The new Campy looks like ass. I had Simplex on my first Raleigh road bike. A later Raleigh I bought and restored had Huret components. Both worked fine. My current Pinarello uses Shimano 12 speed Ultegra. Can't beat Shimano precision.
There's ONE single reason and you know what it is - MONEY. What groupsets would you use if you ran a pro team and nobody was writing fat chex? Shimano works, is readily available and you can probably buy/borrow whatever you need if your team's equipped with Shimano. If someone's writing fat chex....you use SRAM and ignore complaints from Bauke Mollema. Campagnolo chooses not to write any fat chex as it seems they don't see the value in WT race teams any more...at least at what it costs these daze. Bad move? Time will tell. PS- it's Fausto COH-pee...not COPPY. Gino BART-a-lee, not BAR-tally.
I love the idea of Campag going back to remanufacturing older mechanical groupsets (i.e. C-Record Delta) using updated tolerances, bearings, materials, etc. So many beautiful steel/chrome framesets out there that could be restored...
I would have loved to see a more in-depth "Campagnolo: The Inside Story". There are so many legacy companies that should have gotten the same documentary treatment we got for Canyon, Colnago, Trek, Orbea, Pinarello & Rapha. We're missing Campagnolo, Bianchi, SRAM, Park Tools, Silca, etc. It's a shame there's no more GCN+.
Campagnolo needs to address core philosophical questions like: Who are they and where do they see the future. Then they gotta reinvent themselves. Because being a boutique brand in a niche sport, that is relying on nostalgy will take them out of business in few decades maybe. Or they can join a list of companies with great heritage such as: Atari, Compaq, AOL, Kodak, Nokia, Toshiba, RadioShack, Blackberry... Not to mention dozens of cycling brands that are also history now.
Atari isn't dead, they're alive and putting out great products, they're just aimed at retro gaming enthusiasts these days. Kodak isn't dead either, they're still a major producer of motion picture film.
@@gcntech Bring back the thumb button to egroups, make a cheaper Chorus electronic group, make a cheaper alloy version of Ekar, and make a silver alloy version of Chorus or bring back silver Centaur. Then partner with a Korean electronic company like LG or Samsung to improve their electronic groups and make them cheaper, and locate a Campagnolo warehouse in east Asia to make fast-response supply chain component deals with OEM bike makers. Maybe partner with a bike company race team to get back into the World Tour. It needs to happen. Maintain Campagnolo bearings and drivetrain metallurgical excellence and durability from European facories while drawing on Asian expertise with electronics to create a win/win combination like how they partnered with Germany’s Magura to get the best road disc brakes on the market.
You’re complaining about the cost of cycling one week and now you’re suggesting that Campag come out with the groupset equivalent of a Singer 911? (Hint: no one south of a multi-millionaire is in the market for a Singer)..Who’s going to buy this Uber-groupset? Campag’s current strategy of producing electronic only in a high-end group set that only well-heeled gentleman cyclists will buy hasn’t really worked out. Wouldn’t a reasonably priced Chorus-level EPS groupset be a better idea?
I'm 74 year old functionally obsolete old person on a bicycle and I own a 2002 Colnago Master Light with a Campy 9 speed, a 2007 Independent Fabrication with a Campy Racing Triple 10 speed and a 2016 Surly Long Haul Trucker with a Campy 11 speed. My Campagnolo group sets will still be in service for many years down the road.
Stock up on replacement chains. They're becoming harder to find and will be even more so in the coming years. I thought my early 2000s 10sp chorus groupsets would last me a longer time but just realized how hard it is to find replacement cassettes, chains and small shifter parts for repairs
As a slightly younger [50yo] person on a much older 1990 Cannondale with Campy 7-speed Chorus, I second your remark-- the groupset is built to endure and look good doing so.
It's their own fault really. First of all, the price of Super Record is stupid, and the new wireless has jumped the rails as far as looks are concerned. I do think the last 11 speed version was their last really good looking groupset. The Record/Super Record rear derailleur was a thing of beauty.
Coming of age in the 1970’s, I always wanted Campagnolo on my bike, but simply couldn’t afford a high-end bike. Instead of a Schwinn Paramount, I ended up with a Le Tour that had Suntour derailleurs. Turns out that Suntour actually invented the parallelogram derailleur and the quality was excellent. I finally got a Campy equipped Colnago as a senior citizen and love it. Hopefully, Campagnolo doesn’t end up like Suntour, just a footnote in history.
