Campagnolo chain rings question

[Squeaker]

Hi, I have recently acquired this gently used 1990/1991 Colnago Spiral Conic SLX which appears in fairly original condition. The chain rings are black, my question is would they have been originally black (anodised) or has someone painted them? I have only ever seen Campag rings in natural alloy finish…..

Thank you

 

[foz]

I have never seen black ones before, and they're too black to be century grey... My guess is they've been painted or anodised. They actually look pretty good though!

 

[Midlife]

Just curious, what's the AS stamp for on the chainring. I can only recall the size being stamped

 

[jim haseltine]

I believe that I once heard that the 'AS' stood for asymmetric. Exactly WHAT is supposed to be asymmetric about them I've no idea. It's not unusual though, the AS stamp appears on loads of chainrings from the early 1990s.

 

[sjcprojects]

I'd say black chainrings in general are not that unusual during that era – I've seen ones by Sugino, for example - though I don't know specifically about Campag ones. I'd just be surprised if someone had bothered to paint them.

By the way, Ergopower shifters were only introduced in 1992 so if this is a 90/91 model, these are a later addition, I think?

 

[synchronicity]

I don't recall black campy rings.
When I wanted black campy chainrings I had to anodise my own.

 

[Squeaker]

Thank you for all the comments, confirming my suspicions! The info on the shifters is useful too, the model was still running in 1992 so perhaps it is a younger model because the gear cables on the bars are wrapped in original the Colnago bar tape

 

[sjcprojects]

This looks to be the exact same bike as yours (exact same paint chips just below the downtube/headtube lug), except with a different saddle, pedals and bar tape. So that's not the original bar tape anyway. Not that it really matters!

 

[foz]

Those matching pedals look great!

 

[Squeaker]

Yes that is the bike. The original Colnago bar tape is actually under the white tape, it is very thin