Is Campagnolo OVERRATED? 

26 inch wheels are underrated, very good for a good bike fit and geometry for a lot of the population

The English major and the Engineer. Good combination, you guys should do more of this type of chat.

Good chat. Been riding Campy since the 1970’s! Love its over-engineering. It’s longevity and style. Can still buy spares. Does not wear out....Have 2014 Record/Super Record on Road and Gravel Bikes . Works great.

i'll add my 3-cents worth on Campy vs. Shimano vs SRAM vs. a Dia-Compe/Advent/Suntour/Sugino componentry I've used to build frankenbikes. Of all the bikes I've owned, wrenched, and built over the decades, Campy has given me the least amount of trouble from a long-term durability and maintenance standpoint. I have a 2005 Chorus group that is still going strong. The shifting is still crisp, old-school rim brakes still stop on a dime and it just works. I love the Ekar on my gravel bike. It's just smooth and reliable. Every Shimano setup I've had over the years on MTB and touring set ups requires more routine tuning to maintain shifting. I find friction shifting to be a blast and it's great on non-technical MTB routes. Easy to repair and keep going. I would say the one brand that is way overhyped and priced is SRAM. My experience w/ SRAM has been terrible but to each their own.

What a great crossover 👏. Would def watch another convo with Nolan in the future!

I agree that good steel/ aluminum are underrated; and bad steel/aluminum is overrated. Though I’d put steel overall as underrated simply because you can get a custom steel frame more easily than a custom aluminum, carbon or titanium frame. A bike specifically designed and built for your dimensions and riding style is so important, especially for people with atypical dimensions.

Great format guys - really enjoyable stream!

I got a normal bike recently with a belt drive for the short commute I have to work. I did look at some the E-Bikes recently and a lot of them seem to want to connect to my phone and other things to work. I just need a bike to go from point A to point B. I thinking of just getting a single speed bike or an old use road bike as a backup bike.

During the COVID parts shortages there was a time you could get really cheap Campagnolo parts from Europe. So I got a 12 speed Chorus groupset for $800, which was about $500 less than Ultegra was going for at the time. It's been great so far, functionally, seems very well made and looks good too. But there are also annoying things--special expensive tools you need to buy, Campy's refusal to use quick links for nonsense reasons, etc. But that's about what I expected. Very nice stuff but a little precious, in the fussy sense. i.e. I think, it's appropriately rated.

Crank length is symptomatic of the tall bloke bias of the bike industry. but other stuff has to change that might make floor tricky to reach with your foot, so has to be integrated with rest of the bike geometry

Fun evening chat !! I am a campy fan for road bikes . Very good quality and very reliable.

I love that you're already doing hacky stuff with this new Sword groupset. Keep it up, personally I'm very interested in these details.

Super excited about the new micro shift brifter. The fact they changed to hidden cables is a huge aesthetic improvement in my opinion

I like the bike sauce as co host. Would watch again. Also, as a fan of sports in general I became a big fan of le Tour a few years back. I don’t race at any level and don’t care about racing generally but Stage races are great for the different tactics, team dynamics, jersey competitions, types of stages, etc. For an interesting explanation of the weird sponsorship model read Jonathan Vaughters excellent book one way ticket. surly’s have wide tire clearance that compensate for no suspension or fancy tubing and at a moderate price to boot.

I prefer old school sis type shifting. I do run Microshift 1x10 on my modern road bike and Shimano 600 2x8 on my 90's road bike. Not interested in electronic shifting at all. I also dont care for disk brakes, but it is hard finding new bikes that do not have it.

Gosh I would LOVE to put this new Microshift with a Surly midnight special! Now THAT would be my dream build 🤤

Great seeing Nolan on your channel. Watching 2 of 3 of my most watched channels "For Bike Weirdos" would be a t-shirt or sticker I'd buy. Perhaps with a biker with the handlebars higher than the seat and a big smile. I appreciate the Microsoft review. I've started to consider other product lines more closely since watching the channel. Thanks for keeping us all informed.

This year's TdF was incredibly exciting viewing. From the daily struggle to get into early breaks to the late fight for the KOM. Not to mention the GC comp. Even the TT was outstanding!

Big fan of this duo and the relatable takes on relevant topics/technologies. More please!

Wow, sorry I missed this episode! Hope there’s more planned in the future.

Great conversation pieces there. Regarding the tech-on-bike debate, I feel that too much integration (especially cloud based) will just accelerate panned obsolescence and maybe even force it... like software updates which screw up "old" tech. I don't mind localised bluetooth connected tuning, but I am weary of anything with "cloud" or even worse "AI" integration!

