For model year 1997 Record and Chorus were both available in either 8-speed or 9-speed versions. The rest of the range was unchanged.
The derailleur range was:
9-speed
- Campagnolo Record (RD-09RE)*
- Campagnolo Chorus (RD-09CH)*
8-speed
- Campagnolo Record (RD-08RE)*
- Campagnolo Chorus (RD-08CH)*
- Campagnolo Athena (RD-41AT)
- Campagnolo Racing Triple (RD-11RA3)
- Campagnolo Veloce (RD-31VL)
- Campagnolo Veloce Triple (RD-13VL)
- Campagnolo Mirage (RD-11MI)
- Campagnolo Mirage Triple (RD-03MI)
- Campagnolo Avanti (RD-11AV)
- Campagnolo Avanti Triple (RD-03AV)
* New for model year 1997
From some time around 1992 to 1996 the part numbers were made up as follows:
- 'RD' for 'rear derailleur' - which was not particularly Italian.
- A dash for good measure
- A number to indicate the 'generation' of the model. So, for example, generation '2' replaced generation '1', etc...
- A number to indicate the cage length. So '1' indicated short, '2' indicated medium and '3' indicated long. etc...
- Two letters that indicated the model/group name. So, for example, 'RE' meant Record.
From 1995 this plan was disturbed by the Racing Triple, which had a cage length digit of '1', and then a '3' at the end. Weird or what?
These images come from a pdf downloaded from the Campagnolo web site some years ago. The rear derailleurs are featured from page 22 to page 30.
