that in less that ten minutes, I had already sworn at the derailleur. I
    began to wonder whether I had bought an eternal curse. 

    Then I considered how often I had ridden without tools, and how if I
    had a problem with a cable slipping, not many people would have a
    metric hex key to help, but lots would have pliers or a crescent
    wrench.  A strong enough cyclist might even be able to tighten it
    enough to get home without tools.  Was high-tech or old fashioned the
    better approach?  I began to have some doubts. 

    It had started to rain outside, but after three months without a bike,
    I had to at least take the Olmo around the block.  I had forgotten how
    fast criterium slicks were -- I blasted along, shifting frantically
    through the Harvard Square traffic.  Five minutes later, soaked,
    carrying the bike back up the three floors to my apartment, it finally
    dawned on me that I had just test-ridden my new derailleur. 

    I tried to remember the way it shifted, but I couldn't.  It had already
    become subconscious for me.  I had felt so totally secure about the
    shifting from the beginning of the ride that I had needed to think only
    of how fast the tires had been, and how the traffic was unused to bikes
    this early in the year.  My visions of grind...clunk shifting had been
    totally unfounded. 
    
    I'm sure that for people who never had to shift friction systems, SIS
    is genuinely superior, but as one who had been using derailleurs since 
    the age of seven, Nuovo Record is the kind of shifting I need.  It made 
    me resentful to consider the story I had been sold about the stone age
    Nuovo Record -- and how I had nearly laid out almost a hundred bucks on
    a new Dura Ace derailleur.  My blind belief in progress nearly cost me
    $75! 
    
    I went fifty miles Sunday; my first good ride of the year.  I'm not
    throwing my old Suntour derailleur away, but I'm not worried now about
    when the part comes in....

    I've been riding with a Nouvo Record for 13 years and you're right
    about two things: it shifts slow; and it won't wear out!

    
    	Well, they're still winning races on 'em, so they can't shift
    THAT slow.
    
    	Reg	{got one on the Vitus}
    

    
    
    I dunno.......your description sounds more like
    the old  campy Gran sport. The nouvo record was nicely
    macined with fancy detailling on the body.
    
    and then there was the Campag Valentino.......'nuff said.
    
    Chris
    

    Hey, what you got against '77 Fiats???

    RE .3
    
    You're right -- I saw a bike with a Nuovo Record derailleur this
    weekend.  It was definitely different.  This one's even older.

    I've recently acquired a bike with a Campagnolo Gran Sport rear
    derailleur on it. As far as friction shifting goes, it's good, but I've
    got indexed gears on another bike and I've become used to changing
    gears without having to feel for the position. The upshot is that I'm
    (almost afraid to say this) changing to indexing... Is this heresy?
    
    On a different tack, this same bike has a Stronglight chainset on it
    that I don't much like. A local bikeshop here has a Campagnolo Triomphe
    chainset and bottom bracket going for �49 and I'm very tempted, it
    looks beautiful. Does anyone know anything about Triomphe components,
    like is that a good price?
    
    Rod

    Hi,
    
    I don't think that anything you do with a bike is heresy.  It depends
    on how old your Gran Sport derailleur is.  If it is less than 5
    years old then it is basically an ugly Record and there are good
    derailleurs.
    
    Joe

.7>    I don't think that anything you do with a bike is heresy.  It depends
.7>    on how old your Gran Sport derailleur is.  If it is less than 5
.7>    years old then it is basically an ugly Record and there are good
.7>    derailleurs.

    Well, it's ugly all right... It's about the five-year-old mark, and
    it's stamped "Nuovo Gran Sport" - does that identify it? No big deal,
    because I've replaced it now. I'll hang on to it though. 
    
    I visited an excellent bike shop in Slough on Saturday, Dave Russell
    Cycles. The guy there sponsors a couple of local triathletes, and seems
    to have attended quite a few continental races, though I'm not sure in
    what capacity. He said a friend of his was Sean Kelly's mechanic, and
    he also related fairly some fairly gruesome stories about one racer of
    a few years back who suffered from boils... something about a kilo
    of dead flesh being scooped from the man's buttocks...
    
    I asked him what he thought of Campy Triomphe, and he was initially
    quite scathing, saying it was bottom-end stuff and made by Gipiemme
    anyway. However he produced one, and even he was forced to admit that
    it was very pretty. He decided that they'd changed the design recently,
    and produced an old Gran Sport chainset to show me what he'd been
    thinking of. It looked rough, like it had been cast in a mould made of
    gravel. The upshot was that I bought the Triomphe chainset. 
    
    If you're ever in Slough, it's a good shop to visit - but don't take
    your money. 
    
    Rod