Campy Tattoos

A slightly different take on Campagnolo tattoos--here is an ad from the Tucson, AZ, Craigslist for a tattoo machine made from a Campagnolo front derailleur:

http://tucson.craigslist.org/bik/1812412228.html

"Campagnolo Derailluer / Tattoo Machine - $50 (Central East)
Date: 2010-06-26, 10:59AM MST
Reply to: sale-x3upr-1812412228@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
I have a very uniqe item here.
This is a nineteen eighties Campy front derailleur from my old Cannondale. I was bored one day while minding the shop and decided to create this. I used a motor from a beard trimmer and a stainless pen barrel.
It takes standadr needle bars / grommets. I have never used it because I have actual tat machines, but it does work."

Here's a photo of the finished product. This would of course be the perfect machine to get a Campy tattoo.


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Campy History: BMX

A reader sent us photos of his newly acquired Bianchi track bike and asked about the blue Campagnolo crankset. His question: What's the story about the cranks?

The answer is that Campagnolo did indeed make cranksets (and hubs and a few other pieces) for the the new BMX market in the 1980s. Based on the Nuovo/Super Record crankset, the BMX cranks were specifically designed to fit a single chainring. The gruppos came in several anodized colors--in the photos below are our reader's blue set and a gold BMX crank that graces one of Campy Only's fixed gear bikes.

Campagnolo soon dropped the BMX gruppo, but you can still find cranksets fairly easily on eBay or other online sources. They'll make a great, retro-looking addition to your classic bike.













Bottom photo: Harry the cat helped with the photo shoot.

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Today's Bike: CampyOnly's Rivendell

Here's our Campy-equipped '97 Rivendell Road on the bike to Winters. CA.




-- Post From My iPhone

Today's Bike: Scott's Scapin

Thanks to Scott A for sending these shots of his classic '87 Scapin, equipped with Super Record. Note the "flat" crankset--this was the last iteration of the Super Record/Nuovo Record crankset spider. Previous versions had fluting on the crankarms that was prettier, but also made the cranks slightly prone to cracking at the thin spot where the crankarm meets the spider. This version, with a laser-etched logo, is much beefier at that location.

Look closely at Scott's bike and you'll also see a pair of Nisi rims, a popular racer's choice of the time.












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Kim's brand-new Rivendell Rodeo (more about the frame at www.rivbike.com) sports almost retro Campy equipment in the form of 8-speed Ergo levers and matching rear derailleur. Longtime Campy fans will recall that the brake levers on these early Ergos were a solid piece of forged aluminum. It wasn't until later that the brake levers were made (like Campy brake levers before and since) of formed aluminum sheet stock. These were undoubtedly the stoutest brake levers Campy ever made.



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Location:Today's Bike: Rodeo Time

Today's Campy Photo

New iPhone 4 arrived today, so we used it to snap a pic of a 1972 Nuovo Record dérailleur. Enjoy.



-- Post From My iPhone

More on the 2011 Line: Imperfection is Perfection

CyclingWeekly posted a complete report on the new stuff ... and pointed out that the new crankset design for lower-priced gruppos is aimed at the mass market and ShimaNO's dominance of the factory-spec'ed business.

The performance and weight remain to be seen but the final two words 'reliability' and 'cost' are the vital points at this early stage because it appears Campagnolo really are going after the 'original equipment' market - that's the parts you buy already built onto a complete bike - by making these new components simpler and therefore cheaper and more tolerant of frame manufacturers' engineering imperfections.

Full report here.

Photo gallery here.

Today: A Vineyard

Two nicely equipped Viners from reader Barb M:

Today's Bike: 1986 Pinarello

Lots of chrome-plated goodness on Steve B's '86 Pinarello! He writes,

"1986 Pinarello Record. In the Yellow, Red, White and Blue colors to commemorate Alexi Grewal's 1984 Olympic Victory. Mostly Chorus. Super Record front derailleur. Forgive me with the lame break levers. At the time I was thinking about brake lever shifters, but never bought any, I used these until I made my decision. Then this bike went into storage for the last 15 years. Just took it out today.
Enjoy,
Steve B"












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BikeRadar's 2011 Report

The British website BikeRadar has a detailed report on all the new features in the 2011 lineup. Centaur and Veloce are looking like a great deal, if you can stand carrying a few more ounces around with you:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/2011-campagnolo-centaur-and-veloce-10-speed-groupsets-26576




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SFR 200K Nighttime Brevet, Campy-Equipped

Took my Campy-equipped randonneuring bike out for a spin last night. Photos here.

First, Ultra-Torque. Now, Power-Torque

Campagnolo has published news of their latest crankset design on the official site, at http://www.campagnolo.com/jsp/en/newsdetail/newsid_161_newscatid_3.jsp

As shown below, Power-Torque replaces the split bottom bracket axle from Ultra-Torque with a one-piece design that the lefthand crankarm clamps onto (similar to ShimaNO's latest designs, but without those godawful allen bolts holding the crankarms on).




At the link above, you'll also find news about the new Centaur and Veloce 10S gruppos, under the heading "More than 10" (wouldn't "more than ten" be "eleven"?)



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More News About the 2011 Lineup: Color Choices and Prices

Reader D sent this info to us:

"I can confirm a UK distributer for Campagnolo has issued a new catalogue with Ergo power hoods and cables in red (CPS11AR) white ( CPS11AW ) and CX carbon PowerTorque system chainsets for cyclo-cross 36/46 34/50 with 170, 172.5, 175mm 11speed or 10 speed (CP75 ) £344.99 or alloy as above £169.99

Veloce 2011 10-speed chainset, rear mech, brake calipers, front mech, Ergopower levers either black or silver anodised... groupset £485.99

Centaur 10-speed same choice, black or silver

Athena gets choice of silver Ergo`s too

All 10 speed groupsets get 3 year warranty"

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Today's Bike: GOLD!!

Reader Kurt sends these photos from his home in Belgium. This Lexpres shows a somewhat common feature of bikes from the classic era, when individual bike manufacturers would add their own spin to Campagnolo's gruppos. In this case, the crankset, brakes, etc., have been anodized with a golden color and custom engraved.

Campagnolo added anodized color to its BMX lineup, but other than that color choices have been pretty much limited to silver, grey (also called "Century finish") and black. Modern carbon fiber is the latest addition.

Now, the photos:












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WNBR

You won't need your overpriced Campagnolo shorts and jersey for this ride: World Naked Bike Ride Worldwide, June 12, 2010. Photo below, someone obviously very happy about their Schwinn Varsity, and obviously not taking part in the WNBR (yet).

Today's Bike Girl

Definitely SFW.

Today's Bike: Campy Fixie

Nice-looking fixie owned by Al F. in Albuquerque, NM. Note the unusual black C-Record track crankset!

Retro Fans, Take Note

The annual Cirque du Cyclisme starts today in Leesburg, VA, and continues through the weekend. This is a great event for fans of Campagnolo's classic era.

More info at their web site: http://www.cirqueducyclisme.com/


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Way Back When ...

Yes, Campy Only has really been around since 1995, starting as a single page on the CampyOnlyGuy's personal web site. Here's a screen shot from April 2000, courtesy of the WayBack Machine at www.archive.org:

QR Code for CampyOnly.com

If you have a QR Code reader on your mobile device, you can use this image to link directly to our flagship site, www.campyonly.com


To use QR Codes on your mobile device, you'll need to install a QR scanner app. Search the App Store or the Web for "QR Reader" and the model of your phone to find a scanner app; they're available for the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Nokia, BlackBerry, and other app-based phones with a camera built in. (Campy Only uses "QRReader" on our iPhone.)