My blind, mostly deaf bike shop friend….
 

He strikes again! Calls me up, says he was doing some cleaning and next time I'm in rural Oregon, stop by say hi.

I know he likes his crisp German wines, so grab a nice Kabinet and head his way.

Not sure if he is open for biz or taking on new repairs at this point, but I sat there chatting with him as he installed a hydraulic disc brake set all by feel.

He hands me a box. Says $150. Full of goodies, some I can use on vintage projects, some I will sell to pay for my hobby.

Once again, he didn't disappoint. Once again I felt obligated to give him more money.

I wanted to pay him more but he wouldn't hear of it. My plan was to put a couple of bills into his til, but I know the loud "DING" when opened would give me away.

His good friend Jack came in to see him. He is also going deaf but his eyesight is great. I wrote a note of my intentions, but he read the thing out loud (damn him).

Finally, with Jack ringing me up for some campy hub oil plug springs, I put my finger to my lips in the international "SHHHH!!!" symbol and while the register was open, I personally lifted the spring in the tray and tossed in more $$.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...178a7ae57.jpeg
Honestly, a lot of trading stock. I’m happiest about the skewer, the chains and the cables. No more filing down derailleur cable to fit our lil campy shifters.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3d77d421c.jpeg
Deltas. Another set. But this time w/o the 3.5 mm Allen wrench. Waaaah! (Like the guy who recently won the lottery when asked how he felt, replied….”great, now I have to pay taxes”
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2a47c5a0f.jpeg
8 speed in the box. I suspect the brifter/shifters from our last visit pair with these. What am I to do with one record brift lever?? Dunno. Pignoni? Pine cone?
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9844f10b4.jpeg
Specialized hubs?!?!? I did mention he was blind.

Holy hell. NOS Deltas, 8 speed Campy cluster and Regina chains? Epic haul. The other stuff in great condition is a cherry on top.

I think he must have stopped with Campy in 1986, because to me that's when so much of his stuff is from.

Wikipedia…thanks for nothing. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pignoni

(didn't mean for this to be gigantic. Size is not for emphasis. :lol:)

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9e0f52ee3b.png

Standing by for the 35-year-long Delta brake supply chain issue to resolve and a market correction to ensue.

The Silca is only thing in that pile I could actually put to use.

Wow. Just, wow. That's a tandem hub, by the way. Those Deltas should fetch over $400 by themselves.

Added: I should mention that the tandem hub, while beautiful and strong, uses a special bearing that is apparently 100% unavailable, as there is no standard bearing that it cross references to. Thank you, Campagnolo. Oh, and 3.5 mm hex keys are widely available these days.

Well, I don’t own a tandem so that I guess that will be the first thing I will post online. There was actually a set of hubs that had the same size spindle. I don’t know the word you use to put the campy cassette on. But again they were so modern I took them out of the box and put them on back on his shelf for someone else to enjoy.

[QUOTE=sbarner;22767187]Wow. Just, wow. That's a tandem hub, by the way.

Added: I should mention that the tandem hub, while beautiful and strong, uses a special bearing that is apparently 100% unavailable, as there is no standard bearing that it cross references to. Thank you, Campagnolo.

Hey, You know much more about Campy than me. What is this hub called so I can market it correctly? I don't know enough to even look it up.

BTW, I have friends in the aerospace industry. No such thing as bearings that are unobtainium. Won a bet and a bottle of Pappy last time someone challenged me.
Thanks
Robert

The tandem cassette hub is shown on the last page of the 1992 road range catalog.

look here

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2...talog.pdf.html

[QUOTE=Robvolz;22767241]I'm pretty sure it didn't have a name beyond "Tandem." The tandem group was based on the mountain bike groups at the time. and was made only for a few years in the early 1990s. It enjoyed about the same level of success as the MTB components, which is to say not much. I think the first version was released in 1990 and based on the Olympus and/or Centaur groups, both of which included very similar-looking cranksets. Both front and rear tandem hubs were different from anything else in the line, with heavier duty bearings and larger diameter axles. Spoking options were 40 and 48-hole. I have seen a very similar cassette hub with 32 holes and spaced for 135 mm, so it must have been spun as a mountain bike hub at one point. If yours doesn't have 40 or 48 holes, then I'm all wet and what you have is one of these MTB versions, though the ones I've seen also had bolts, not a QR.

The model number for the rear hub was FH-00TD and it was only available in 140 mm width. The knurled ring on the left side is a protector for a threaded section. This is the same thread as used by freewheels and track cogs, but it is for an optional drag brake, common for tandems at the time. The most popular was the Arai drum brake, a heavy unit that was intended not to stop the bike, but to slow it down on long descents. It will also fit the Phil Wood disk brake, but those are rare today and the discs used contain asbestos. Shimano and probably others offered disc setups for these threaded tandem hubs before the current standards were implemented. Tandems East lists adapters to fit modern discs to these threaded hubs. I don't know how difficult it is to get these to match up with modern caliper mounts.

Here's a link to a scan of the tandem components from the 1992 catalog. I don't think there were any changes in the line over the few years it was offered, other than that the first hub version was for threaded freewheels. https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site...ge_scan_8.html I have a set on a tandem -- not my wisest purchase -- and all I can say is that it is very pretty stuff that is so hard to find parts for that it should be displayed, not ridden.

I just checked the link to the '92 road catalog that Robvolz posted and it looks like I was wrong about the tandem hub only being available with 40 and 48 holes. They also show it with 32 or 36 holes. I imagine that the 135 mm version was sold for mountain bikes (though there were some tandems with 135 mm spacing) and 140 mm indicates tandem use. I doubt there was any difference in the internals of the two versions, just axle length and spacer width on the left side to reduce wheel dish on tandems.

Before I move it to the sales section, if anyone is interested in the tandem hub, message me

Unobtanium is a ficticious element, so rare and expensive as to be impossible to find.

Great... So very pretty... You could put these in a viewing box and hang um on the wall...

Gugie throws down, "Unobtanium is a ficticious element, so rare and expensive as to be impossible to find."


I'm not illiterate. My parents were married!!!

I guess I was offering to help someone find bearings if they aren't available through normal outlets.

Robert "Chuckles"
Portland

Speaking in tongues.

>> I'm not illiterate. My parents were married!!!

Excellent.
I shall add that to my repertoire. 😎

Another variation I have heard was "Supertanium". It was used to describe some high-strength, virtually unbreakable, bolts. I never saw the bolts in question, so I have no idea what they were actually made from.

I was curious on current pricing for this. A few used sets went for $300-$400. This non-NOS set with a box went for $500 + shipping. With good pics and good text, OP's set would probably go for more. https://www.ebay.com/itm/37420042827...Bk9SR7qY8924YQ

Side note/hijack, look at these guys! I've never seen these before. https://www.ebay.com/itm/33459910915...p2047675.l2557

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/VuQAA...xj/s-l1600.png

I think their patent must have expired. There is a bike at the San Rafael re-cyclery for kids…I think it was a PUBLIC, and it had Cane Creek brakes that looked like deltas.