The Gambato Gran Sport series is a set of Argentinian 'derivatives' of classic Campagnolo models. While I am extremely unclear about the dates, I consider that they can be roughly grouped into three groups:

• a first series closely based on the 1953 Campagnolo Gran Sport. These Gambato Gran Sports possibly date from the late 1960s.
• a second series based, less closely, on the 1963 Campagnolo Record. These Gambato Gran Sports possibly date from the mid to late 1970s.
• a third series, that is the unlikely, bastard, child of a patrician 1967 Campagnolo Nuovo Record crossed with a plebeian 1984 Simplex SX1. These Gambato Gran Sports possibly date from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The oddity is that, in each case, the Gambato models seem to date from about a decade after the relevant Campagnolo originals. It seems that the designs got lost in some kind of Argentinian time warp - perhaps in the boot (trunk) of a DeLorean.

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This Gambato Gran Sport belongs to the third series listed above. The knuckles are chunky and plastic and the b-knuckle has a screw to control the extent of motion of the b-pivot, but this screw is perpendicular to the plane of rotation. This is weird but very similar to the arrangement on a Simplex SX1.

Overall, the derailleur is an interesting blend of a basic, clunky, inexpensive derailleur and rather highly decorated parallelogram plates. I like it.

This example has a long, black enamelled, pulley cage. It is described as 'todo terreno' (or 'all terrain') indicating that it is designed for mountain bikes. Good luck with that...

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• Derailleur brands: Gambato
• Country: Argentina
• Date of introduction: 1992?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: unknown
• Weight: 230g
• Maximum cog: 34 teeth (a guess)
• Total capacity: 34 teeth (another guess)
• Pulley centre to centre: 80mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: unsprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: plastic knuckles, aluminium parallelogram plates and pulley cage

Ref. 846