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

Readers' Bikes: Mark's Scott

Great Scott! Or, in this case, a NOS (new old stock) Scott CR-1 that Mark G built up (also NOS) 2008 Record 10-speed.

To see your bike here, send photos (high res preferred) to: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Photos of the Campagnolo Booth at Eurobike 2014

Wonder what the Campagnolo booth at the world's largest bicycle trade show looks like? Wonder no more! Here are some photos from a friend who visited the show:

Confirmed: This IS the Ugliest Campagnolo Gruppo Ever

Campagnolo has confirmed that next year's gruppo upgrade will feature what is possibly the ugliest crankset ... nay, the ugliest single part ... ever produced by Vicenza.

Here's a photo from the official press release.

Campagnolo calls this "fresh and cutting edge aesthetics." We call is the ShimaNO-ization of the once great design house in Vicenza.

Among the benefits of the new, ugly cranksets, according to Campagnolo, is the use of a single, 4-bolt pattern for all cranks in all lines (Super Record, Record, and Chorus). From the press release:

"The new bolt pattern allows for all 3 chainring standards 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34 to be built upon the same crankset. Changing between compact and standard is now as easy as changing 8 bolts and two chainrings."

That's a great idea--the bolt pattern on the current compact cranks is inexplicably different from everything else--but the benefit is predicated on buying ... all new cranksets. All of the millions of riders who currently have Campy cranksets will have to wait 'til theirs wear out (or the peer pressure on the weekend club ride becomes too much to bear).

"Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and with the seal of approval coming from the Campy Tech Lab as well as top professional athletes, these new groupsets are now worthy of bearing the Campagnolo name."

So says Campagnolo. What do you think? 

 

Newest Record Group the Ugliest Campagnolo Ever?

We here at Campy Only wonder if ShimaNO has infiltrated the design studio in Vicenza, with the obvious motive of creating perhaps the ugliest crankset to ever bear the Campagnolo name:

More info here from the folks at BikeRadar, who spotted this prototype.

What do you think of the new design? Let us know in the comments, right there below this post.

Raleigh's Campy-Equipped Team Issue Anniversary Edition

Fans of classic bikes will love Raleigh's 125th Anniversary edition bicycle, a steel-framed, Campy-equipped homage to the famous Raleigh bikes that were ridden to so many victories in the 80s and 90s. The Anniversary bike, built with Reynolds 525, is equipped with a mix of Record, Chorus, and Athena components.

Act fast--only 125 of these will be made! More info here.

 

Today's Retro Note: Record Brakes

Campagnolo's Record brakeset from the 1960s-1980s was the gold standard in bicycle braking. Sturdy and durable, this single-pivot design survived for years in various incarnations (such as the Cobalto brakes of the late 1980s) until it was supplanted by the more powerful (and heavier) dual-pivot design.

One of the nice features of these brakes is the on-brake quick release lever, which was also infinitely adjustable (opening the brakes a little or a lot). Modern Campagnolo brakes have the quick release on the brake lever, limiting the operation to fully closed or fully open.

These brakes grace Campy Only's 1972 Cinelli, and are as far as we know original to the bike.

Today's Retro Hit: Putting on the Brakes

Campagnolo's Record brakeset defined quality for several decades. A near-perfect design with a host of well-thought-out features added up to a classic item that would last almost forever (we used a set of 1980s Record brakes on our Paris-Brest-Paris bike last year). Their only weakness (in the minds of some riders) was their less-than-stellar stopping power, which led some wags to dub them "speed attenuators," better at slowing than stopping.

Record brakes would eventually give way to more "modern-looking" designs, and ultimately to the much more powerful dual-pivot designs that dominate the market today.

 

Campy-Equipped Machines from the 7-Eleven Days

Campagnolo and 7-Eeven ruled the roost when the bikes were first built. Both are still around, of course, although it's been a while since we've seen such nice bikes with the Murray name on them.

Campy Only contributor Mike McGary spotted these at a bike shop in Green Bay, IL. He writes,

"Here’s something you don’t see every day. A couple of historic bikes I came across at Green Bay Cycles in Winnetka, IL. Larry had these in the basement of his shop. Not one but two 7-11 Team “Murrays” ( built by Serotta I believe). The inner bike was Davis Phinney’s team ride and the outer bike was made for the 84’ LA Olympic Road Race, for an unknown team member. Of course fully decked out with Super Record ."

More photos after the jump ...