ehcoplex 

OK, yeah, I know, probably just about any other long-cage derailleur will shift better....... But I got this Rally with a recent basket-case purchase, and I probably ought to eBay it (and make back most of what I paid for said basket-case..), but I've got a Holdsworth Pro build in progress and, well, Holdsworth & Campy, so I at least want to give it a try (before I likely retreat back to the smoothness of Suntour). This is actually the first Campy derailleur I've ever owned- and I'm impressed by how beautifully it cleaned up. BUT..... I can't figure out how the upper pivot is supposed to be re-assembled. I assume the spring needs to be 'loaded' somehow (though I don't recall it being so when I disassembled things....), but how? Anyway, any tips/tricks appreciated..

I know this isn't assembled right, I just stuck it together so I wouldn't lose the circlip. Yeah, there obviously was some sort of chain mis-hap at some point in the past, what with the 'abrasion' on the inner cage...


And this one, just because it's a really nice looking mech...

roadcrankr

I think that may be a 2nd gen...
Quite possibly, Campagnolo jumped the gun on the parallelogram design, without Suntour's permission.
Suntour probably forced Campy to pull it off the market.
My recollection is a bit cloudy on this, since I was not part of the tourist scene back then.

ehcoplex 

I think it's something like 'version 1.2' (with the reinforcement webbing on the drop neck)- second gen actually went back(wards?) to the straight parallelogram. Seems counter intuitive, but from what I've gathered it was market pressure that made Campy revert from the drop back to the straight para.

ehcoplex 

Actually I think I figured it out- I have to remove the tiny screw at about 7 o'clock in the above picture, rotate the tabbed bit counter-clockwise against the spring, and put the screw back in...... looks like it's gonna be fun.....!

bulgie 

No, Suntour's patent was on the slant pantograph, and the Campy doesn't slant, not in that Suntour way. The Campy is a near copy of a Shimano Crane, which (like the Campy and unlike the Suntour) had a dropped parallelogram and two sprung pivots. Suntour's upper pivot had no spring back then.

I have assembled Rally top pivots a few times but I don't remember the trick. I'm pretty sure you take out the small setscrew, wind up the chrome plate to preload the spring, then put the screw back in while holding the preload with some lever, probably a screwdriver. Pretty sure you do all this with the circlip in place, no need to remove it.

My advice is try it and see! I'm 90% certain that the preload isn't a full turn, it's some fraction of a turn.

Let us know what you find as you mess with it. I have a Rally that's not on a bike, that I could use to refresh my memory. It's actually a Nuovo Record that has had its upper pivot knuckle replaced with a Rally sprung-pivot knuckle. Here's a Flickr album about it, which I've posted here before, but some folks may not have seen it. Titanium pivot bolts by Jim Merz too!

EDIT: Ha, I took so long to write my expo, that OP found the answer in the meantime.

Mark B

ehcoplex 

Yep, I can see how it's supposed to go- but it's too late/I'm too tired to futz with it right now.

That NR/Rally mashup is cool, and great that it handles 31T- the shorter cage sure is 'sportier' looking than the long.

I really should just sell this Rally and stick with the 1st gen Cyclone GT I've got for the build, but.....

merziac

Wait, what, I thought all Rally's exploded at the smallest hint of any derailment or jamb up, that looks like enough rash to destroy a dozen Rally's by conventional wisdom.

repechage

this one has the revision- more material so stronger. Really wished way back they had made the upper frame out of aluminum, I guess just as punishment for the tourists, but lighter than the batlith.

merziac

Yeah, I get that but plenty of folks seem to think even they are crap and I have seen failures with them too so....

ehcoplex 

What is the upper part made of?

JohnDThompson 

Not, that's 1st gen., with the late production gusset on the neck. Second generation was little more than a long cage bolted onto a Nuovo Record derailleur, no sprung upper pivot:

SunTour's patent was for the slant parallelogram, not the dropped parallelogram, nor did SunTour derailleurs have a sprung upper pivot, but Shimano derailleurs had both a sprung upper pivot and a dropped (but not slanted) parallelogram. Thus, the Rally derailleur was closer to a Shimano Crane GS than to any SunTour derailleur. I don't know if Shimano played any part in Campagnolo's reversion to the plain parallelogram. It's quite likely that it was just a cost-saving move on Campagnolo's part.

repechage

pretty sure a version of Zamak
an alloyed zinc- casts readily, good detail
as seen by the Campagnolo lettering.
brittle and if internal voids are present, even more so.
way back when I saw the first version of the Rally- I thought that was a weak region.

good candidate for a 3D printed replacement out of titanium. Silca USA does ti 3D printing in house btw.

repechage

wonder if Shimano issued a cease and desist letter?

tiger1964 

Considering the resemblance that other Shimano products (frankly, Sugino was worse) had to Campy's designs, that might have been opening a big can o' worms.

The Crane GS was a graceful design, aesthetically no flaws. If I had figured out how to get enough chain tension out of it BITD, I'd probably still be using it -- instead it put me off Japanese components for almost half a century.

ehcoplex 

I read somewhere that it was European 'market pressure' that caused Campy to revert to the straight para design- customers apparently deemed it 'too Japanese' looking.

JohnDThompson 

If so, you have to wonder why they didn't issue one against Simplex as well:

repechage

have to look at the patent dates, Simplex was later by 3-4? Years?

ehcoplex 

And another question...... why is there (sometimes) a plastic, horn shaped bit on the high-limit screw....?

merziac

Not sure but always thought they were a guide to help keep the screwdriver on the screw or keep it from scarring the derailleur if it slipped off.

bulgie 

To sell in the US, they had to accept the sometimes-moronic changes demanded by the CPSC. CPSC apparently thought that exposed screw was going to, well, screw you up. Somehow.

ehcoplex 

of course- I should’ve assumed such! So if I take it off it’ll be more ‘euro’!

tiger1964 

...and sell it eventually on eBay for $$$$.

ehcoplex 

Yes, I'm already making this a centerpiece of my retirement fund. Well, actually, right now it's probably the only piece of said 'fund'......

Mad Honk 

here is the way it should look:

Smiles, MH