TECH
CAMPAGNOLO WHEEL IDENTIFICATION
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PANTERA CAMPAGNOLO WHEEL IDENTIFICATION
This view shows four of the five style of 8-inch wide (rear) Pantera wheels in chronological order, no two alike. At top left is the rare three-slot model (1970), top right is the one-slot (early 1971), bottom left is the early two-slot (most 1971 and all 1972 Pre-L), and bottom right is the late two-slot (mid-1973 and later.) Missing from this photo is the early L-model wheel, used from August 1972 through mid-1973.
Despite general similarities, these four wheels differ in many, if not most details. Note the three-slot and one-slot wheels are for all practical purposes identical except for the number of slots. They feature extremely crisp, flat features.
The early two-slot wheel appeared on all but the earliest Pre-L Panteras, and while the design stands out taller from the face of the wheel, its contours have been softened and rounded.
The L-model iterations were a blend of early- and late-style features; they copied the early, flat style for the webbing and the pentagon, while the raised surfaces for the holes are still rounded off.
This shows the most dramatic differences between these wheels. Note how thin and spindly the webbing on the back of the three-slot and one-slot wheels is, compared with the Pre-L two-slot wheel and the even beefier late L-model two-slot wheel. Both variants of the L-model wheel (early variant not pictured here) are the same on the back side. The later wheels are slightly heaver than the earlier versions, and intuitively, one would assume that the latest version of the wheel is the strongest. How much stronger, though, is anybody’s guess!
These close-ups of the centers of these five wheel types illustrate many of the stylistic differences. Again, except for the number of slots, the one-slot and three-slot wheels are identical. The thin webs extend all the way up to the top edge of the wheel center.
The Pre-L two-slot wheel has much thicker center webs, and both the webs and the pentagon are larger, standing taller from the flat face of the wheel (although, curiously, the pentagon portion is thinner). The raised surfaces with the holes are also taller, and all of the contours are rounded off. The wheel center has been beefed up considerably, to the point where reliefs must be cut to allow a lug wrench to get around the lug nut.
The early L-model two-slot wheel takes these changes to a greater extreme. The webbing is much thicker, although now it stops about a quarter of the way down from the top edge of the wheel center. The wheel center is essentially the same as the Pre-L two-slot however. The pentagon is once again thick, and just a bit shorter than the early two-slot version. The contours are all sharp and crisp except for those on the raised surfaces with the holes, which are still rounded off.
The late L-model wheel is very similar to the early L-model, although the wheel center has grown even thicker, necessitating deep relief cuts to accommodate the lug nuts.
This rather dirty late two-slot wheel has been cleaned only where marked. Perhaps due to the fact that the back side of wheels are rarely cleaned, the backs of most Campy wheels are badly pitted and corroded.
The most interesting feature is the date of manufacture, which somehow survived intact. All Pantera wheels were probably marked this way, but time has taken its toll and obliterated most wheel’s date stamps. The ‘sunburst’ design located in the topmost recess is actually the date stamp, divided into 12 sections, like slices of pie. A dot is located in the first six of these sections (starting at the 11 o’clock position) indicating this wheel was manufactured in the sixth month, June. The year ’73’ appears in the center of the ‘sun’.
