Centaur, the "Cheeky Gruppo"

Yes, "cheeky," at least according to the folks at Road.cc.

Read their review of a Centaur-equipped bike here.

So ... would Record be "haughty"? Chorus be "polite"? Send us your ideas: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Khamsin Test Continues

In case you're wondering, our ongoing road test of Campagnolo's budget-priced Khamsin wheelset is continuing. The wheels are on our Richard Sachs bicycle, which is suited to the (hopefully) dryer weather that should be coming to Northern California.

With a few hundred miles on the wheels so far, we've had no problems and give the wheels high marks (especially considering their reasonable price). Check back for more detailed long-term results.

The Road to Paris Begins!

We'll be kicking off the 2010 brevet season this coming weekend with a 200-kilometer ride organized by the Davis Bike Club. The next ride, a 300K brevet, is two weeks later.

The next Paris-Brest-Paris 1200K is not until August 2011, but completing longer brevets this year will let us apply earlier for the ride next year, so away we go!

Photo: The CampyOnlyGuy's fixed gear Quickbeam, 2007 PBP. Next year, we're bringing a Campy-equipped geared bike.

Campy-Equipped MTB for Auction

Over on eBay ... classic Mountain Goat with full Campy OR component gruppo.

Buy It Now price of $6,850 shows the value of Campagnolo's OR gruppos.

Campy Equipped Double Century Photos

We rode the Camino Real Double Century in Southern California yesterday on our Campy-equipped Rivendell. Photos are here. You can read our Twitter posts from the ride here.

Who is SHE?

She's on Campagnolo's sportswear web site, so she's most likely a model, but she's wearing Campagnolo clothing and riding 11-speed.

New "Old" Campagnolo Jerseys Coming (Yawn)

The latest in Campagnolo's over-priced line of boring clothing is coming ... and this time, the tailors from Vicenza are looking to the past for inspiration.

BikeRadar reports that Campagnolo will be unveiling a line of Heritage clothing inspired by the Italian cycling greats of the 1930s and 40s. First up are two jerseys:

It's nice to see that at least one of the jerseys will be available in "smartwool," even though it comes with a mostly unnecessary antibacterial treatment to "keep odors at bay" (wool doesn't get stinky the way synthetics do).

The designs? Ho hum. They're nice enough, but they don't look much like what Bartali and Coppi actually wore (see below). To be fair, that would have been a little too retro.

Prices to be announced.

Follow Campy Only on Twitter

We'll be tweeting live from the Camino Real Double Century this weekend--follow the CampyOnlyGuy at www.twitter.com/campyonlyguy

What Does Canada Have Against Campagnolo?

We've watched hours of Olympic coverage, and still no sign of Campy-equipped anything in these games! Or track and field, or gymnastics ...

Wait a second ... wrong Olympics. Sorry, Canada.

L'Eroica: Yes, Campy is Classic

Get your retro Campy machine ready, and start planning to be in Italy in the Fall:

Click here to see it at YouTube

CampyOnly.com

Reminder that we have a fantastic archive of Campy-related info over at our web site: www.CampyOnly.com

See you there!

Campy Furniture

Richard Sachs made these Campagnolo drawer pulls. Very cool.

Today's Bike: 1978 Steyr-Daimler-Puch

A very nice retro machine for today! Kurt sent these photos of his 1978 Steyr-Daimler-Puch, which features the rare first-generation Super Record rear derailleur. He writes,

Here is my Steyr Daimler Puch (Austro Daimler) Ultima from 1978 with the first Super Record. The color is called Thondorf - Purple, named after the district in Graz , where the factory of Steyr Daimler Puch was. Today it is still in use, but as a car factory , for example the Mercedes G-Class (aka Puch G). The company changed its name to Magna Steyr. The bicycle part of the company was sold to Bianchi (Piaggio) in 1987. Today it belongs to a Swedish company called Cycleurope.

Regards

Kurt from Istanbul (Turkey)

Campagnolo Thefts Help Nab Thief

Bicycle Retailer reports today that an employee of the famous Cupertino Bike Shop has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for an ongoing series of thefts from the shop. According to the story,

"Store owner Vance Sprock only noticed the thefts when Dixon took some of Sprock's personal stash of vintage boxed Campagnolo components."

The stolen goods were sold on eBay. The store owner said he doesn't expect to get back the parts or the money they were sold for.

More info here.

Paris-Brest-Paris 2011

In case you're wondering, as of today it's 560 days until the start of next year's Paris-Brest-Paris event. We'll be there again (finished it in 2007). Official start day: August 21, 2011.

More info here from the official PBP web site.

Photo left: The CampyOnlyGuy sleeps on the floor at Carhaix, wrapped in a PBP poster, 2007.

How Did We Miss This? Campagnolo Sold to the Chinese?

A reader pointed us to a Portugese-language blog that ran this startling story a few months ago:

According to reports circulating in the "World Online", the CAMPAGNOLO have been sold to Chinese investors. These stories circulate not only in the circle but also in Europe Asia. There is no information yet officially confirmed but, as cosutmes say, "Where there's smoke there's fire."
This is actually the result of the functioning of the global economy, the demands of the world market and capitalism. I do not intend here to make any reference to lessons in economy but the truth is that more and more traditional brands, its origins, its foundations and traditions tend to disappear. Large groups take control and leadership of these companies with name and reputation very favorable market and seek to monetize them even more to profit. We think that the customer / buyer out and enjoyed some of the time this happens, but the world of bikes as we knew it is disappearing little by little.
Hopefully for the better!

Gentullio Campagnolo was born on August 26, 1901 and died on February 03, 1983. In 1930 he patented the system quick release wheels, now known as the "quick releases". It is still the standard system in the bicycle industry. In 1949 he submitted what became known as the modern derailleur, called at the time of the Gran Sport. The campagnolo always been an innovative brand, which sought to introduce new materials and engineering concepts applied to the bicycle industry.

More in Portugese here.

Read it in English (Google translation) here.

Pantani's Bianchi

Lest we forget ... Marco Pantani won the Tour de France on a Campy-equipped machine. He met a tragic end, but Campagnolo fans will always remember his ability to fly up the mountains.

From the CyclingNews article:

Looking shockingly minimal in comparison to currently fashionable deep-section carbon, the Electron's box-section rims were ideally suited to a rider of Pantani's nature: they had low inertia for rapid accelerations, they were comfortable over the long haul for such a light rider, and they were easily serviceable with grease injection ports front and rear, readily replaceable components and a tubular tire bed that offered a more reliable bond than carbon.

More info here from CyclingNews.com

Franco Ballerini Passes

Pro racer Franco Ballerini has died, the victim of an accident in an automobile rally race. Franco rode for teams using both ShimaNO and Campy, to great success. The cycling world mourns his passing.

Photo left, Franco (left) racing for the Lampre team in the Tour of Flanders ... on a Campy-equipped bike.

Today's Bike: Super Duper Gios

Allen S's Gios features a Super Record 11-speed gruppo. Power goes to the ground via a set of Mavic wheels (all his budget would allow). Seat rests on a non-Campy seatpost because, as Allen explains, Campagnolo doesn't have enough setback in theirs. Looks pretty ... and fast!

SR Pedal Marking Mystery

A reader asked us what the marking "S.B.C. 6544" on the inside face of his SR pedals means. We checked a set here at C-O World HQ, and they have the same marking (see photo). But ... we don't know what it means. Anybody out there able to cast light on this?