The dodgy world of used ("vintage") bike parts

[American Friend]

They're a laff,, aren't they?

 

[Midlife]

I worked in a bike shop in the 70's selling campag stuff and never came across anything that was a "factory second"..........

Shaun

 

[American Friend]

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?

 

[wriggles]

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]

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.

 

[wriggles]

Yup pretty easy to have a mint mech with a scratched hanger pivot bolt from one careless moment. What year is the mech body?

Ah missed your edit

 

[American Friend]

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.

 

[wriggles]

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.

 

[Simplex]

The precision of the old Record components, when they were new, was incredible

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]

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?