Campy Ergo: No More Strong Springs

Email from a reader:

A while back Campy released record red shifters which apparently had older/stiffer springs in them. You don't happen to know or have a link to a parts list that I would need to get to make my current 10 speed levers feel that way?

An the answer from our tech experts:

Unfortunately, red g-springs are no longer available.

Vintage Italian Bike Show at 2012 Concorso Italiano

Got a classic Italian bike? Check this out:

I would like to let the Campy fans know that there will be a second annual vintage Italian Bicycle Class to be held at Concorso Italiano in Montetey, California this August 17th.

Please visit www.concorso.com for more info.

We are also looking for a few more entries. If you are interested in attending please shoot me an email.

Thanks.

--Wesley H

Grant Petersen's "Tireside Chat" at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame

The 13th stop on Grant Petersen's nationwide tour for his latest book, "Just Ride," saw the largest turnout yet for his personal appearances. Petersen, founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works, gave a presentation at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, CA, then answered questions ... and made some of the "controversial" statements he is know for (helmets encourage people to ride unsafely, clip-in pedals and shoes don't work, etc.).

Grant Petersen at the USBHOF

We'll have a review of Grant's book in this space soon; in the meantime, here are more photos from the event.

Campagnolo Mountain Bike Gruppo Coming?

We're hearing that rumors are floating around Europe that Campagnolo plans to re-enter the mountain bike arena, perhaps with an electronic MTB gruppo.

We don't have more info now, but we'll share when we do.

Campy Olympus from back in the day.

 

Athena EPS 11-Speed Launches

Lots of news out there about the launch yesterday of Campagnolo's 11-speed Athena EPS gruppo:

VeloNews: "Campagnolo's new 11-speed Athena puts electronic shifting within easy reach"

BikeRadar: "Campagnolo Athena EPS 11-Speed Released"

Bike Retailer: "Campy Extends EPS to Athena Groupset"

Road.cc: "Campag unveil Athena EPS"

Do you plan to install Athena EPS on your bike? Email with your thoughts on how it works, and we'll post them here. Email: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Nice Retro Bike on eBay

A friend pointed us to this nice 1980s Peter Wiegel bike on eBay, built with the original Campy Record gruppo and not ridden for some 15 years. Looks like a nice bike, but this niche in our collection is already filled.

1980s Peter Wiegel FS on eBay

See the eBay auction here.

Missing Athena Story?

Our news feed said we could find a story on the launch of Athena EPA 11-speed here, but the link comes back broken. Has anybody been able to read the story? Let us know in the comments.

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Campy-Equipped 'Cross Bike

Today's Campy-equipped bike comes to us from Gert-Jan L in the Netherlands, who writes:

Hello Eric,

Here’s my Ridley X-Ride cyclocross bike. The standard catalog bike has Ultegra parts *cough* , so I just bought a frameset and mounted an Athena 11 speed groupset in black finish, with black Campy cyclocross brakes, Khamsin wheels, 4ZA (=Ridley) stem, bar and seatpost. Selle Italia SLR saddle, Eggbeater pedals, Challenge Grifo tires. I use it offroad between November and March in the Netherlands, when the roads are wet, and on holidays. It rides like a tank: a bit heavier than my carbon Pinarello, due to the wheels mainly, but almost unstoppable. The brakes don’t do much, by the way. But like Eddy Merckx once said, braking is a waste of time anyway.

Regards,

Gert-Jan L

(Oisterwijk, the Netherlands)

 

 

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Bikes on Main Street

Spotted this "bike shop" a few days ago on Main Street in Disneyland. The purveyor, Bob Gurr, is a renowned designer of vehicles for Disneyland. More photos here.

 

 

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New Retro Stuff

Riders who are still using retro Campagnolo quill pedals will be interested in Soma's new product: reproduction end caps to replace the old, scuffed-up ones that you probably have now. Click here for more info.

Thanks to Soma for sending this tip to us!

 

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Campy Only Road Test: Rivet Saddles

In today's blog post, we offer our impressions of a non-Campy item: the new saddles from Rivet. Enjoy.

It wasn't that long ago that leather saddles were a hard-to-find item, limited to the bikes of a relatively few cognoscenti and to the ever-shrinking number of English bikes imported into the US. Plastic saddles--easier and cheaper to make and lacking the need to be "broken in" by the user--began overtaking leather saddles in the 1970s; eventually, a "quality" saddle had come to mean an a saddle that combined a plastic shell with a layer of foam and a thin leather or vinyl skin.

Our test saddle

Leather saddles, meanwhile, fell out of favor, except for those riders willing to accept the added weight, the break-in period, and the need to take at least minimal care of their bike seat. Those riders were rewarded with saddles whose comfort went a long way toward explaining by the Brooks B-17 has survived basically unchanged for more than 100 years.

Fast forward to the past ten years or so, and the growth in the custom bike industry, "country bikes," and randonneuring--all pursuits which place a premium not on weight or ease of care but on classic looks and comfort. Brooks of England, which had continued to carry the leather saddle flame almost singlehandedly during the lean years, was ready and willing to jump on these markets, and began ramping up production to meet the demands of the owners of these neo-classic bikes.

Today's Ride Photos

We've been riding through the agricultural bounty that is Northern California taking photos. Here are a few.

 

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New Campy MTB

Well, not exactly new, but certainly new to reader Hekrik S, who writes,

Hello Eric

I have just completed my new 10 speed campy mtb. By coincidence I chose the same colour scheme as on the "I choose Campagnolo" jersey (problably also inspired by the classic Gulf racing cars). 

Anyway, my bike has a hand built Banani frame (from 1997), made from Columbus nivachrome tubes. Veloce 10 speed ergopowers, Veloce rear mech, NOS Record OR brakes, NOS Euclid headset, Record hubs with Mavic rims / Veloce 13-26 casette, a canadian Raceface Atlas crank with french TA chainwheels etc.  It all works very well.... :-)

Henrik  

Send us a photo and story about your Campy-equipped bicycle, and we'll post it here! Email: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Installing Campagnolo's EPS: Not As Easy As Plugging It In

VeloNews' Lennard Zinn tackles the difficult question of how to install EPS on a frame that doesn't come pre-drilled for the internal wiring. Read the entire article here.

When you click over, sit down and get ready for a long read that includes nuggets of wisdom such as this:

"EPS wires have 6mm-diameter waterproof connections. They also require a special tool (the Campagnolo UT-CG020EPS) to plug and unplug them."

Wow. Another tool for the ol' toolbox. Just to plug and unplug wires.

Ah, well. We still stand by our longstanding prediction that Campagnolo will sell each and every electronic gruppo they produce, not matter the cost ... or the difficulty of installation.

 

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We Choose Campagnolo!

Some misguided riders may choose SRAM, but Campy Only readers choose ... Campagnolo.

Reader Chris McG sent this photo of a custom jersey produced by his shop for a Campy-riding patron. More photos here.

 

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