I too love Campy, have used it since the late 90's. Not only does it seem to last longer, but also able to buy parts when needed. As for Apps with cycling, I can understand why they do it..but personally for me, I'm not interested in it at all and would stay away from products where I would need to use it. I LOVE watching the TDF, but find myself moving the arrow forward so that I'm watching the parts that I want to. I do think that the bike companies need to pay more attention to 'everyone' because the percentage of cyclists watching the TDF has to be quite small.

Always had a good experience with older campy(pre90) and centaur. Agree with cheap steel is overrated, quality underrated. Gas pipe frames are just... heavy. While nice steel is wonderful. Aluminum mountain bikes are nice, haven't done road yet.

Cool! I just discovered Nolan last night looking for a video on freehub bearings.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Well. Maybe a little. Main problem is that Campy was the only one of the big 3 that still offered a polished silver groupset. But now they've dropped Centaur, not even the Italians are offering us real style!

I realized the "advantage" of Campy when i was looking (in vain) for replacement cones for my Maillard Helicomatic. Of xourse this was decades ago, so im not aure how things may have changed... Probably everything is disposable. :-(

App integration is a symptom of bigger problems such as right to repair, planned obsolescence, and throw away products. Technology assistance can be useful and innovative but if you can’t shut it off or tweak it it becomes a hindrance. E-bikes seem to appeal to a lot of non-cyclists and layering on the technology makes the cost seem worth the huge price tag. The majority are not going to stick with it so the longevity and repair ability is not going to matter.

I'm rebuilding a 1993 Fat City Cyclez Slim Chance with Campy Record. This is my first time messing with it and holy crap is it beautifully made! Same goes for a 1972 Nuovo Record rear derailleur. It's jewel-like!

I dont think frame material is such a big deal, just use enough of it in the right places such that its strong enough and bouncy enough for long rides and a long life. What is overrated is lightweight, using strength to thinning tube walls bothers me for something that i'm relying on not fold under me at 30KM/h in traffic or heading down hill toward a tree

Steel is such a moving target, the better cro moly and similar tougher alloys are very good in the right frame and well manufactured, also true however of carbon and aluminium

Kind of touched on it in the vid, but what are some higher end , maybe production/non custom, steel bike brands?

I like this format, and the interaction between you and Nolan. You are both intelligent, articulate, thoughtful and polite.

I love the option of gravel suspension. We all ride different terrain so being able to set a bike up exactly the way you want is pretty cool. No matter what the gatekeepers think of it.

My main gripe (aside from price these days) is their cables - stiff, and rough as a cob, unless that has changed recently. Mandrel-drawn cable would be a huge improvement.

Interestingly I have an aluminium Mason Bokeh, fitted with Campag Ekar. I am an old school cyclist from the UK who rides a steel lugged frame on the road. I would second your comments that done well, aluminium rides really well. Having said that the Bokeh is not an inexpensive bike and it would be perfectly possible to get a complete bike for the price of the frameset. As regards Campag, I have used it since I raced 30 odd years ago, so am very familiar with its quirks. I think that they may have lost touch with the price of their electronic groupsets. However, I think that their mechanical groupsets are very good, with current Chorus being a fine groupset. The bonus is that they still do rim brake callipers, which are all but dissappearing. My Chorus rim brakes are more than enough for road use.

Funny how many Americans commented that Campagnolo is too expensive but they would spend 200,00 USD for Paul’s brake levers just because they are made in USA while you can get a decent set of brake levers from Shimano for 40,00 USD

I’ve owned and completely worn out Shimano 105 components and honestly, I’ve been completely happy with them- but my experience with Campy Chorus is better than Shimano 105.

I've not tried some of the newer carbon fibre (and very expensive) groupsets from Campagnolo. However, I have bikes with older (10+ years ago) Campagnolo alloy groupsets. They are excellent.

So, I am a traditional roadie. I have Campy Record on my main bike. And YES, I think that it's overrated. Their mech groups slightly, EPS definitely more overrated. Chorus is possibly underrated, though. Just not many people spec it, and it is well priced for what you get - meaning that there is a Campy premium, but it's a lot smaller than with Record or SR. Athena was probably underrated. They ... kind of dropped the ball with the Athena/Potenza line of components.

One of my favorite RU-vidrs with one of my favorite professors turned RU-vidr!

MORE OF THIS, please 😎💯👍

Been riding Campy since the 80’s because I generally like their components better than the other brands, with the notable exception of of their rim brake calipers. I generally prefer the Chorus derailleurs and cassettes, and the Record cranksets and chains. Their wheelsets are also top notch. I think that all of the top end components across the major brands are over-rated unless you make your living riding up a col in July a few seconds faster than everyone else!

