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.

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This example, with its Campagnolo script logo, is the fourth iteration of the Victory design. It is sometimes referred to as 'Victory S3' as Campagnolo issued a rather strange leaflet using this name in 1987, however it should be noted that this leaflet showed a model with the 'flying quick release' logo on the outer parallelogram plate. I have also seen this model given the part number G010-SM, although I don't have any literature that shows this.

Some key features of this fourth style of Victory are:

• 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.

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• Derailleur brands: Campagnolo
• Categories: Campagnolo - defeat snatched from the jaws of Victory
• Country: Italy
• Date of introduction: 1987?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: G010-SM?
• Weight: 196g
• 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