Suntour are still around, and their kit is pretty good in the space they compete in. You could if you wanted to spec almost your whole bike in suntour, bb, crank, derailleurs, shifters, cassette, etc.
I love Ollie's idea of vintage styling but modern manufacturing for a run of Campagnolo. That would be the cat's Meow & the Bee's knees! Great show boys. Especially because I got a super nice on my bike in the Bike Vault and it seems to have been very well received. I have sent in my bike cave for your approval as well. Thank you again, you made my week! Cheers - M
This is my fantasy as well. I run top tier 2x8 from that era and it is enough for a weekend warrior, but current equivalents are not even close to that level of quality yet materials have gone so far nowadays. The problem is the industry being run by marketing wizards instead of cyclists.
Bought campag chorus 12 speed mechanical rimbrake group mid 2023. It works brilliant, is classy, it was 4ather cheap - 950 euros. Love all that. But thats not why I bought it. I bought it coz non of the two dominating bother to supply this anymore. Lots of people still on frames that need rimbrakes and like 12 speed. They just doesn't bother. Been on Shimano for 30 years. They just dont bother. Campag do
@@Gianniz27 There is now yes. But the price you mention is for an upgrade kit only. Back then it didn't seem like they would make it. So i was pissrd. But to be fair,you are right
I’ve only ever ridden Campagnolo equipped bikes since ~1990. The first was 1st gen Chorus. Beautiful to look at but behind the times tech wise. Friction down tube levers and a freewheel rather than cassette. Then Croce D’Aune. Again beautiful but oh so crap. Now my winter bike has Veloce 10 speed from the early ‘paint it black’ era. Quite a few years old and still going strong. Shifting still spot on. Centaur carbon 10 speed on the summer bike. The last of the traditional looking group sets before massive mechs and cranks. I will keep this until it, or I fall to pieces.
Sounds like you've had some great bikes 👌 There is certainly something to be said for classic looking groupsets, would you like to see Campag bring out a classic looking product?
@@gcntechthe alloy and carbon / alloy groupsets Campagnolo produced from the late 80’s C Record era to the 2010’s were works of art. Not everything has to be performance oriented. Sometimes form wins over function. No one can deny a classic steel frame such as a Cinelli Supercorsa; metallic red with chrome rear triangle and forks kitted out with full Record is a thing of beauty ( my dream bike😀). If Campagnolo released an alloy midrange affordable group set then I would certainly be interested.
This brought tears to my eye's. Met O.B. (now coach O.B. USA Cycling certified), In 1988 while riding (steep!) hills in N. Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati Oh. Me, a relative newbie, just pedaling hard, trying to breathe correctly. Guy rides up next to me, tells me i'm doing some things wrong, and he can teach me how to ride better. One year later i'm doing USCF races. Because he taught me bike fit, hi vs. low heel, turning circles, not blocks, spinning at an easy pace the last few miles of a ride. etc, etc. I think I was hooked before O.B. but dude definitely helped to cement it. O.B. only rode Campy in those days, always extolling the history, reliability, and sheer beauty of Campy. Good guy. Thanks O.B. much love bro...🦵
Regarding Campagnolo, it really is as simple as this: In 2024, the most relevant product is an electronic groupset for bikes in the 4000 € range. And as of 2024, this really should be a wireless groupset. Campagnolo does NOT have the product available, so what's then the point in being in Tour de France if you have no product to sell? And given Campagnolo's increasingly tiny market share, it really remains to be seen if they have the R&D muscle to pull this one off. In road groupsets Campagnolo is really in the ropes right now, and this is coming from a long-time Campagnolo rider. Fulcrum wheels and maybe Ekar's surprising popularity can hopefully keep the company alive.
Blimey chuffed to see the bike vault had a Puch bike! My first road bike or "racer" as we used to call them, was a Puch Mistral back in 1987! My dad tried to make it out it was related to Porche :)
Thanks for showing it! That’s my father in-law’s old bike. I refurbished it and rode it for a while with the original shimano 600 arabesque groupset. After spending winter on Zwift, I was struggling to do the climbs with the old 6-speed so I stretched the frame, upgraded it to 9 speed with new wheels, a mix of tiagra, ultegra and sora gear - keeping it max performance for the money. Rides super nice and should see another 40yrs.