Crank length topic. I'm similar to Russ's size and i have been riding various sizes cranks on all sorts of rides and it wasn't until riding a fixie daily for 3 years that I obtained some new insights. One is that fixed requires shorter crank to make corners while cranking obviously .Avoiding pedal strikes is very important in mountain bikes too, especially with the lower slacker full suspension bikes. But back to fixed gear, track standing is very important too and there is a fine difference when the crank is near the top of the stroke where leverage is reduced. Russ pointed this out. If the crank is long depending on your leg size the amount of torque the rider can apply could be reduced. Also it's true a shorter crank is easier to spin. But long cranks can spin well too, but in the case of fixed gear you will definitely notice a longer crank makes high RPMs when descending more challenging. Then of course there are marginal gains in crotch clearance which a dropper post obviously overcomes. Shorter cranks are good for mtb and fixed, but otherwise 170-175 is fine. Ive ridden 180 for years a long time ago on an mtb single speed. It was fine. I still single speed a lot and 170 is fine. I see no reason to get 165 with freewheeling. I hope bike manufacturers vrce a woder range of cranks sizes scaled to the size of the frame and the discipline.

I love my ribble, BUT bd warned if you have a issue good luck dealing with them 37 emails 10 phone calls and they couldn't get the right part to me ridiculously bad customer service.

I have been watching Tour de France since I was little, and I have been following it all my life. This year I really liked Sepp Kuss, amazing cimber. This year Phil Gaimon did a daily video with commentary on the Tour, that was really interesting, where he explained what and why was going on every day. And Phil Gaimon is an ex-racer, and really cool guy.

Sword logo kinda matches my Merlin headtube badge! May be time for a new crankset 🙂

Bread and butter components from Shimano is my goto, sometimes i'll go for LX for touring.

Campy is spendy buuut, I have to give them credit for compatibility. Same freehub body for ages, works for 9/10/11/12 speed and the N3W and even be adapted back.

@pathlesspedaled trek checkpoint alr5 vs jamis renegade s3?

I've been running campy for many years now. I have shimano and SRAM as well. Campy is fantastic. I'm still running my campy superrecord 2014. Super slick.

Campy is overrated for the consumer, but their design and contribution to the sport/industry is pretty huge. Since then other companies have caught up, even surpassed their innovations but without them we probably don't see the progression as fast. Overpriced and overrated, perhaps. Beautifully designed, for sure. It's not for the regular rider. I do like that you can find replacements for every single little part they use. I had a vintage Olmo with full Campy Record and it was smooth and worked flawlessly over 40 years later. Crank length is personal. There's no blanket statement that says a shorter cranks will feel better. It depends on your riding style, whether you spin or power through. It depends on your flexibility and depends on the fit of the bike to your body. The first has to do more with stroke efficiency while the latter has to do more with fit which leads to efficiency. You probably felt a difference because you'd been riding too long a crank for your fit, flexibility, and style.

I'm 6 ft, going from 175mm to 170mm cranks is noticable (better). Also I have a surly (midnight special) and the front end was not compliant off road. Steel forks with disc brakes are too beefy, so there's no flex. Which is why I went to a suspension fork. My wrists are much happier. Disclaimer, I did get a screaming hot deal on the bike and fork.

37:20 Every time I mention that the bike I'm buying is aluminum frame, people mention the harshness, buzzy feeling of aluminum. I feel like most of that sentiment is from riding aluminum road bikes, specifically race inspired bikes like the Allez. Of course a stiff sprinter's bike made from a lightweight metal is going to be buzzy, not to mention that they have small tires as well. I usually mention that the frame is much more relaxed, not as stiff around the rear end, carbon fork, 45mm tires, carbon wheels, etc. it makes up for the harmonics of the frame. My mountain bike is aluminum too, in fact i'd say that all but the pros and old-heads ride aluminum frame mountain bikes. It's the most cost effective lightweight and somewhat strong material for frames. Of course a good steel frame would be much comfier but at double the frame cost and usually added weight.

I wish I could have caught this when you were live. Having two decent steel bikes, I’ve wanted to upgrade the frame on one to Velo Orange’s upcoming Randonneur frame. Are VO’s frames considered good, decent, higher end, etc? That frame looks like it would be the perfect upgrade for my bike.

I think electronics and A.I. in bicycle technology defeats the purpose of the simplicity and self reliance of bicycling.

Just saw the the Tour de France is the most watched sports event in the world. Not sure where they got the numbers but the viewership is up there. So definitely it converts the marketing spend into brand value and likely sales too. Especially for top tier teams.

Should have reviewed freequence/vecnum's new stem

Chris King - WAAAY overrated for their threadless headsets. Probably on par for everything else. The threadless headsets are defective in design. Instead of a split compression ring to hold the steer tube concentric to the upper bearing (to avoid infringing on Dia Compe [now Cane Creek]'s patent), Chris King uses just an o-ring. The problem with this is it compresses when side loaded, and can actually lead to wear on the steer tube. This potentially can even cause a steer tube failure during a ride! So while I used to own a Chris King threadless headset, I never will again until they change their design. For now, it's the Cane Creek 40 for me, and the 110 if I had the cash.

