Campagnolo Lays Off 68 Italian Employees; Workers Strike

Campagnolo's efforts to reduce costs by shifting work to cheaper workers in Romania and elsewhere now includes laying off 68 manufacturing workers at the company's flagship facility in Vicenza. Workers there are not happy at all.

Read this report from Bike Europe.

According to Bike Europe's report, Campagnolo management says that high-end components will still be made in Vicenza, and that the move is part of their effort to remain competitive with other companies (ShimaNO?) that make components in parts of the world with much lower labor costs.

Does it matter to you where your Campagnolo parts are made? Would you care if, in some future year, Campagnolo left Italy for cheaper shores? Let us know in the comments below.

Our Latest Video!

We helped our friend celebrate his 63rd birthday by riding 63 miles with him and a great group of fellow revelers. Here's a video:



Reminder that we are on YouTube. Visit our YouTube channel for many more cycling videos!

Cleaning a Stinky Bike Helmet ... in the Dishwasher!

Thought there might be some interest in the method my wife discovered to clean my bike helmets when they get sweaty and gross: the dishwasher!

My helmet now gets washed and disinfected every week or so. It keeps my wife’s sensitive nose happy, and I like having a clean helmet. 

Despite the soaps and high temperatures in the dishwasher, there have been no ill effects to the helmet that I can detect. The padding is still firmly attached to the shell.

To save energy, we don’t use the “dry” feature on the dishwasher, so the helmet air dries after going through the regular wash cycle.

P.S. In response to one question that was asked about this ... No, none of our guests have complained about the silverware tasting funny!

Reader's Bikes: Daniel's Electronic Look

Reader Daniel A sent this photo of his Record EPS-equipped Look 675, which looks fast just sitting there.

To see your Campy-equipped bike here, email a photo or two to enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

First Chance 200K Brevet 1-1-2015

My first video of 2015! A record of the Davis Bike Club's 200K "First Chance" brevet on New Year's Day. I finished the ride in 8:30, riding a 1970s Motobecane equipped with a 3-speed hub (sorry, no Campy drivetrain!).



Watch this space for more videos from the 2015 brevet season, culminating with Paris-Brest-Paris in August.