AWN wrote:
> If it helps, the bike has an Wienmann rear and Ambrosio front
> wheelset with Michelin ‘Fifty’ tires (they still hold 90psi
> suprisingly enough!). The downtube ****fters, F/R derailleur are
> campy with ****mano quick releases and “Balilia” canti brakes. The
> top tube has ‘Chapionne du monde’ on it, the stem has ITM on one
> side and ‘Made in Italy’ on the other (I assume it means the same
> thing??). The front D has an odd looking metal box-shape attached to
> the back of the front cage that clearly identifies it as campy...
> The rear D has ‘Valentino ‘EXTRA’ ‘ stamped into it on one side and
> the Campy patent on the other. The pedals say ‘Made in Germany’ and
> it’s fitted with 333 ****mano hubs front and rear. The downtube
> ****fters say ‘BREV INT’ above the Campy patent stamp in red. Other
> than the fact that this was sourced from Belgian, German, Italian,
> US, and likely French parts.....
>
> Any ideas? I can’t find a shred on this one....
>
> Thanks again!
> Andrew.
>
>
>
Andrew . . . I owned a bike shop from the 1974 through the mid-1990's .
.. . I can't pin down your Juventus, but I have an educated guess based
on the equipment, about the period it is from . . .
The Campy Valentino equipment was the low end of Campy line in the
mid-1970's. When Suntour and ****mano started their marketing push into
the US it was around 1973 (Suntour was successful first, followed by
****mano). Fuji bikes were the first Japanese bikes into the US market
and they used Suntour and Diacompe equipment . . . The European bikes in
that era were using Simplex, Huret, and on nicer equipment, Campagnolo -
but the Valentino was the low end of the Campy line. In 1973, bike
dealers sold literally any 10-speed bike they could get into their
stores. The list of European bikes is long, most names I've forgotten,
and most were mediocre at best, at least compared to the entry bikes
that Fuji was selling. There were scads of French, Italian, German,
Dutch, English, Spanish and even a few Russian bikes. It's no wonder
than the Asian bikes took over the entry level US market starting in the
1970's because quite simply, they were better bikes. The description of
the equipment on your Juventus bike clearly puts the bike in the "entry"
level European group around 1974 or 1975. The Michelin Chevron 50 tires,
the Valentino derailleurs, the German pedals, the cottered crank all
suggest that time frame and entry level. Also, the ****mano hubs suggest
an aftermarket component change. European bikes would probably have had
Atom or Malliard hubs (if not Campy)
From your first post, I have a question though. Is the frame really
Cro-moly which was most used by nicer Japanese bikes, or was the frame a
Reynold tubing which was Manganese -moly?
I know I haven't really answered your question with any specificity, but
hopefully the info is valuable on some level.
Rick Stein
http://www.thunderworksinc.com
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