Mushrooom

Title says it all. I read a lot of stuff about them but still have trouble making the difference between the two. Would be really grateful if someone could help me out.

Here are some pictures:

Chombi1 

Uhmmm......those are not monoplanar brakes.....
One of the arms on the caliper needs to go through a slot on the other caliper arm for it to be a monoplanar design. That's what essentially makes monoplanar brakes, different from other side pull brakesets. The stubby, rounded looking caliper ends are the only feature that Campy monoplanars share with this brakeset.
Google "Chorus monoplanar brakes" to see pics of what monoplanar should look like.
BTW, Campagnolo expanded the monoplanar design from the Chorus gruppo to the Athena line after about a couple if years as the Chorus Gruppo only feature. It was the typical trickle down technology practice that Campagnolo did in the late 80's and into the 90's. That's why it is sometimes hard to determine what gruppo some components came from. Campagnolo did revise the caliper arm end shapes on their monoplajars as the moved it down their model lines though. The change wasn't that obvious, and you usually have to have both caliper models next to each other to spot the differences.

Mushrooom

Ohhh shüt. I get it. I was way off base here!! Do you happen to know what group and/or era these are from?

Chombi1 

Not sure, but it could be early Athena? See my added info above regarding later monoplanar Athenas.

Mushrooom

They look very much like Athenas D500, so that must be it... Mine weight ~375g though.

VeloBase.com - Component: Campagnolo D500, Athena

Spaghetti Legs 

One difference, which I can’t see in your pictures, between the Chorus and Athena, is the anchor point for the spring. Chorus has a grooved round roller fitting (see the Chorus brakes in the For Sale section) and Athena has a fixed lip.

P!N20

Yeah I'd agree with that. Although not strictly Monoplaner, they still have the fat arms that made the Monoplaners look cool.

Mushrooom

They look pretty darn cool if you ask me!

Wileyone 

:Look cool and weigh a ton.

Spaghetti Legs 

Mushrooom

Surprisingly enough, they weight just a little bit more than my 2nd generation chorus calipers. My scale isn't very precise, so don't quote me on that, but I couldn't tell the difference just by holding them in my hands. Here goes them photos:

Wileyone 

On my last "parts bin" build I had the choice between Chorus Mono's and Suntour Cyclone's The Cyclones were almost 50 grams lighter. And had releases on them.

SurferRosa

Hey, @mushroom, you probably know this, but an easier way to store these without losing the barrel adjuster is to remove the adjusting nut and then thread it at the bottom after the barrel is inserted in the brake.

Chombi1 

"Weight weenieism" was definitely not in Campagnolo's design agenda back in the mid to late 80's. My Delta calipers are about twice the weight of my Spidel sidepulls! A lot of their then new slant parallelogram RDs had big solid chunks of aluminum at the pivots that also weighed them down.
Campy rims were also typically heavier than a lot of other rims in the market.

Chombi1 

One thing I really like about Monoplanars and these similar looking Campy late 80's sidepulls brakes are the steep cantenary arch design of the calipers. They seem to tuck in nicely against the profile of the frame tubes, giving them a nice, modern aero look. Older side pull calipers look "bow legged" in comparison.

SJX426 

I too like the looks of them. In my case the curve of the pad mount arm nearly lines up with the fork crown. the have substance without being overbearing like the Deltas.

P1010581, on Flickr

P1010557, on Flickr

fietsbob

Go back a few years and there was no Chorus group or Athena either..

SurferRosa

Did the Chorus group ever offer calipers like the op's, or were the Chorus brakes that looked like the op's only monoplanars?

If only monoplanars, I would like to know that the op's calipers (and all that look like them) are Athena, not Chorus.

Yes, it's difficult to differentiate between the two groups! Makes telling the differences between Triomphe and Victory a piece of cake!

semroc

Those are Athena. I have those on my Guerciotti. I used to think they were just okay brakes. Then I put new, modern cables and housing on em and they got surprisingly better. They work well. Beautiful calipers.

P!N20

Nope.

That's correct.

They are Athena D500's because the arms don't intersect each other.

Not really, Athena Monoplaners usually have 'Athena' printed on them, but it's worth noting there were Mirage and Veloce Monoplaners too.

SurferRosa

@P!N20, thank you, sir!