Colnago and Campy!

Great stuff from our friends over at the Colnago Con Brio blog in their latest post, including lots more photos like this:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ysterday's Ride: The Annual Post-Thanksgiving Ride

The CampyOnlyGuy and friends rode 126 miles from C-O World Headquarters to San Francisco. Everyone was Campy equipped; the CampyOnlyGuy rode retro Super Record. More photos here

Campy Only's Benotto, rolling on high flange Record hubs

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yesterday's Ride Photos: Pt Reyes

A few photos from yesterday's ride. Apologies for the paucity of Campy equipment on my mount ...


More photos here.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Today's Ride: Dodging the Storms

Today's weather forecast was for rain--and rain it did. But the CampyOnlyGuy managed to get in 40 or so miles between the storms. Here's our fixed gear Quickbeam at the turnaround in Winters, CA:


And here's a radar shot of the rain coming down later in the evening:



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New Electronic Photos: The Best Yet

The folks over at FairwheelBikes.com were able to snap some great photos of the recently revealed incarnation of the electronic gruppo.  They also learned a bit about the gruppo, but all they can reveal is that it won't be showing up in your local bike shop until at least 2012.  More photos here.

Why Nobody Rebuilds ShimaNO's STI Levers

Most Campy fans know that Ergo levers can be rebuilt fairly easily using common tools (the CampyOnlyGuy has done it several times). A friend recently asked us why nobody rebuilds ShimaNO levers.

The answer to that question is illustrated below. One of the mechanics at Branford Bike took apart an STI lever just to see what was inside, and found this incredible assortment of tiny parts:


No word on whether he was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Alex Marco "The Bike" (Scopitone)

Just some fun for your Monday. There's probably a little bit of Campagnolo in there somewhere ...

Campy Equipped Vitus 979

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Vitus frames (like this very nice example sent in by reader Bruce) were quite popular.  They were very light and well made, although they worked best in small sizes and for lighter riders.  Bigger, heavier riders usually found that they flexed too much for racing, so many large fellas turned them into long distance machines, where the flex created a comfortable ride.

Vitus 979 owned by Bruce L.

Vitus 979 frames were assembled in France using epoxy to join the tubes to the lugs.  This made the frames repairable (just glue in a new tube), but also led to reports of frame failures.  

You don't see many of these nowadays, but Bruce has clearly taken great care of his.  You can read more about the Vitus 979 here.

Campy-Flavored Blog is All About Colnago

Blogger Warren wrote today to let us know that he has linked to Campy Only from his Colnago Con Brio blog. Right back at ya, Warren!

Lots of cool stuff there about Campy-equipped Colnagos and the folks who ride them ... Like Giuseppi Saronni:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Non-Campy (but Retro) Crankset Installation

Today's project at Campy Only World Headquarters was the installation of a Grand Cru crankset from Velo Orange on our retro-styled Benotto.  Detailed photos and descriptions here.

Grand Cru Double Crankset from Velo Orange

The Grand Cru crankset is nicely made and finished.  Although it resembles a older Stronglight crankset more than a retro Nuovo Record, it's close enough to match the overall look of our Benotto.  With 48/34 rings, it also offers a lower gear range.

Next project will be to install a classic Campagnolo Rally derailleur to replace the Super Record unit now on the bike (see the post below).  The Rally will be able to handle the wide range of gears easily--the SR struggles a bit with the largest cog, as the jockey pulley isn't quite far enough from the cog.

Feel free to post comments, or email me: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

Rally Rally Nice

This 1970s-era Rally derailleur will soon be gracing one of the CampyOnlyGuy's bikes:

The Rally was offered for a few years in the Nuovo/Super Record era.  It fell by the wayside as Campagnolo changed its lineup and eventually started switching to indexed shifting.  Two versions of the Rally were made--this one, and another that was basically a Nuovo Record derailleur with a longer cage.  This is by far the more desirable of the two.

Photos of the completed bike will be right here as soon as we're done.

P.S. We'll also be mounting this crankset.  It's not Campy, but it's very retro and will give us lower gears.

Today's Mod Girl--With Campy

"Hey, my eyes are up here!" Photo from Interbike in Las Vegas. More like this.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Today's Ride Photo: RainBeam

Campy Only's Quickbeam, photographed today near Davis, CA.

Campagnolo to Anyone Wanting to Buy Electronic Gruppo: Don't Hold Your Breath

Campagnolo's recent unveiling of an advanced prototype of their long-awaited electronic gruppo has sparked worldwide attention from cyclists eager to spend several thousand dollars to have battery-powered derailleurs. This, in turn, has led to the release of an official Campagnolo statement which essentially tells these cyclists to cool their jets.


We'll keep you posted on any news about the electronic gruppo that comes our way. If you have any, send it to us: enorris [at] campy only [dot] com

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rare Campy Stuff You've Probably Never Seen

Longtime reader and former Campy Only contributor Jeff K sent this photo of some rare Campy parts. Shown is a brake part that used an internal spring to prevent overbraking--essentially an early attempt at bicycle antilock brakes. Applying too much pressure would compress the spring, limiting the amount of braking force.

The version on the left is a prototype that included a "lockout" setting. On the right is the production version without the lockout.



Thanks to Jeff for the photo. If you have any rare Campy bits, please send us a photo and info and we'll post them.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Inside Campagnolo (With Video)

Read the first in a series of articles about Campagnolo's inner workings here (includes a link to an official Campagnolo video).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And Still More Electronic Gruppo News

This time from the Italian web site Cyclinside.com, which posted these and other photos:

Read the entire article here (in Italian).

Scroll Down for Electronic Gruppo News

We posted several items earlier this week about the upcoming electronic gruppo.  Scroll down to see them.

Todays Bike: Larry's "S. Tomi"

Larry T sent these photos and writeup about his Campy-equipped bike:

Ciao Eric,

Attached are some photos of a Campagnolo-equipped bike I recently acquired from Serafino Tomi of Viterbo, Italy. One of the photos is of Serafino himself, a student of Cino Cinelli who worked for the great man in the '70's before coming back to Viterbo to create his own frames, using Columbus tubing with Cinelli and CAMPAGNOLO parts.

This example has been built-up with recent Ergopower triple 9-speed bits.

I hope you and your viewers enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoy looking at and riding this bike.

Best Wishes, 

larry@cycleitalia.com

To see your bike on the Campy Only blog, email your photos and a brief description to: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com

More Electronic News--And Photos

The web site BikeRadar has an article today with photos (apparently of the camera phone variety) of the electronic gruppo. Click here to read the article and see more photos.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad