Raphael Geminiani at the CA State Fair

Raphael Geminiani at the CA State Fair, a set on Flickr.

Not a speck of Campy on that we could see, but this was still an interesting bike. This Raphael Geminiani was part of an exhibit showcasing recreation in California at the state fair, which ended yesterday.

Richard Sachs, Bicycle Maker

Just watched this video to get pumped for a ride on my Richard Sachs:


Richard Sachs - bicycle maker from Nick Czerula on Vimeo.

Power Torque Warning

A friend on an email list we subscribe to had the following mix of praise and warning regarding Campagnolo's Power Torque system:

"I am a tinkerer and have installed several cranksets on the frame. My recent experience is worth noting. I bought a new Campy Athena crankset. The quality of this crankset is as good as it gets. The bearings are flawless and there were no creaks.

Well, I decided to remove and replace the crankset. I could not get the left crankarm off. I took my bike to a super bike shop in Sacramento and they removed the crank, only after breaking a Park tool.

Bottom line, the quality of Campy's Athena group is very high, but the crankset is not an easy item to work with."

Word to the wise ... if at all possible, use Ultra Torque, which uses a different system for fastening the crankarms to the bottom bracket.

Have you had good or bad experiences with Power Torque? Let us know in the comments.

Think of Lee Mitchell Today

California Triple Crown host Chuck Bramwell reports that Lee Mitchell is scheduled for surgery today (July 23) at 2 p.m. Lee, a legend in Northern California cycling circles for his decades of volunteerism in support of bike events of all kinds, has been battling esophageal cancer.

Please keep Lee in your thoughts, and send a prayer his way at 2 p.m. today.

 

Finishing Seattle to Portland 2013

Some quick footage that we finally downloaded from the camera today. Watch for a complete video, coming soon!

reason and feeling and talking about @ campagnolosrl # cycling | riky76omnium

From one of our readers in Italy comes this great blog post (in Italian) summing up his thoughts about life and Campagnolo:

reason and feeling and talking about @ campagnolosrl # cycling | riky76omnium:

If you're viewing Riky's post in Google, you should see an autotranslate option at the top of the screen.

Campy News for 2014

From the folks at BikeRumor.com comes this news about updated offerings from Vicenza, including:

• Cranksets that meet the new BB30 standard
• New 11-27 cassettes for Super Record, Record, and Chorus
• Lighter EPS batteries
• Updated wheels

Hit up this link for more details.

Seattle to Portland 2013

Seattle to Portland 2013, a set on Flickr.

Here's a selection of photos from this past weekend's Seattle to Portland ride, including a few pre- and post-ride photos from Seattle and Portland.

We took a bunch of video--look for a full video of the ride soon!

Seattle to Portland: The Live Tweets

Kent (REI)) rest stop, STP 2013

Your intrepid CampyOnlyGuy managed to send out a string of photo and video tweets from yesterday's Seattle to Portland ride. In case you missed them as they were happening, you can catch up on all the fun at my Twitter site: www.Twitter.com/Campyonlyguy

We took a bunch more photos and video--check back soon for a link to a recap of the entire event.

 

Follow Me to Portland

It's 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 13, which means that the annual Seattle-to-Portland ride starts right about now. I'll be heading out on the course shortly, riding the 204 miles in one day.

Follow me on Twitter for news and photos from the course: www.Twitter.com/Campyonlyguy

 

Seattle to Portland

Your CampyOnlyGuy will be venturing far from Campy Only World Headquarters this weekend to ride the huge Seattle to Portland event. We'll be riding the 200-mile distance from the University of Washington to downtown Portland in one day.

Watch during the ride (Saturday, starting at 5 a.m.) for live tweets and photos. Follow me on Twitter, or look for hashtags #stp2013 and #bikestp

We'll be on the road with some 10,000 other riders, so it should be an ... interesting day.

He's Valentino Campagnolo, and You're Not

Interesting piece by longtime observer of all things cycling (and friend of Campy Only) Gary Boulanger:

Valentino Campagnolo (left) with Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain

http://www.pavedmag.com/featured/5-reasons-why-he’s-valentino-campagnolo-and-you’re-not/

Not really five reasons why Campangnolo's leader isn't you, but some nevertheless read-worthy vignettes about the company and some of the people who love its products.