Quality Aluminum tubing has been the best kept secret for a while. My most comfortable bike has Columbus Al tubing from 2006.

Re: Campagnolo. 1. Why is Chris King just "rated" when they are effectively the same as Campagnolo doing small volume, in-house, precision fabrication albeit in Portland vs Vincenza. CK is more expensive than Campagnolo, which you both hold against the Italian brand. Campagnolo produces all their items including rims, CKing doesn't. Seems inconsistent. 2. Campagnolo is 100% a racing brand. They make components that are for racing track, racing road or racing gravel. The gear selection is racing gearing. Not understanding that, their market focus and that they choose to be a racing only brand is like not understanding why a racing kayak isn't a fishing boat.

Resist compliance and be compliant in the same plane? Good luck with that. People confuse tyre compliance with frame compliance.

If I'm honest, the groupset company I'd actually say is somewhat overrated is SRAM. Yes, they have some great products. But, looking back, I've had more problems with their products than Shimano or Campagnolo. SRAM's lower-tier groupsets and products are sometimes just not that great. Campagnolo isn't as much overrated as it is expensive and in place in the market that isn't accessible to all. I wouldn't necessarily call their products overrated from my experience. They've mostly been excellent.

In the UK and Europe I still see most cyclists on road bikes. On Le Tour I think for a lot of watchers a good part of the appeal is the scenery and the French culture. I was passionate about it until the Armstrong affair, and to be fair it turned out he was caught doing what most other riders were doing. The problem now is I hate seeing any ‘outstanding’ performances.

More Russ + Nolan, please!

More sauce!

More of this👌🏻

Not interested in Carbon frames at all. Would prefer steel or aluminum.

The only Tour de France Rider I know is Michael Woods. And the only reason I know him is because he's the only 🇨🇦 to win a Tour stage it seems like forever

This used to be an ACN segment…is that all done?

Aluminium frames are aluminium alloy frames so a lot of the properties come from the mix of metals used. Along with the abolition of cotter pin cranks🤮 aluminium is the best thing to ever happen to the cycling industry. Never forget they are 100% recyclable into beer cans🤘

MicroSHIFT, aluminium, steel, titanium underrated. Gravel suspension is fine. I just don't like the integrated proprietary technologies (like Future Shock). Shorter cranks are overrated.

You won't need humans with AI😂

I like this

Shimano recalls 760,000 Hollowtech road cranks due to 4,519 incidents of 'separation or delamination'… but sure let’s talk about how campy is overrated 🤦‍♂️

Hey where's Eric?

Some Campy is definitely overrated, but mechanical Chorus is underrated.

VanMoof employed people who tracked down stolen bikes and stole them back for you, so that's something good, I guess.

You will attract the ire of the Campy zealots.

Hot take, Velo Orange.

App equiped bikes are a load of bollocks but I could be wrong....Nah, the're bollocks.🤪

why does everything have to be OVERRATED?

You not going to drive a Honda race car either

How dare you put that in the title 😡

Campagnolo Ergopower levers are the only brifters that are actually usable. Shimano is particularly annoying. Very confusing. Very squishy and undefined. And why do they force you to apply the rear brake when you are shifting into an easier gear? Absurd... The only real downside to Capagnolo is the price, but given that all their stuff is made in Europe, that is forgiveable. Also, this makes the hardcore cyclist prerequisite of car being cheaper than the bike more attainable.

Did you really just compare Chorus to 105? Not even close in comparison. 105 is a beginner-mid level group that is mass produced with tons of durability issues. Campy is built to last though and ultrashift has been a feature for what, 2 decades? If you’re not riding a lot of hills (roadie, fast descents, etc) then you’re also probably ok with shimano. The way you’re basing these ratings on GRX and Ekar tells me you’re probably not doing a lot of downhill shifting anyway.

Isn't this whole artisanal cycling segment overrated?? (Sklar, CRUST, Salsa, Surly etc) Most of these cottage bike brands that have no real performance gains and just marketed heavily as cool as shit bikes but are actually super expensive and as expensive as the new hi end Shimano DI groupset clad bikes that you often criticize. How is it any better than the 1,500 usd out of the box Trek, Specialized, and Santa Cruz modern hard tail MTBs. Those things rock and can do almost all the touring, bikepacking, racing, trail riding and everyday use. Oh yeah , all the stuff at BLUE TOKYO is like overpriced and just over all everything is overrated. You don't need an almost 5,000 usd heavy ass and look at me I'm a cool bike hipster non Lycra rider. Who cares if you have PAUL everything. Just means you have money and make bike thieves salivate.