The Linea groupset is possibly the last good quality groupset that Ofmega made. It appears that the Linea series replaced the Master groupo. As with many Ofmega offers in the late 1980s, the newer set is a step down from older. Only the cranks could, possibly, be seen as an improvement. The slightly clunky, retro Master cranks are stepped and can look cheap. However, the Linea cranks are smoothed out and vaguely reminiscent of Campagnolo's early 1990s cheaper offers. The Master cranks' lines did, however, follow the stepped lines found in the rest of the groupset. Even here, the Linea range fails.
In contrast, the derailleurs look like a Master (already the cheaper Ofmega offering) made by a bloke working in a shed at the end of the garden with sheets of aluminium, a hacksaw and a round-ended hammer. Even Ofmega fans will admit that the Linea derailleurs are cheap rubbish knock-offs of the beautiful Master derailleurs. This is probably because Ofmega had stopped making their own derailleurs; at some point (possibly 1987), the derailleurs were made by Simplex. Both the derailleurs are Simplex SX.
The rest of the groupset is, in essence, the same as the Master groupo with Linea printed on it. Often, boxed groupsets contained older Master front derailleurs (which, in turn, looked like the Premier mechs) printed up as "Linea" (like the black anodised example shown above). The quality of these derailleurs is clearly superior to those found in the standard groupsets. It could be said that it is a homage to the prior groupset but it could also be said that Ofmega became lazy. It seems a great shame that the company that brought innovation, beauty and mild insanity back to the Italian components scene dropped so quickly and so badly. What followed was the truely horrible Sierra groupsets with plastic coated, steel, one-piece cranks.
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Components | View Search List |
Category | Photo | Name | Years | Added |
Bottom Brackets | | Ofmega Linea | N/A | 11/30/07 |
Cranksets | | Ofmega Linea | Early 1990's | 07/21/07 |
Cranksets | | Ofmega Linea (printed crankset) | N/A | 03/29/13 |
Front Derailleurs | | Ofmega Linea (first version) | N/A | 11/09/11 |
Front Derailleurs | | Ofmega Linea (second version) | Late 1980's - ? | 10/01/08 |