http://campybike.com/pdf/1987CampagnoloRecord.pdf campag had aero brake levers in their groupsets earlier than 1987; actually they were convertible levers, so that when the cable was aero routed it went over an extra bracket inside the lever (which may have caused the cable to fail sooner than it might have otherwise) and the lever hoods came with a plug that covered the non-aero hole. By 1988 the levers were still convertible in several models but the hoods no longer had holes and plugs; if you wanted to route the cable in the non-aero way, you had to make your own hole. So if you want to ride your 1986 or 1987 campag record levers in eroica maybe you have to run your cables through the convertible levers in the non-aero way even though they can be routed aero-wise? If so it seems a bit daft to me.
1986/1987 did see the launch of 'synchro', campag's first go at indexing.
https://campybike.com/pdf/1987CampagnoloSyncro.pdfI paraphrase , but they rather sniffily say that 'indexing has previously been characteristic of leisure (non competitive) cycling' and that they are 'appealing to this market sector because it is becoming more important', implying that if you are a
real racer, you will neither want nor need indexing.
[Aside: In the 1987 (C-) Record brochure (available on Velobase), they are very proud of their three-ball one way clutch on the gear levers, which brought them on a par with Simplex retrofriction levers; for about ten years many pros had fitted the Simplex levers to otherwise campag-equipped bikes; this stable door was finally bolted. BTW the same mechanism was briefly, perhaps as a prototype only, available in Nuovo/Super Record format levers, but it isn't listed in any catalogues. In the 1987 C-record brochure, they grudgingly admit that you can have indexed gear levers thusly; "For those who do not want to use the shift lever of champions, it is possible to....." etc...
. they really were not keen.....]
IIRC Synchro levers cost a fortune at the time and although it was in theory a fantastically versatile system (with inserts to match all current and most older mechs to all kinds of freewheels), as some of my disappointed chums pointed out, it "didn't actually work" by which they meant that it didn't offer click shifting anywhere near as good as shimano's, even though shimano were still on UG not HG at the time.
They were right, it didn't; shifting was arguably made more awkward then ever in some cases (eg in a 'two clicks down and then one up' kind of a way) and how could it work well? - the design of their mechs was antediluvian and they were at the mercy of other folk's chains and sprockets too..... but in fairness campag never actually promised that it would; they claimed it was to 'get the derailleur exactly centred over the sprocket' and not that it would throw the chain nicely there in the first place....
. The small side lever, if pushed forwards, allowed reversion to traditional friction shifting, and BITD that is how I saw a lot of folk riding their synchro levers....
Anyway if I had a late 1986 or 1987 bike with campag aero levers and Synchro shifting, I'd feel pretty cheesed off if it was deemed to be inadmissible for any, uh, 'non-competitive' ride....
cheers