From the article:

"First-mover status takes a backseat in Vicenza, based on Valentino’s edict that mirrors his father’s decades later. “The bicycle has evolved greatly, especially in the last 10 to 15 years, and even more in the past five years,” Valentino said at the 80th anniversary celebration. “We can expect that evolution to continue and we need to be able to follow or, even better, to try and anticipate the evolution. But, everything has to be based on performance and reliability. Sometimes we need to be able to anticipate the future needs of the market; this is a tough job. But staying behind racers and being willing to listen to their experiences, to the reasons why they lost a race, will see us continue to develop. That is the difference for Campagnolo.”

Campagnolo spent 20 years developing its EPS electronic groupset, with the eventual launch of Super Record EPS and Record EPS coming in 2011, two years after Shimano Dura-Ace Di2."

Not touched on in the article is why Valentino's father, Tullio, named one of the company's lowest-priced and least desirable gruppos after his son. All flavors of the Valentino derailleurs were cheap, stamped-metal shadows of their more expensive Nuovo Record and Record counterparts. Thanks, dad.

As a faithful reader, you probably know that the CampyOnlyGuy is an accomplished randonneur, a participant in the French sport of unsupported long-distance riding. So ... it was fun to see several friends featured in today's San Francisco Chronicle in an article on this unique and difficult sport.

You need to be a subscriber to read the article, but here's the photo. We've ridden with all of these folks, and they are indeed some of the nicest cyclists out there.

Randonneurs Martin Meyer (left), Rob Hawks, Jason Pierce and Kitty Goursolle need resourcefulness as well as stamina. Photo: Katie Meek, The Chronicle

For Sale: Every Derailleur Campagnolo Made from the 1950s to 1980s

Framebuilder Richard Sachs (a longtime sponsor of Campy Only) is a well-know fan of Campagnolo. Over the years, he's built up far more bicycles with Campagnolo than any other brand.

Richard is also a well-known collector of Campagnolo parts, some of which end up on project bikes, some which never leave their original boxes. It's a collection of the latter that Sachs is now offering for sale.

In this blog post, Sachs describes his collection of 1950s to 1980s rear derailleurs, collected over the years in new condition--with the original boxes---that he is now offering for sale. It's an amazing collection that he says is the most complete in existence, and we don't doubt that that's in fact the case.

Cost? Just $14,000 will, in one fell swoop, make you the owner of the most complete collection of Campy derailleurs from the classic era, from Gran Sport to Nuovo Record.

Here's a link to larger versions of the photos above. Lots more at Richard's blog post.

Today's Retro Photo: Forgotten Campagnolo Derailleurs

Well, not forgotten, but certainly among the less common examples of Campagnolo design. Included in the photo are several variations of the "Valentino," named for the son of the company's founder (and current head of the company).

The "Sport" model dates from about the 1950s, and is unique among Campagnolo's rear derailleurs in that it has only one jockey pulley. You can see one of these mounted on one of Campy Only's bikes here.

Branford Bike News: June 2013

Happy Campy-Equipped Branfrod Bike customer. Note the fenders; BB is located in Seattle.

Campy Only sponsor Brandford Bike is out with their latest newsletter: Branford Bike News: June 2013

Apologies to readers of this blog for the blatant ShimaNO content in the newsletter ...

Today's Retro Photo: Col du Tourmalet

Two views of the Tourmalet in the Tour de France: 1954 and 1990 (with Greg Lemond astride a Campy-equipped Look bicycle).

Interesting to note that the altitude of the pass rose one meter in the 46 years between the photos--it was shown as 2,114 meters in 1954, and 2,115 in 1990.

Yesterday's Ride Photos

5-26-13, a set on Flickr.

A 70-mile cruise from Campy Only World Headquarters to Calistoga, in the Napa Valley. This was a training/maintenance ride for the upcoming San Francisco Randonneurs "Dart" event in two weeks--200K from Davis to Berkeley with the "Late to the Game" team.