198? CAMBIO RINO SP - INTRODUCTION

Over the years, a few Cambio Rino bicycles have come my way.  The Cambio Rino company was started by Joseph Gardin, who later built Gardin bikes.  There was not a great difference between the two, as nearly as I can tell.  Having owned both high end Cambio Rino and Gardin bicycles has offered me the opportunity to compare.

The first Cambio Rino acquired was a Dump found model 2000.  The bicycle was cosmetically challenged but otherwise in pretty darn nice shape.  I did make the decision to repaint that early eighties example and wonder to this day if I had made the right choice.

The first Cambio Rino I found was the early eighties C-R 2000, a beautiful bicycle in its own right and perhaps the rarest Cambio Rino that I have found to date.  Several other Cambio Rino road bikes came my way over the next few years, but none that were truly exceptional, until this lovely and near 100% original old Cambio Rino SP showed up.  I call the bicycle an SP simply because it has no model designation and the bicycle is made from full Columbus SP tubing.  Columbus SP tubing is simply a more robust version of Columbus SL, perfect for a guy my size.

The history of the Cambio Rino is not all that well documented, as nearly as I can tell.  The bicycle was built from the late seventies until the early eighties, after which, the Gardin bicycle came into being and the Cambio Rino was no more.  Why the Cambio Rino died a sudden death is not clear, however; there were some rumours concerning quality control issues at the C-R factory.  I do not know for sure what this means but many of the old timers that I have talked to repeat some of the quality control stories that surround the bicycle.  Those rumours, incidentally, never touched the later Gardin.

The quality of C-R bicycles spans a wide area.  There were lots of entry level and pretty much junky offerings, obviously intended to compete with the entry level Peugeots, Raleighs and the like of the time.  The middle of the line crowd seemed to be a line-up of reasonably nice bicycles though none ever came my way that I decided to keep and ride for any length of time.  Then there were the top dogs.  Though I have seen few of this high end Cambio Rino road bikes, the two that I have been lucky enough to own were very nice bicycles, fairly well made of quality materials and offered very nice rides.  But to date, no C-R that I have ridden can compare with the later top of the line successor - the high end Gardin.

NEXT - FINDING THE CAMBIO RINO SP