50th Gruppo Price Update

Apparently no takers at $11,650, so the 50th Anniversary Gruppo is now on eBay with a Buy it Now price of $10,250. There's also another 50th gruppo there with a Buy it Now of $6,000 and one up for auction (starting at $2,900). Still time to get a letter to Santa ...

Today's Quick "Non-Review": Cycleaware Torpedo Bottle

We just mailed back a testing product from the folks at Cycleaware: their "Torpedo" insulated stainless steel water bottle. Although it's marketed as a cycling product, we thought it would be more accurately sold as a nice thermos. It doesn't fit into a standard bottle cage (they're coming out with a special cage for it) and you can't drink from it while you ride (twist-off top ... if you even wanted to drink hot coffee while riding). On the plus side, the Torpedo does a great job keeping liquids hot--in our unscientific test, it kept coffee hot for 8 hours.

Our suggestion to Campy Only fans looking to carry coffee with them would be to buy a standard stainless thermos (we have one from Starbucks that also includes a serving cup/cap). If you still want to try a Torpedo, they're available for $25 at the Cycleaware web site.

CampyOnly's Post-Thanksgiving Ride

135 miles from Davis, CA, to San Francisco to work off some of those holiday calories. Photos and captions here.

Christmas Idea?

This 50th Anniversary gruppo showed up on eBay, and with a Buy It Now price of $11,650, it won't last long ...

Seriously, folks. Almost $12K for a 50th Gruppo? It's not even in the supposedly more valuable sub-#100 sets (which are in fact no different from any other 50th gruppo).

Any guesses on what the actual selling price will be?

Today's Bike: Canadian Campa

Michel sent this photo of his Chorus-equipped Marinoni, which he rides in Henryville, Quebec. Beautiful gold Shamal wheels top off a nice build.

Free Pizza from Campagnolo

Campagnolo the Vancouver-based restaurant, that is. During the upcoming Winter Olympics, they'll give you a free pizza if you ordered and are in the restaurant when a Canadian athlete wins a medal. It's a little complicated--you have to order the right kind of pizza (different medals go with different pizzas) and be there when the athlete wins--but it sounds fun if you happen to be in Vancouver during the games. It might even help offset the astronomical costs of being in Vancouver during the Olympics ...

More info here.

How Low Can They Go?

Prices for Campagnolo gruppos are already dropping all over Europe (check out the prices at TotalCycling.com, a Campy Only sponsor) ... now comes news that Campagnolo gear ratios are getting lower as well. Campagnolo is releasing a new 12-29 cassette for their 11-speed gruppos. Combined with a 50/32 compact crankset, that will offer riders a range of 31 to 111 gear inches. That's enough at the low end to almost climb straight up, and high enough at the top end to squeeze the last bit of speed out of the downhill on the other side. More info here.

Campagnolo North America Christmas Ride Dec. 12

Campagnolo North America will be holding their second annual fun ride on December 12th. Here's the official invite from Campagnolo's Tom Kattus:

Season’s Greetings to all,

Put it on your calendar! Our 2^nd annual Toy Drive and Fun Ride to benefit Rady Children’s Hospital SD and SD Health and Human Services Foster Care Program will be taking place on Saturday December 12^th 2009. We will be collecting toys leading up to the event and the day of the event. We will be set up again in front of our offices in Carlsbad with plenty of parking in our office complex and adjacent business parks to accommodate as many people as we can attract. We would love you to join us the day of the event if possible. On the day of the event; we will start accepting donations and will have refreshments and food starting at 7:30am and the ride will depart at 9:00am; there are 2 distances for the ride, one 30 flat miles and one about 45 miles with a couple climbs. We hope that you join us this year; it would be great to see you! We are looking forward to making a lot of children’s’ Holiday Season brighter!

All the best,

TK

Visit the Campy Only Web Site

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Today's Bikes: Matching Lemonds

Reader Chas, from San Francisco, sent these photos. He describes them:

"A matched pair of Lemond TeamZ bikes (Italian made not Della Santa) with 1991 C-Record gruppos plus C-Record Deltas and a mint 1985 Eddy Merckx with a CdA gruppo.

One of the Lemonds is virgin, never ridden, not even chain marks on the chainrings (signed by Greg). It's going to remain a wall hanger. The other has about 200 mikes on it and I have no plans on riding it either."

Is Tweed Italian?

Probably not, but there were quite a few classic Campy-equipped machines at the first-ever Sacramento Tweed Ride. We were there for the festivities, and brought back these for you, our readers:

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176895@N03/sets/72157622762874036/

The Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keeODqpVlCI

Bicycle Hall of Fame/Museum in Davis, CA

The CampyOnlyGuy made a visit today to the newly opened (and still nascent) Bicycle Hall of Fame in Davis, CA. Took some photos--check them out and you'll see some classic Campy-equipped bikes in there.

More info on the new Hall of Fame here and here.

Thursday's Bike: Retro Bottecchia

Gregory's 1980-something Bottecchia is a Katrina survivor--it was hanging from the ceiling and escaped the flooding. Gregory still lives and rides in Lousiana.

Wednesday's Bike: Runce's Orbea

Runce's Orbea Mitis is looking very color-coordinated. Chorus gruppo gets the power to the pavement via a pair of Rolf wheels.

Today's Photo

Remember these "Break Away With Campagnolo" decals? Reader Chuck picked up this toolbox and sent us the photo.

If YOU have an interesting Campagnolo-related photo, email it to us and we'll post it here.

Like Expensive Cycling Togs?

Try out this eBay auction for an "historic" Nalini wool jersey. Just $35, but check out the $2,100 shipping charge to get it here from Italy!