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> Light grey pins have always been...

I think the black ones were a later addition, likely late nineties.

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Per the article I linked to, '93.

Which is presumably why I didn't notice until my son started playing with it, as I'd stopped playing with mine by then.

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My memory of twenty years ago says the dark-grey pins were 1 stud wide on one side, and half-wide on the other, and low-friction like the light-grey ones.
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I think they were light grey as well. They were commonly used to make cranks out of the 4185 belt wheel or attach objects to the wheel.
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