American Friend
Retro Guru
They're a laff,, aren't they?
The dodgy world of used ("vintage") bike parts
- Thread starter American Friend
- Start date
American Friend
Retro Guru
I know where you're coming from. The precision of the old Record components, when they were new, was incredible. Yet somehow a pristine NOS rear mech has turned up in the UK thirty years later with play in the top pivot bolt. What's your explanation?
I have noticed that parts from the the same component but from different years apart are not interchangable. Specifically trying to make one decent pair of brake levers from two scratched pairs. Maybe thats due to tooling changes. Maybe you have say a mech from 1970 and a bolt from 1986. Maybe try the bolt in a different mech and the mech with a different bolt.... :?
American Friend
Retro Guru
Ah, you have a good point there. If it was the seller who mixed a NOS pivot bolt from a different production run with a NOS mech body, it was pretty devious then to describe it as NOS and stick one those original paper tabs on the pivot bolt. Hmmm, this is a plausible explanation.
Now if I could just find another top pivot bolt from a PAT.83 body or another PAT.83 body to test this theory.
Now if I could just find another top pivot bolt from a PAT.83 body or another PAT.83 body to test this theory.
American Friend
Retro Guru
no scratches on the pivot bolt, but I like the rest of your theory.
edit: I see what you mean. scratched and then replaced with another NOS pivot bolt. I think you must be right.
edit: I see what you mean. scratched and then replaced with another NOS pivot bolt. I think you must be right.
Well there wouldn't be if the scratched bolts have been replaced.
Alternately maybe our expectation of what is a tight tolerance have changed down the years? Just checked both my NR mechs (sadly for your test a 75 & a 76) and they both have a bit of play on the pivot.
Alternately maybe our expectation of what is a tight tolerance have changed down the years? Just checked both my NR mechs (sadly for your test a 75 & a 76) and they both have a bit of play on the pivot.
Simplex
Retro Guru
I've got a pair of Campag Record pedals where, if you remove the dustcaps, you can see that the one bearing cup is about 2mm further into the pedal body than the the other pedal.
I mentioned this to a certain old campy dealer near Dorset and he said he had a museum of Campag parts that should never have left the factory.
American Friend
Retro Guru
I wouldn't be surprised to find a bit of play in a used mech, but I am sure they didn't have this amount of play when new. Unfortunately, I don't have another NOS mech to compare it with. I assume both of yours are used?