Campagnolo should have continued with a high end mechanical rim brake groupset in parallel their EPS hydraulic. Smaller market for sure but it could have been profitable at the right price point.
A lot of the shops local to me provide a free bike fit with the purchase of a bike. It's one of the ways to justify buying a bike in a shop rather than online and it's still foreign to me when shops don't offer it. Like a loose test fit, a stroll around the parking lot, and you're good to go?
Hey Ollie! Don't mock Huret! They were a huge French brand that merged with Sachs in 1980 and then created the Ergoshifter which then was licensed to Campagnolo for manufacturing. Working on vintage bikes, one thing I LOVE about Huret is they can be left at the bottom of a Paris canal for 50 years and just need a little WD-40 and a new cable and they run perfectly well. Simple and elegant... though not always the prettiest.
I had one .Remember when I did service and dismantled it there was tiny loose ballbearings at the pulleys . Never bothered to put it back . To fiddly. Bought a Campy instead.
Campy's exclusive parts standard (cassette, inner cables and hubs,) and limited availability in Asian region or maybe outside of Europe really doesn't help their market share. i always want a campy mechanical groupset, but difficulty to source parts and pricing of them just scare me away to the blue gaint.
If the Pro's aren't using it ... and mainstream aren't using it ... its days are numbered (which is sad, I've also had a lot of Campag equipped bikes, and I love it too) ..
Here is the difference between Campy fans and the rest: Cyclists with SRAM or Shimano will sell their old bike or switch out the gruppo when upgrading. A Campy fan will build/buy a whole new bike and keep the old one proudly displayed (next to others) in a basement or garage.
It's a shame, let's hope that Campa will be with us in coming years too. I've been riding with all three major brands, Shimano and Sram in winterbikes, but roadbike...always Campa. Nothing beats Campagnolos feeling and "sharpness".
Never heard of Huret! (Silent 't'). My first road bike had Huret gears, used it for riding to school, touring, time trials & cyclo cross. Always worked well.
Old adage (maybe no longer true) Campag wears in, Shimano wears out! Have been riding Campag since the 19060s and still ride a Triple Racing that works absolutely fine. However, do think they have lost their way somewhat. Can recall early crank-set with 151 BCD, hence smallest ring was 44T!
I have a 2011 Bianchi Infinito with a Campagnolo Athena 11spd and it's the smoothest quietest grouset I've ever owned, absolutely love that bike and setup.
I'm on the same bike running a combo of chorus and record, and it's absolutely glorious. Ok, my more modern bike is on discs and SRAM etap, but there is just something about that old campy mechanical feel. Oh, and it weighs about 2kg less than my new bike too!
@@stihldavebergen3469 I see them as very different bikes now. I’m using something similar to a Domane with 35mm tyres, which is absolutely more suited to the roads that I ride on in northern England. But, I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of the Infinito, even if I just use it as a dedicated turbo bike. Someone offered to buy it recently, but I couldn’t do it…
Campag could massively open up their appeal to the mass market by changing to use the same cassette spacing as Shimano and SRAM. This is literally the only reason that has prevented me from buying Campag in the past and for my next bike.
Biggest issue I see is that they're pricing themselves out which is probably why they're on less bikes. Everything below chorus is heavy while still being pricey. Why do I want Athena or Centaur when 105 or Rival are cheaper and slightly lighter. When I built up my oldest kid's road bike I went Rival AXS, 1200 for a 2x12 groupset out the door at the LBS. Easy for her to shift and stop with. When it was passed down this winter and she stepped up her game it was 1500 at the LBS for a Force AXS groupset. Cheapest Campy is still another 300+ for Chorus and if you want wireless you're clearing 4k. My cross bike might be running 12sp chorus but the kids are growing up riding sram and loving the ease of use. Campy comes out with an $1800 wireless groupset I'd splurge on it if it was comparable in weight, otherwise they're not really something to look at.
Fantastic to see a Bike Polo bike in the Vike Vault! Any Cycle-ballers, artistic cyclists, show us your bikes! It's cool to see some different steeds in the Vault and it makes the segment even more interesting! Variety is the spice of life, after all.
The interesting part about the claim that people have fallen out of love with mechanical group sets is that Super Record Wireless shifting is blitzing fast.
