Today's Campy Girl

 Dressed up and ready to ride retro style ... but what's with those shoes?

 

 

Sparks in the Night ...

... Which is to say, some nighttime shots with the Spark HD II camera from Bad Vision (a Campy Only sponsor), taken during tonight's ride.

Video ...



... and 5 megapixel still

New Stuff From Bad Vision

 The folks at Bad Vision (a Campy Only sponsor and supplier of the cameras we use to film our cycling videos) have sent us a couple of new products to try out: an updated version of their Hotspot videocam sunglasses, which now shoot in 720P HD, and the latest version of the Spark HD bike-mount camera, which now films in 1080P HD at up to 60 frames per second.

We've given each a quick tryout, and the results so far are great. Watch for a complete review soon.

For now, here are some quick video samples. First, the Hotspot video glasses:



And the Spark HD II camera:

Photo From Today's Ride

 Our 1973 Motobecane, taken in downtown Sacramento. Campy content = Campagnolo BMX gold anodized crankset.

Today's Bike Girls

 The bike is SRAM-equipped, but who cares?

See the video here.

 

Battery-Powered Shifting: A True Story

Campy Only sponsor Larry Theobald of CycleItalia sent in this report (originally titled "A biased and atypical but TRUE story") after a recent ride with a group that included someone using ShimaNO's new D12 electronic gruppo. 

Read on after this report for a few more thoughts from Campy Only and Larry ...

"Yours truly went for a ride today with the guys who show up at a local bar at 2 pm most days. After the usual 'Tuesday Afternoon World Championships' got started I found myself left with two guys, Giuseppe riding a carbon Daccordi with pre-UltraTorque carbon Campagnolo gruppo and Martino, aboard a new-looking BMC machine equipped with Shimano Dura Ace DI2. We were soon joined by Luigi riding a Pinarello Dogma with a recent Record carbon groupset. These fellows were uninterested in making a race of it and were happy just to enjoy the ride, letting me tag along aboard one of our steel rental Torelli bikes equipped with the last version of 9-speed Mirage components. 

We rolled along for a couple of hours with me trying to understand snippets of the Sicilian dialect with little luck, while observing my first Shimano electronic groupset in action. Eventually we reached the town of Canicattini, our highest elevation and turned for home, almost totally downhill. As we gained a bit of speed I noticed Martino going slowly but pedaling quite fast. As I rolled up behind it seemed his ultra-expensive, ultra-sophisticated front derailleur would not obey his command to move the chain up onto the big ring. The other bikes never missed a beat though perhaps their riders did once or twice, but we had to wait for Martino who could only whirl away on his small chainring and tiny cog in back. 

Ironic how the most expensive and sophisticated components among our small group were the ones that failed, especially the very first time I'd seen one of these groups in action."

Campy Only's take is that this story highlights not only the reliability of Campagnolo's components (which CycleItalia uses exclusively), but the folly of relying on batteries to shift your chain. Even if nothing was wrong with Martino's ShimaNO system, a dead or dying battery would have had the same effect ... and this will affect bikes with Campagnolo's EPS system as well.  Welcome to the age of charging up your cell phone, your iPod ... and your bike ... every night.

We asked Larry about this, and he agreed, and pointed to an opinion he wrote on another blog last year (scroll down to September 2) that highlights yet another issue with electronic shifting.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

 

Rare 1984 Olympics Campagnolo Decal For Sale

We're selling a bit of Campagnolo history from the Campy Only archives over on eBay--a rare and collectible window decal commemorating Campagnolo's role in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Here's a photo (see the auction for an explanation of why the ruler is backwards): 

See the auction here. Bidding ends January 30 at 3:51 PST.

Today's Rain Ride

A little rain (and a lot of wind) wasn't enough to deter us from getting in a ride today on our Campy-equipped 1973 Motobecane. Here it is in rain mode, including a cover for our leather Brooks seat bag.

Just for Fun on a Sunday

How many of your Campy-loving friends can you spot in this video?

