ilikebikes

Am I right when I say higher end Gipiemme Cronos is basically the same quality as Campy?

T-Mar

It all deoends on which specific Gipeiemme Crono group and which specific Campagnolo group you are comparing.

ilikebikes

Gipiemme Cronos Sprint compared to any similiar Campy group of the era. (1982ish)

ilikebikes

anybody?

ilikebikes

Man has this place changed. =0(

auchencrow

I think your question was a little too esoteric for most of us.

Chombi

Maybe similar quality at the high end, but Gipiemme will always be considered by C&V "officionados" as the poorer cousin to Campagnolo. Anyway, how could they expect to gain repect from their Italian peers if they would stoop as low as selling re-branded French stuff like Simplex derailleurs and Stronglight Cranks under their brand name.....really.......
And then there's that other poor cousin Ofmega.........
Seriously, there's nothing wrong with Gipiemme or Ofmega components. It just all comes down to perception of values.

Chombi

Captain Blight

The fit and finish of all two GPM Chronos cranksets I've looked at has been Campy-quality.

RobbieTunes

I think it's just fine. There were many "poor cousins" to Campy that were better in many views:

Ofmega's Mistral crankset
Universal's AER brakeset
Gipiemme's seat posts
Ofmega Sintesi/Avocet's version pedals

There's a guy in Chicago that likes to put together all-Italian bikes with no Campy components.
His stuff is great.

fietsbob

Used a GPM special triple which is a bit better than the Campag 1048/5 triple . [imho]
they left more metal in the spider arm and blind drilled and tapped it for an 86bcd third ring.
so instead of 36t only, there are other possibilities ..
that is if you can find any 86mm bcd (a stronglight pattern) chainrings ..
I built up [80's]a wide-double, and put a polished Campag Chainguard on the outside.
used the Campag triple BB just fine..

unworthy1

we live to disappoint...you're welcome.
I haven't seen enough of any Cronos Sprint stuff to say how it compares with Campy of the same era, but there must have been something shared since Gipiemme did contract building of some parts for the Big C, or the other way around...it's all very hush-hush. Only expert opinion I saw was that GPM definitely made one BB for Campy, but others insist that Campy built some shifters and RDs for GPM.
Maybe Citoyen du Monde can straighten this out...he personally knows all those guys.

thirdgenbird

it is lighter. hopefully i can tell you how it rides this spring.

T-Mar

I'd rate a 1982 Cronosprint group between Nuovo Gran Sport and Nuovo Record. The standout piece is the rear derailleur which is from the Cronospecial line and performs better than any Campagnolo derailleur of the era and may be a rebranded Ofmega. Some people don't like the aethestics of the aero-styled crankset, which looks out of place for an Italiian group of the era.

Kanegon

way over my head... have never caressed Italian gruppo. destroyed a campy RD once, melted like butter, it didn't like the rest of my beater setup (Sugino/Huret/Suntour).

lostarchitect 

Chill, homes.

jimmuller 

I put a Gipiemme fluted seat post on my Bianchi re-build this winter and it looks great. As near as I can tell it holds the saddle in place as well as any other seat post. It hasn't dissolved yet, nor spontaneously changed into a cat.

ilikebikes

Sorry brutha, but thats the way I roll.

Thanks to all for the replies, much appreciated.

753proguy

The Crono Special parts were usually the top level (above Special), and are very nice, although rarely seen. I have a set of Crono Special sidepull brakes on one bike, and they are just about a clone of Campagnolo Super Record, in terms of looks, and finish (and even have the cammed quick-release). I've never seen another set like them, though. Sprint was the bottom of the line, I think, though still quite decent stuff. Crono Sprint would be just above Sprint, I guess. Then there was Dual Sprint, etc., etc. Too many levals, in my opinion, that were mostly a maketing thing, probably....

They had many levels, most of which were about at the Campy Gran Sport level (or lower) in terms of price point. Look for Special or Crono Special as the top levels of Gipiemme stuff.

Peter_B

The time period for Crono[something] is after 1980.

The Cronospecial group was at the top. The Special group was started after Cronospecial group, and was a step down from the Cronospecial group. The Special group shared most parts with the Cronospecial group except for pedals and brakeset which were specific to each group.

Below those groups and depending on the years, there was Cronosprint, Cronospint Economy, Sprint groups.

Chombi

Crono Sprint "Economy"??? That's a weird name to use, kinda a self put-down even for a lower model component. It screams "Cheap!". Reminds me of that bike called "Semi-Pro" (It's either a Pro or not a pro, what the heck does Semi mean in that context??)...... Not good for sales IMO. Why don't they just use something nicer to hear like "GT" or "Strada" or "Deluxe" or "Sport"...or give it a City's name like Addidas does on their shoes or a model number like Look did on their pedals... but don't cheapen your product's name if you do not have to. Campagnolo would never name a component "Economy". And we wonder why Gipiemme does not get any respect??
Sorry, End of the week retrogrouch rant, I guess.....

Chombi

Mr IGH

I installed it back in the day, it was a very small step up from Zeus in fit and finish (not good). We used to say, "Gipiemme out of my money".

Chombi

I did notice that a lot of Zeus components look kinda....uhmmm........"primitive". But many rave about the Zeus 2000 line though, and from what I have seen, the 2000s look pretty nice.


Chombi

Oldpeddaller

Give us a chance mate, some of us have a time zone difference and were asleep or at work when you posted!

Gipiemme - at the minimum it makes an interesting alternative to Campagnolo. For those of us lucky enough to have a garage stuffed with Campagnolo equipped bikes, this is important to stop us from going to the Dark Side! Seriously, I've been building with Suntour lately and am impressed - but "Sh*tman* would be a step too far! Haven't managed to get any Gipiemme yet, but Ofmega Vantage is definitely as good as my Chorus group of the same era - but a bit lighter and a little shinier too!

753proguy

I like Zeus stuff (at least, the non-junky stuff, like Criterium or 2000-level stuff, for example), but yes, the precision was generally not up to Campagnolo's level, to say the least. The funniest thing is that Zeus used to insist that it was in fact Campagnolo that had copied their parts. Um, yeah, right, whatever you say, guys.

That said, I think that the design of the Zeus 2000 freewheel is brilliant - one body makes 5/6/7-speeds, only the last (single or double) cog threads on, whereas the rest slide onto a single spline diameter (like a cassette, basically, but this was pre-cassettes), and the bodies are nearly bullet-proof. The cogs, well, not so much, but then neither were the Winner alloy cogs, or most other alloy cogs in the mid-1970s, for that matter. And a Zeus 2000 freewheel makes a really nice 'clack' when you coast....

ilikebikes

I read that ealier Gipiemme were just rebadged Simplex.