When you develop arthritis, you'll do anything to make things easier for your fingers. Age will do that.nMust be good if it works for you. But I also have and love 12s Super Record mechanical.@@sandydennylives1392
Indeed, and would rather use the money saved on new wheels or Hi Fi. Pro cycling is only a shop window and they'd all be using Campag if they outreached Shim in financial, er,assistance to the teams. Pog did his first tour victories on the golden elixer. r. @@gcntech
I am 62 and hopefully die (naturally) on my bike... I"ll go wireless when the arthritis in my hands makes it to difficult to shift. Until then i'm staying with mechanical. It works, and its easy to do my own maintenance and repairs.
And Shimano was pretty much NOTHING in the high-end bike world until the early 1970's when they basically knocked-off Campagnolo's Nuovo Record groupset. Can't beat 'em? Copy 'em! Sadly it seems Campagnolo is now doing the copying :-(
Suntour. Mavic. Zeus. Gipiemme. I used to only have Campagnolo bikes. I went to Dura Ace after I crashed in Italy on a Campy equipped Kestrel in Bassano del Grappa in the early 2000's and the local shops had no campy parts but had shimano...and put my rear campy clicky record derailleur whole via taking parts off an old shimano rear derailleur. I asked them why and "in" Italy they said price of parts and function. Shifting and stopping were better - and as racers better mattered more than country to these folks. I was shocked. And slowly switched.
My road bike is a cinelli Nemotig , rim breaks with a campy chorus group set. The bike rides and handles like a dream with the comfort of steel. Even though it’s mechanical shifting , it is still quick and efficient. I hope Campy makes it back to professional cycling.
As an Italian consumer, Campagnolo is dead on the market. They have very few options and are pricier than Shimano and SRAM. I had a Campagnolo Chorus on an aluminium road bike from first 2000s, so last year when I build my gravel I specifically looked what offer they had and none was compatible with what I was looking for, a 2-by setup with bigger than road cogs
A combination of interested factors, I think. Campagnolo sat on their laurels for a long time, while Shimano were gaining market share fast. Shimano are a far bigger company, with much greater financial power. Fewer and fewer off-the-peg bikes are fitted with Campagnolo components. Many young mechanics have never even seen Campagnolo parts. Campagnolo parts are not available in shops and are generally more expensive. People, like me, who use Campagnolo do so mostly for sentimental reasons, perhaps because they first bike decades ago came fitted with the groupset. If Campagnolo stays out of WT racing, there will be even less exposure and young cyclists will see it as a museum piece, at best. I don't feel particularly sad about this. SRAM have demonstrated it is possible to make your way into a Shimano-dominated market. Campagnolo have tried, but they looked at the world from their ivory tower and failed to understand what has been going on. I don't think they have a strategy. Last year, with only one team left using Campagnolo, they claimed that it was quality, not quantity, that they ficussed on. Now?
Shimano get it right, as you can see a Dura Ace groupset on a bike brand at the Tour and go out and buy a cheap Claris groupset that works well and looks similar. Campag has always been high range and slightly out of reach to your average cyclist. I hope they keep going though and get back with a few teams.
@@gcntech What I would hate to see is Campagnolo become financially pushed to selling their "name" to a company that tacks the storied name onto a cheap stamped parts groupset. That has equivocally happened to many "name" brands in recent years.
SR was phased out by 1987. C-record was in. My Colnago Master with handbuilt Mavic open S.U.P wheels still pumping along with a mix of mostly C-rec and SR. Keep a stockpile of 3/32 chains, pre-ramp and pins chainrings, and grease up those bearings and smile as you ride off the back on a group ride on 53x13 like I do at 49yo.
Still got the Campag budget 980 downshifter gears in a box in my shed but too old and poor and no space to build up a classic bike and store it. Also got Simplex rear mech that replaced the 980 rear mech when I crashed and bent the hanger so it could take screw in - a great mech - could smash through London faster than tube from Earls Court to East Ham, faster even than motorbikes - with Suntour Ultra6 freewheel and whacking the downshift lever - faster changes than index systems
I have owned Campagnolo since they first launched 11 speed about 12 years ago(?), but my next bike will be shimano. Why? Service. I live in Washington DC, and no every store has a knowledge mechanic, spare parts are crazy expensive (i paid 200$ for a new set of chairings and bolts). And i had to wait a month for a spoke coming from LA ( not a distribution center but another store).
