Learco Guerra Cambio Corsa

Learco Guerra of 1949 with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa. The bike was bought in restored condition in Mantova (Mantua), Guerras home town, whichs skyline is visible in picture 1. Crankset and hubs are stamped "Learco Guerra".

The cambio corsa gear is operated by losening the rear qr, backpedaling while shifting with the second lever, then tightening the qr again.
Its advantage was seen in getting a straight chain line, as opposed to the french shifting systems that used chain tensioning pulleys on a parallelogram very much as we use them today. The awkward shifting process led to the system being fast replaced by the "Paris-Roubaix"-system that combined a similar way of operation in just one lever. That system was even less liked by the professionals and a year later Campagnolo started selling the "Gran Sport" gear which is a standard design.

Learco Guerra was one of the top riders of the 30ies. His palmares include the world champion title in 1931, TT world champion 1932 and the Giro d'Italia in 1934. He also was 5x italian champion. His nickname was "la locomotiva umana". Learco Guerra passed away 1963.