Campagnolo EPS Road Test EXCLUSIVE

Campy Only correspondent Mike McGary sent this detailed report on the new electronic gruppos. Enjoy.

"Last week, I was fortunate enough to go to Campagnolo North America in beautiful Carlsbad, Ca. to take in some tech training on Campy’s new EPS (Electronic Power Shift) gruppos and go for a spin on the new kit. I was thoroughly stoked when I found out we would be riding the same Super Record-equipped Pinarello Dogma 2s that were used at the Campagnolo EPS world-wide launch in Sicily awhile back. Let’s just cut to the chase; After over 20 years of development, this is hands down the best gruppo on the market today, probably ever. Bar none.

Ergonomics are excellent-they feel just like Campy’s best-in-class mechanical hoods, (although they are slightly different).  Campy’s “one-lever, one-movement” shifting makes this system very intuitive to those who ride Campy currently, and makes it extremely difficult to miss-shift by pressing the wrong button.  In fact, the amount of finger pressure required to depress the mechanical shift levers has been measured and is set up exactly the same in the EPS electronic levers. There is a defined click with each shift that you can both hear and feel. (Essential for the pro peloton). In other words, the shifters don’t feel any different than what you are used to. It only took a few minutes for me to forget all about the electronics- it just felt like shifting a Campy bike, albeit quicker and easier.

Today's Mod Bike: Will's Cervelo

Reader Will S. sent in this photo and report on his new build:

  I just finished building this S2 with a mix of Record & Chorus components, Shamal Ultra wheels, Easton EC90 SLX bars, a Ritchie 4 axis stem and fizik Arione cx saddle. The first ride was amazing and so fast. There will be many more like it... --Will S.

Got a bike (retro or mod) that you'd like to share with Campy fans around the world? Email your photos to us and we'll post it here: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Photos from the Weekend

CampyOnlyGuy rode from San Francisco to Monterey and back this weekend--about 250 miles, with 11,000 feet of climbing (and an entire day into a headwind on Day Two). I was riding the Campy Only Motobecane, a 1980s-ish Grand Record equipped with a Campy BMX crankset (Campy content!) and a three-speed fixed gear drivetrain.  

More photos here. Video below is of a mural near Aptos.

 

Updates to a Campy Only Project Bike

Readers of this blog may recall that we've been playing around with a 1980s Motobecane Grand Record frame, which we outfitted with a Campy BMX crankset (Campy content!) and a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed fixed gear hub. Our goal is to use this bike on some longer brevets--and certainly to ride it after dark. With these goals in mind, we recently added a Busch and Muller "bottle dynamo" (their D6 model) to the bike, using the B&M seatstay mount. The light is connected to an IQ Cyo LED headlight (very bright, 95% of the performance of a Schmidt Edelux at half the price) and a B&M 4-LED taillight. 

Mounting the dynamo and lights took us a couple of hours, and required a small mod to the fender so that the dynamo wouldn't rub on it. We're quite pleased with the results.

The dynamo, for those who have considered mounting one, generates slightly more drag than a Schmidt dynamo hub (as well as a subdued whistling noise when engaged). It's not that noticeable, and has the advantage of going to zero drag when it's off and the dynamo is not in contact with the wheel.

More photos here.

Note: We already had the dynamo and headlight; the other bits were purchased locally (Sacramento CA) at Bicycle Business. Nice to know that there's a local supplier of this stuff, which is generally pretty hard to find. They're also online, as is Peter White Cycles, the main US importer of dynamo lighting supplies.

 

An Ending and a Beginning: Photos from Two Rides

The Davis Bike Club sponsored two 200K brevets this past weekend--the "Last Chance" and "First Chance" brevets. Campy Only was there for both--didn't ride the entire distance either day, but got out for some quality miles nonetheless.  

Here are links to photos and videos:

Last Chance Brevet, 12-31-11

First Chance Brevet, 1-1-12 Videos shot with the Spark HD camera from BadVision