Campagnolo are doing just fine. They're a privately owned family company who are very much in the black financially and they have no shareholders to satisfy - unlike SRAM and the fishing tackle company. It was Campagnolo's CHOICE not to sponsor a WT team. They stated that last year. Ekar is still selling truck loads, as are their wheels (and Fulcrum wheels).
But is this business model sustainable? Who are its typical customers and are sales likely to continue to keep it profitable for years to come, or is it increasingly a niche company selling to a niche market with shrinking market share and sales, like a major music label only selling vinyl records or a car maker still pushing manual transmissions (which I have btw)? Can't it do both, classic/legacy AND modern/innovative?
Typical cope comment from a crapagnolo meat rider. Which business would wilfully turn away potential business because "they're doing just fine"? The answer is none.
I wish modernized mechanical group sets which were available in the 80's and early 90's, from both Campagnolo and Shimano, wer.e still offered at reasonable prices. I gave my Raleigh Team 753, made in 1989, to my grandson. It was outfitted with Shimano Dura Ace, which still works flawlessly with its down tube shifters and rim brakes. That bike is the same age as my grandson, and he absolutely loves riding the thing. If such high quality mechanical group sets were still offered, and with some modern tweaks, they'd be a hit among young and old.
Thing is, those groups were so well built that you can still easily find them used in good condition for much less than it'd cost to manufacture + ship + market + profit.
When I was growing up in the late 70's & early 80's Campy was without a doubt the gold standard in road bike gruppos. I mean gruppo is Italian, right, not Japanese or English? But I couldn't even begin to afford a bike fitted with one, so I settled for a mid-range Trek with mostly Suntour and Dia-Compe parts and the like, while dreaming of someday being able to own a really nice bike fitted with Campy. So when I built up my own bike 20 years ago, I got the best one for my needs that I could afford, around a Ti frame (yeah, Chinese, but a good one that's done really well by me, by an outfit called Habanero), and fitted with a Campy drivetrain, Centaur specifically. Several steps below their high end but still quite good and perfectly fine for my recreational cycling needs, and it's worked out great. But I didn't decide to go with Campy just because of my childhood dreams or snob appeal, or looks. I took a look at Shimano and SRAM and found that I preferred Campy for a number of other reasons. First, I preferred the hidden shifter cables compared to the competition's exposed cables back then. I really liked the fact that Ergopower shifters could be user serviced compared to the others. And I just liked the way that they worked, with the thumb levers to downshift. Purely personal preference there. But I can't deny that I also liked the Campy prestige and wanted to fulfill those childhood dreams, and also liked their looks (although the competition was nice too). And only the drivetrain was Campy. The brakes and pedals were Shimano, the wheels Mavic, and even the cassette Shimano (the rear wheel had a Shimano freehub, works just fine with modified spacing to match Campy indexing). Obviously Campy has lost its way of late, and if I were fitting out a new bike today I'd almost certainly go with Shimano or SRAM, because they're the ones coming out with the most innovative new tech and are going to be around for a while, while Campy almost sounds like the new Sears. Pity. Any ideas why this is so? Is it because the traditionalists won out and are determined to resist change? I kind of get that but from a business and real-world perspective it makes no sense. Things change and you either go with them or you die.
This is a really interesting comment! There was certainly a level of "snobbery" (from some) around road cycling groupsets and accessories. And some of it likely came from the clever advertising and also the victories being obtained on board Campagnolo-equipped bikes - back when cycling wasn't as cool as it is now! Many loved the hidden cables too, just like yourself, and Campagnolo were certainly pushing boundaries along with other companies, and we feel they still continue to do so. However, not very many bikes come ready built/equipped/available with Campagnolo anymore, and reading the comments here there are many theories and reasons why! The days of custom-building your bike from the "frame-up" are not as common as brands are often only supplying the top-end model as a frameset option only. This means that often you are limited to the bike you can buy off the shelf!
