Campyonlyguy on Wheels North TV

We are interviewed about fixed gear riding in this Wheels North video report by fellow rider Warren Jones. (P.S. If you are interested in donating to Wheels North and our charity, the Histiocytosis Association of America, go to the secure online donation page for Eric Norris.)

2010 Wheel Lineup

Campagnolo has released initial specs for their 2010 wheel lineup.

Look for new graphics, a new spoke channel (sorry, no photos), and a redesigned Scirocco wheelset.

Go to 11 ... in Europe

Riders who own an 11S gruppo (or just intend to buy one) can enter an online contest to ride with Campagnolo's "11-Speed Dream Team" in Italy this July.

Info is available online at www.c11.campagnolo.com

You can also read about it here: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/join-campagnolos-c11-dream-team-in-italy-21717.

Shout-Out to our Fans

We ran into several Campy Only fans at yesterday's Davis Double Century. Thanks for the nice things you said about the site--we'll keep Campy Only going as long as our readers keep enjoying it!

More Campyonlyguy Adventures

Yesterday was the 40th running of the Davis Double, and the 26th time around the course for the Campyonlyguy. Here's a video of events from the ride. We'll have photos posted soon.

Win a Richard Sachs Frameset--Deadline May 15

Campy Only invites everyone who would like to own their own Richard Sachs frameset to enter the upcoming drawing for a custom-made frame made for you by master himself. (We are fortunate to own a Sachs--read about it here.)

A maximum of 100 chances are being sold for a drawing to be held on May 18. For a $100 ticket, you could get one of the world's best bicycles, made by a living legend. Tickets are available online HERE.

Your ticket is also a donation to the Histiocytosis Association of America in support of their efforts to cure a rare and deadly childhood disease.

Today's Video

Yet another video by the Campyonlyguy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFpFetzRoE

Campagnolo Officially Announces 11S Athena

The formal announcement came out today ... Athena is back as an 11-speed gruppo. According to this report, they are billing it as "11-speed for the masses."

No pricing info as of yet.

Another Campy Only Ride

We headed up Orr Springs Road near Ukiah, CA, a couple of days ago, riding our Campy-equipped Rivendell. We didn't have time to ride far, but did get to climb 4 miles of 10% grade. Very pretty scenery! More photos here.

Bulletin Board Update, 4-27-09

The updates to the Bulletin Board are (we hope) complete. We had a few more issues to deal with to keep spambots from registering, but everything seems to be working. To keep spammers off the Board, we've added a CAPTCHA and a very basic question about Campagnolo. If you can't answer the question, you're not a fan ...

Reminder: Even if you have been a member of the Campy Only Bulletin Board, you need to re-register. We'll do everything we can to get your account up and running as quickly as possible. To get to the new Board, go HERE. You'll see the "Register" link at the upper righthand corner of your browser window.

New Bulletin Board is UP!

The Campy Only Bulletin Board has been moved! The new location is: http://campyonly.com/phpBB3/index.php

If you were a registered user on the old Board, you'll need to re-register--but you'll find that is easier to do. The new Board will also keep the hordes of spambots at bay, thanks to the CAPTCHA system on the registration page.

All of the topics and discussion threads from the old Board have been moved, so you'll still find your favorite posts.

Thank you to our readers for your patience during this transition!

Bulletin Board Update, 4-23-09

If you've been to the Campy Only Bulletin Board today, you've probably noticed that those annoying error messages have gone away. You can use the Board again. (See the Board here)

That's Step One.

Step Two, which we hope to have completed today or tomorrow, is the launch of an updated Bulletin Board that will provide more features, more security, and an easier registration process that will also keep spambots out.

This is all part of Campy Only's continuing efforts to help you connect with other Campy fans to discuss Campagnolo, share information, and build a worldwide community.

Bulletin Board Improvements

We are in the midst of improving the Campy Only Bulletin Board. If you head over to the Board right now (April 23), you may find a "work in progress" sign. That will be gone soon.

Some of the things we're doing as we perform a major software upgrade:

• Improving the signup process to make it easier for real Campy fans to sign up and harder for spambots to get through.
• Pruning our member list to get rid of thousands of bogus users.
• Making the Board more secure.

We think you'll like the results, and we welcome your feedback.

Bicycling Hall of Fame Coming to C-O's Home Town

The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is coming to Davis, California, the cycling-crazy town that is also the home of Campy Only. We here at C-O are proud to be part of such a cycling-friendly community.

News about the Hall of Fame is here.

11S Appearing in the Wild

We're starting to see 11-speed in the wild. Latest spotting was a brand-new Colnago parked outside the local coffee shop in Winters, CA. We're still unsure what we think about the new lever design--it looks a little odd. And we're also not sure how you can tell which gear you're in by glancing at the cluster. There are just so many cogs back there! (The bike we saw yesterday had a relatively small cluster, so it may have gone in one-tooth increments from the smallest to the largest cogs. Really, now, does anybody in the real world need such microajustability in their drivetrain?)

