dacarzi

I constantly see vnitage racing bikes online built up with vintage Campy components that look new or barely used. I understand that components may be seldom ridden or buffed up but what about the NOS? Did Campy produce so much stock that it was purchased and hidden away?

Is some of this stuff counterfeit?

CliffordK

My guess is there are older stores that had the parts stuffed in a back room, then ignored once they had become obsolete.

Or, perhaps some cyclists or teams that had bought spares that never got into use.

The genuine NOS parts can be very much overpriced.

Mad Honk 

My NOS parts certainly are! Smiles, MH

'02 nrs

Asia has been big in hoarding older Campy bits for some time.1 example;

merziac

Being one of if not the most recognized, iconic marque in cycling and given the extreme level of scrutiny it gets whenever anything is called out, especially vintage, it would be well documented if any fakes have presented themselves, they would be outed in short order given the experience and expertise of this crowd.

That being said, I'm no expert and could probably be fooled by a good forgery but many on here could not.

So I've never seen or heard of one, sure it has happened but not often or with much success.

SurferRosa

The fake stuff is usually branded, "Zeus."

OldsCOOL

I have a bike shop friend here in town that had boxes in NIB Campy derailleurs and other parts. Could not believe my eyes what I was seeing. It would be no surprise to see other places like this hidden away from the mainstream of bicycle culture.

As far as condition, you should see the rear derailleur on my’86 Trek 760. No wait, here’s a pic....

nlerner

I thought it was “SunTour.” Oh, wait, that meant a vast performance improvement.

SurferRosa

"Vast"?



I guess for some.

Nemosengineer 

Forgive me father for I have sinned.



: Mike

Kuromori

There's a story that Campagnolo workers used to smuggle small parts out of the factory in their pockets, then assemble franken derailers at home for sale on the gray market.

unterhausen

I see some campagnolo frame parts on ebay that are probably counterfeit. Usually from Eastern European sellers. I have some "Campagnolo" dt shifters that I bought that had been panto'd to the extent that you couldn't see any branding. Pretty sure they are copies, not the real thing. Bike dealer had a box full of them

John E

I can believe that some distributors and shops ended up with surplus components whenever a paradigm shift, as to index shift or to freehub/cassettes, took place and made the older stuff "obsolete."

bulgie 

While not exactly counterfeit, there were black market Campy parts (typically derailers) assembled by employees stealing one little part at a time, then assembling them in a cottage industry and selling them under the table. These have been dubbed "Barbershop" components due to a story (maybe even true) that a barber shop in Vicenza is where you would go to buy the black market parts.

The resulting parts sometimes had slight differences from real Campy products, like mismatched vintages. One example is the 1973 Super Record rear mechs, that many experts agree were not made that early. Maybe someone just took a NR top knuckle stamped Patent 73 and got it black-anodized, riveted it together to make a derailer, and stuck in some later titanium bolts to make something more collectible -- an "early prototype", ownership of which would put you in the "in crowd".

Here's my modest example, a Rally top knuckle riveted to a Nuovo Record mech. With SR pulley cage, and titanium bolts top and bottom. The Rally top knuckle was NOS and had never been assembled into a derailer before, purchased as a replacement part. Not smuggled out of the factory illegally -- that I know of!


Mark B in Seattle

bulgie 

Oops I didn't see your post when I was writing mine or I would have credited you with the story.

-Mark

Mr. Spadoni 

That, combined with the fact that inventory systems then aren’t what they are now, that distributors had to take gambles on inventory because of inflation and currency fluctuations, and that when Campy reached the end of their golden era, nobody wanted to buy a road bike, meant that there was a lot of product that is only now seeing the light of day

Last ride 76 

I wondered how the 1st Gen RDs kept getting older and older. I just got a pat 71 NR. Maybe time to put all these fools out of business, by building it/exposing as fake.
​​​​​​ I have owned a number of the 1975 SR derailleurs. My favorite of all time. 2nd- Huret late edition (drilled cage) jubilee, 3rd-Suntour early black cyclone. Sorry, going off topic. True counterfeit of old alu castings hard to do, and not worth the effort.
New carbon stuff, I'm sure it's being done. Like with frames, etc.

Heck, CT DDs said no $50 or $100 will be accepted, too many fakes... Wonder if it's true or just that they don't like idea of having to keep so much cash in register for change.

Drillium Dude 

I'll just leave this here...



DD

cudak888 

I put a Rally together like that 11 years ago, but never actually rode it. Chain was too long too.

As such, I have to ask - how does it shift?


​​​​​​
Do they come black anodized and can I get one in 48t for my Raleigh Sports?

-Kurt

P!N20

There’s a good blog post on the subject over at Velo Aficionado: https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/velo...s%3fformat=amp

Bad Lag

"I built it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime,..."

-- Johnny Cash --

qcpmsame 

I watch Boulder Bikes for their specials on Campagnolo bits and small items, they buy from bike stores and collections that come up. Got a few good deals on a some obscure pieces there. Their emails are good to keep with what's hitting the market a little ahead of the ebay listings they have.

Those Rally top knuckle, and NR body, RD are tempting to try and make myself. How well do they work?

Bill

Darth Lefty 

Every factory has stories like that, probably. Ours do.

Jeff Wills

Yes. Euro-Asia Imports buys up surplus stock in addition to what they bought for their own stock years ago. The last time I visited there were still boxes of parts that I had sealed up when I worked there... decades ago.

Chombi1 

Contrary to what some believe, Campy did make lots of their deralleurs for so many years......Especially the NR.
And I am never surprised when NOS ones regularly come up for sale.