@@gcntech Well 20 years ago it was a different world, much more like today than like 40 years ago, e.g. integrated brake/shifters, freehubs, carbon, clipless, etc., but still sufficiently different that what applied then often doesn't apply much now. But 40 years ago was a different universe, before recreational cycling really took off (although it was starting to), before mountain biking was a thing, before the LeMond era began in earnest and the US could actually produce a World Tour class team (or more) consisting of more than a token US racer or two. Clipless was just getting started, pros wore leather helmets if at all, down tube shifters, exposed cables, indexing not yet universal, mostly steel frames, etc. Little did people know that a whole bunch of developments would soon change that and basically kill off the "classic" era of road cycling that Campy had dominated. Least of all Campy! Oh, and I'd be remiss if I left out the movie Breaking Away, which was a huge success when it came out and did a lot to both promote cycling and racing in the US as well as Campy and other classic Italian bike and bike component makers like Cinelli,, Bianchi, Columbus, etc. Anyway, like that movie, Campy belongs to that era and unfortunately has chosen not to get fully on board with the current, modern one, and there were signs of it even 20 years ago. I sensed that this was likely then but decided to go with Campy anyway, for the reasons I gave above. I just wished that it wasn't so, but, alas. Yet I'm happy that I went with Campy and don't regret it, for my needs. It's like my car, no longer made by a company that no longer exists, but I fix and maintain it myself and it still runs great, 31 years later (well, mostly, still some gremlins to deal with). But I'm more of a DIYer while most people are not, so what works for me wouldn't necessarily work for most others. Plus I'm a recreational cyclist, not a super intense one.
I just came back from riding my 5 year old aluminum bike with 3 year old Campagnolo Record and Super Record mechanical group set and it is AMAZING. It makes me grin like an idiot as I shift. It is exactly what I want when I get on my bike…FUN.
3 months ago my 2004 steel Longstaff bike was fitted with 12 speed Campag Chorus. Rim brakes, 48/32 chainset, 11/34 cassette. Works really well. My Shimano Dura ace, Ultegra and 105 equipped bikes also work well. The bike was originally built up with 10 speed triple Campag Centaur, too many overlaps on the gears and i stayed with Campag purely for the cachet. It functions as well as all my Shimano.
In keeping with the UCI's wacky rules, recognizing that reliability is an important element of the sport and serves the consumer, the UCI should pass a regulation that no more than 40% of the peloton can use a particular brand of groupset. This means that at least three groupsets will be used by the peloton. I have just been at the Volta Valencia and frankly the peloton might as well be using one bike throughout!
I think the neutral service being provided by Shimano has skewed the overall race situation. The lack of compatibility between groupsets also causes an issue, you are on Campag and need a wheel… oops sorry don’t have one with that cassette on… although Shimano are throwing money as everything going to run away from the exploding cranksets. Campagnolo will be back
I’m a big Shimano fan, however I do own a pair of Campag Zonda C17 wheels and they are epic 😎 sad about them not being in the tour. Let’s hope they come back, I’m sure they will… 🤞🤞🤞
Ollie, Alex, I currently run shimano 105 rc7000 hydraulic disc groupset, and I’m looking to upgrade to Di2. Is it necessary to upgrade the discs and calipers with the 105 groupset? Also, would the 105 Di2 hardware/software allow me to maintain my current 2x11 spd gearing, or must I up grade to 12spd as the groupset calls for?! Cheers!
Old guy here. First real bike was a Melton (Mike Melton of Olympic "funnybike" fame) sporting 1981 Nuovo Record (but with SunTour chainrings to mimic that Super Record look). I was perusing that amazing bicycle picture book "Japanese Steel" and hold by the belief that bikes have gotten better, but uglier. Classic Campy was all about the beauty, atmo. Those days are gone... and sadly so may be Tullio's legacy. Like many have noted, I got into cycling as much as for the equipment as the activity itself. I loved building wheels and doing pretty much all the maintenance myself. Bikes and modern gruppos are now intractable to anyone who doesn't have a shop-array of equipment and substantial brand-idiosyncratic technical knowledge. I do so miss the good old days.
I love Campy stuff, but I think their stubborn persistence ( until recently) to not have gearing for “normal people”, wide range cassettes etc hurt them a lot.
Red Bull is incorporated in Austria, but owned by Austrian and Thai founders. Mateschitz bought a drink from Yoovidhya in Thailand in the 1970s, and the rest is history.
Yes but that makes them an Austrian company, doesnt it? I would say so. They are headquaters in the Salzburg countryside. And they have quite some influence in Austria, unfortunately, as they are quite horrible (Mateschitz was extremely right winged, as shows in his media and influence).
Best looking brake ever was a Campag Delta but it was rubbish in stopping and adjusting. Being old I am of an era when it wasn't a proper racing bike unless equipped with Campag. This was later followed when I brought my first motorbike and everyone said it must be British and not Japanese. It took me years to realise that the latter of the two was faster and more reliable. Great show lads.
