The Campagnolo Victory was a tidy looking object, created to replace the legendary Campagnolo Nuovo Record with a derailleur with a more 1980s style.

But somehow it did not quite have the quality of finish required to succeed in that role. Perhaps the expectation was impossibly high - for some years the Nuovo Record had not really justified its stellar reputation - but even that doesn't excuse some of the Victory's more cynical weaknesses. The inside parallelogram plate was often poorly polished - as were the inside surfaces of the pulley cage. And then there was the over-complex system for adjusting the swing at the b-pivot. SunTour had been showing how this should be done since the 1960s - but Campagnolo had to reinvent the wheel with something just slightly worse.

This example, is the fourth iteration of the Victory design, but in Campagnolo's funky Graphite finish. As is so often the case with 'special' finishes, after a life of hard use, this derailleur looks spectacularly shabby - and not at all chic.

Some key features of this fourth style of Victory are:

• The outer parallelogram plate and outer pulley cage plate are finished in Campagnolo's trendy 'Graphite' coloured paint. The rest is polished aluminium.
• The Campagnolo script logo on the outer parallelogram plate.
• An outer pulley cage plate with a straight leading edge and a very compact 'pusher plate' area around the guide pulley.
• Main Allen bolts with 'Brev. Int. Campagnolo' engraved in the heads.
• Adjustment screws with large-ish (5.5mm diameter) Phillips heads.
• A cable clamp nut with a semi-domed top.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may note certain similarities between some aspects of this derailleur and those of the Gipiemme Exploit, indicating that the Gipiemme Exploit may have been manufactured by Campagnolo.

• Derailleur brands: Campagnolo
• Categories: Campagnolo - defeat snatched from the jaws of Victory
• Country: Italy
• Date of introduction: 1988?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: G010-SM?
• Weight: 198g
• Maximum cog: 30 teeth (Source: Campagnolo)
• Total capacity: 32 teeth (Source: Campagnolo), although I don't quite believe it
• Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: aluminium