Campagnolo crank date codes

[Jason Cloutier]

I got a call from a friend who is selling some Campagnolo cranks on
ebay. He asked about Campagnolo date codes and I didn't know how to
decipher them.

Cranks are Record with the hidden fifth spider arm. Right crank has
42 in a square. Left crank has 51 in a square. What vintage are
these parts?

Jason Cloutier
Pawtucket, RI

[Brewster Fong]

From Chuck Schmidt's Campy timeline:

Some Campagnolo parts can be dated by codes or patent dates. For
example, the Nuovo Record rear derailleur has a patent date that
corresponds to its manufacturing date starting in 1970 (example "PAT.
70"); marked "PATENT" before 1970. The lock nut on the hub axle
typically is stamped with "CAM. 60" or some other number denoting the
last two digits of the year of manufacture. The word "RECORD" was
added to the hub barrels around 1963. The original "Open C" style
Campagnolo logotype (imagine a U turned on its side) on the Q.R.
levers was changed to a "closed C" in 1958 with the introduction of
the one-piece alloy Record hubs and a little later to the shift
levers. Starting in 1973 the crank arms have a code consisting of a
diamond (1970's), circle (1980's), square (late Super Record), with a
number in the center denoting the last digit of the year of
manufacture (some exceptions:11=1985, 22=1986, 33=1987 plus others).

Good Luck! Brewster

[Steve Barner]

That's likely a C-Record crankset from the '80s or early '90s. If it's
not all scratched up, it will probably fetch a nice price. If it looks
like new, or has the engraved logo instead of the later screened logo,
it might bring a couple of C notes, or more. The C stood for Corsa, or
Road. Campy actually considered it simply Record, not C-Record. The
latter being a designation customers and sales people used to
differentiate it from the Record, Nuovo Record and Super Record stuff
that it replaced. Record components have always been considered the
top of the Campy line since the first Record parts were introduced in
the late '50s. I'm not sure that the date codes are as effective a
means of determining the age of the crank once you get past the early
'80s.

--Steve Barner