Ollie or Alex, whoever the brunette is, has valuable opinion that, imho, deserve more recognition. You're darn right Campy has that hand-made feel, though we all know they're mass produced. This was not the only such occasion where he's not received due credit for insight and style. The red head is cool too, but his hair is a little too tall, ya dig.
Ollie had a great idea ( timecode 11:39 ) about Campag restomodding groupsets ( old aesthetic, modern gear numbers and tolerances ). Campag always suffered from non-retro-fiendly drivetrains ( nine speed this year don't work with last year, 10 don't work with 9, PARTIALLY concentric bolt circle diameters ). This was NEARLY the deathnell of Shimano until they saw Trek speccing Microshift drivetrains, pulled their socks up FAST and quickly introduced the 9/10/11 Cues system.
1, Campy is a privately held, relatively small company. It has nowhere near the money that Shimano or SRAM do. It can't buy up other companies to gain an advantage like SRAM has. 2. Campy doesn't seem to have any problems selling what it makes. 3. Since it's smaller, it can't offer loss-leading products or products at steep discounts to OEMs like SRAM and Shimano. 4. Campy isn't out of pro racing, just the World Tour. They are still sponsoring and using Pro teams for development. 5. Since Campy is smaller, they don't have the amount of money SRAM and Shimano do to pay for "reviews" or product introductions on RU-vid channels or in cycling "news" media. 6. Cycling media largely ignore Campy. Just look at how often you guys mention SRAM or Shimano compared to how often you mention Campy.There appears to be a significant bias that cycling media seems to be okay with.
I am running mech campy SR11 on my three bikes. I use Campy, due its longevity. I love Shimano too, but I hate having to change my right shifter every five years. Forget about SRAM. My red rear derailleur literally broke down mid ride. The cage just broke for no clear reasons and I wasn’t even shifting at the time.
Just for the record, Shimano is an older bike company than Campagnolo, by 12 years. I have Campag on my Colnago and Shimano on the Pinarello, Bianchi...love them all.
My 2 cents: In the early 90s, there was Campagnolo available in most bike shops. They even introduced two low-end group sets. Before that, there was the glorious Campy small spare parts cabinet (have seem some of these in NYC in ‘94) which was the real business card of a reputable LBS. By 2000, they were getting increasingly difficult to source. Only one or two bike shops carried them and they were also harder to buy online. Of course, price increased (their third tier group set was costing almost a Dura-Ace). FF to the last 10 years and everybody is riding Shimano, even traditional Campy riders. Reason? They are AVAILABLE. Readily. Fast. Easy. Ask any shop owner how difficult is to source a Campy and the answer is pretty straight. The Campy business model is a dying recipe. Dubious designs, poor electronics, bla-bla etc is just side effects of the Campy dwindling. Ask riders if they could actually choose a Campy and the answer is yes. However, to wait months, pay extra just to be different (in most cases for worse) and you get in reality realm. campy might change their 80 years old mindset and business model and made it widely available or they may just march to their tombstone.
I have a fantasy of riding a bike with Campagnolo mechanical groupset and wheelset. Still, I won’t be surprised even if they never come back to Tour de France.
1989 Record tolerances were very precise, probably better than much of todays kit. That's what was great about campagnolo back in the day, the superior metallurgy and machining.
Campagnolo has one electronic groupset which is the top of line. Imagine if SRAM didn't have Force AXS and Rival AXS or Shimano didn't have Ultegra Di2 or 105 Di2. Campagnolo should have come out with an electronic groupset of Chorus to make it current so they ruined themselves.
Im a campag fan since age 14 when i had my 1st road bike Raleigh sprint black and gold campagnolo, today i run mechanical record which i love, it never flusters or faulters smooth and do crisp i cannot e the only one
Campagnolo is easily the best looking stuff but it’s both expensive and complicated at the same time. Two good examples, EPS, catch and snap a wire and you are in for a new battery. Worst was the Veloce chainset. Wear the rings and you could only fit Veloce rings due to the double (110-112 I think) BCD. It was always going to happen.
The purpose for Campy being in the World Tour is for younger riders to learn about them and want their stuff, even if they can’t afford it right now. Honestly mech 105 it’s that much cheaper than Chorus. You can still get all the parts to rebuild Campy stuff, if it ever fails 20 years from now.