If you ride 11S, let us know what you think about it. Respond to this post, or email enorris (at) campyonly.com

Unique Items for Sale, 4-1-09

From one of our email lists:

To: Davis Bike Club Date: April 1st

I have come into possession of some unique historical Campagnolo bicycle parts and wanted to give DBC members first choice before I put the stuff on EBAY.

Item 1: Campagnolo "Cinque"" crankset. The Crankset has rings of 10, 20, 30, 40 & 50 teeth. Used with a rear cog of 50 teeth this gave the bike a low gear of 5 inches. This prototype was developed by Tullio Campagnolo for use by the Italian Army during WW2. Since fuel was in such short supply, these were to be used by cyclists riding special Military Bicycles towing tanks over the Alps to save gas. The story is that the Italian Army drafted Fausto Coppi to ride one of the test bicycles. good, slightly worn condition. some pasta staining. $300.00

Item 2. Campagnolo Pedali Parmesano. circa 1952 These were developed by Tullios not so smart brother Fredo. The idea behind these was that if you were out for a long ride, and ran short on food you could break off a part of the pedal and eat it. The hard cheese actually worked quite well in gripping the soles of that era. 1 pair 9/16 thread, some mold $100.00

Item 3. Campagnolo "Scoop Del Gelato" circa 1976. Most people know that Campy ocasionally makes non bicycle related items. This is a finely machined ice cream tool capable of dispensing 5 different size scoops. To change the scoop size, a Campy Record shift lever and rear derailleur of the era were used in the mechanism. Unfortunately these tended to clog easily and people complained about the taste of the derailleur oil contaminating their Gelato. Some rust, the derailleur is jammed up with pistachios.
$150.00

Reply off list only

Dave

11S Athena Photos

One of our readers pointed us to these:

Athena 11-Speed

It appears that Campagnolo's Athena will return next year ... and it will come in 11-speed. Several sharp-eyed readers pointed out that installation instructions on Campagnolo's web site make reference to an 11-speed Athena gruppo (read them here).

Athena will join Super Record, Record, and Chorus, which currently come in 11-speed.

The Price is Right?

Lost in the shuffle of early 2009 news was this item ... The trade publication, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reported in January that Campagnolo is (in BRAIN's words) "leveling the playing field for retailers that sell its components." Translation: Campagnolo will establish suggested retail prices for its products, and then monitor prices posted in print and on the internet to make sure that retailers are advertising prices that are within the suggested range.

Backing up the pricing requirements is a new labeling system that will let Campagnolo track when and where an item was shipped, and how many of the item were shipped. This will let Campagnolo identify "gray market" retailers (as well as helping them track products in the event that a manufacturing defect is found).

Campagnolo defends the pricing system as a means to help all of their retailers succeed. Campagnolo North America general manager Tom Kattus is quoted by BRAIN as saying, "Campagnolo is a premium product and priced accordingly--it always will be--but I want retailers and distributors to be able to make a fair margin when selling our products."

Fair enough. It's also fair to note that ShimaNO beat them to the punch several years ago. And other manufacturers seem to thrive with "no discount" pricing--when's the last time you saw an iPod on sale at Target?

What do YOU think? Please comment on this post.

ShimaNO's Electronic System

About 15 years ago, when mountain biking was sweeping the bicycling world, Campagnolo basically missed the boat and let ShimaNO grab all of the market share for the hottest new cycling craze. Campagnolo still hasn't re-entered the mountain bike world (although you can put together a Campy-equipped mountain bike fairly easily with triple cranks and "flat bar" controls).

So now Campagnolo finds itself falling behind again in an area it should have been leading in: electronic shifting. Say what you will about electronic shifting (and there are many detractors out there ... Campy Only's position is that electronic shifting is unnecessary for those of us who ride bikes in the real world outside the European pro circuit), it is the wave of the future. And that wave right now is being ridden by ShimaNO while Campagnolo watches them.

Campagnolo has been testing electronic shifting systems for several years now--they've been seen in the field and photographed. But they've never brought an electronic system to market, focusing instead on other improvements, like 10- and then 11-speed systems.

And now along comes ShimaNO, a relative newcomer to the field, with a genuine, hold-it-in-your-hands, yes-you-can-buy-it electronic system, the Di2 (read an article about it here). We just saw a Di2 gruppo in a local bike shop--it looks a lot like Ergopower, but it's real and someone in our area will soon be riding it. For the price of a small car, you can have electronic shifting on your bike, and it will bear the ShimaNO name.