Top content again. Campy was amazing in the 80s. The Nuovo Record back in the day was my dream groupset (my budget at the time). Campy didn't innovate and doesn't offer the kinds of service reliability that Shimano DA, or SRAM groupsets offer today for the race teams. Their value proposition was too low for their former elite cycling team customers. This, in my opinion, is NOT an issue.. They still make fantastic gear with an unquestionable heritage of workmanship and the perception of being unique in your own peloton, as a rider of connoisseur bicycling gear. Buy it if you like it, not because some pro rider pedals on them.
Because electronic is where’s it at, unfortunately, and the only Campag EPS group is the Uber-$$$ Super Record. No one but Campag fanboys (and I’m one) is interested in mechanical group sets these days
@@litespud i have had centaur years ago . apart from a aching thumb whilst getting used to it i found as good as shimano or sram. epss ? is just to expensive for the average rider
How do you not know of Huret or Sachs-Huret derailleurs? They were very common on lower end bikes in the 1970s and 1980s. I had a 1987 city bike with a Sachs-Huret friction shifter/derailleur. It wasn't very good, and it broke around the year 1995. I replaced it with, ironically, a Shimano SIS derailleur, which worked spectacularly well with a friction shifter.
Huret Jubilee may be the lightest derailleurs ever made. I rode them for years and loved them. What killed many of these brands was the groupset movement. They really only made derailleurs, and maybe brakes, but not cranks, headsets, pedals and such.
Id match has one big problem, the body measurments is not so accurate. For the instagrammer, a cost for a good bikefit sessions is 350 € for doing a good work. It depends of the profit margin depends on the store's brand. I think we can offer something else than a part of a process for a new bike.
campag' in the past did some very cutting edge technology and although not cheap quality was exceptional - taken from wiki - Founded by Tullio Campagnolo, the company began in 1933 in a Vicenza workshop. The founder was a racing cyclist in Italy in the 1920s who conceived several ideas while racing, such as the quick release mechanism for bicycle wheels, derailleurs, and the rod gear for gear changing. Campagnolo has been awarded more than 135 patents for innovations in cycling technology. sad not to see it -
I still use a Campag setup on my bike but going forward, my next bike will likely have a Shimano setup re cost, access to parts and general 'workability' - which is a shame for Campag but needs must. From an outsider looking in, I think Campag ought to look at their business model - do they want to be a niche provider of bike parts or do they want to compete with Shimano and SRAM? If they do, they probably need greater financial support including a review of work practices (i.e. modernisation) if they're going to expand...
Campag need to find a way re-invent themselves with new innovative and competitively priced products. I want Campag to be ‘the best’ whereas now most of its products are simply the most expensive but few consider them the best.
can you do an episode about the potential for some form of suspension to make road bikes faster, seems to me that on a less than perfect road surface quite a lot of enrgy would be lost bouncing the weight of the rider up and down. If you had some damping in seat post/saddle and handlebars the bike would be more efficient
#askGCNTech I bought a trail bike over the summer and have been having fun on it to the exclusion of my road/gravel bike. I know I'm a bad person... so I decided on a road ride. I noticed right way while taking my road/gravel bike down on its display, that the chain felt... stiff and cranks were reluctant to spring. I last used a wet lube (Muc-off brand) before putting the bike on its display. A little about the bike, it is quipped with a full GRX 11 spd kit and is kept indoors (my bedroom) so its safe to assuming its been keep at room temperature all this time. Does chain lube get sticky or harden if left unused for a long time? Should I clean the chain off, or just go for a ride and hope things get better. Many thanks!
When I was looking at group sets for my gravel bike build, I looked at Campagnolo but it was around 30% more than the equivalent Shimano. Also it had the little trigger on the inside of the brake hood, which I don't like, so all around no from me. In relation to not appearing in the tours, I thing "Brand Recognition" means little to us plebs and is only a way of keeping the advertising dept in a job.
hey! While I'm listenning to you talking about Campag, I'm thinking about Ciocc. another big piece of history silently disapearing from the stagelights... sad. Nice job guys! Romain
When I was growing up, Campagnolo or nothing. My SL tubing bespoke bike is so equipped. The only sticker on the bike is a small gold Campagnolo decal. Only wear Italian shoes and bibs as well. For many obvious reasons.
