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.

Folsom Criterium 5-25-13

Folsom Criterium 5-25-13, a set on Flickr.

Photos from the Pro-1-2 race at today's Folsom (CA) Criterium, win by Willie Myers of Marc Pro/Strava

Campagnolo Shifts Focus to Original Equipment Market

Campagnolo has announced a major change in the way it does business as it passes the 80-year mark as a company and looks to increase its market share.

Campagnolo marketing director Lorenzo Taxis

The change involves Campagnolo's decision to try to wrestle a larger share of the original equipment (or "OEM") market away from ShimaNO, which has long held a stranglehold on the market for parts sold on complete bikes. (To see how much of a lead ShimaNO holds, go to any bike shop anywhere in the US or the world, and compare how many of the bikes in the showroom are built with ShimaNO vs Campagnolo.)

ShimaNO went after the OEM market decades ago, building relationships with bicycle makers and designing parts to, in part, be easy to assemble onto bicycles in an assembly line environment. At the same time that ShimaNO was pursuing the OEM market--including the lucrative lower-priced lines--Campagnolo was focusing on more expensive lines intended mostly for people who buy a frame and then put parts on it themselves.

Campagnolo marketing and sales director put it this way:

"Customers used to buy frames and had it assembled with our parts into a complete bike. Now they buy ready to ride bikes which are pre-assembled. This means that our strategies have to be updated. We need to focus more on OEM business and need to provide better service to the bicycle makers and the bike brands, We are sure that our parts are suited for OEMs."

Will this mean we'll see Campagnolo parts on more bikes in your local shop in years to come? Could be. It would be nice for the company to increase its business and build a base of riders eager to upgrade to Campagnolo's higher-priced lines. However, they'll be working against a firmly entrenched rival in the form of ShimaNO ... and against the inertia of suppliers, manufacturers, dealers, and bike shop employees--and customers--accustomed to selling, working with, and buying ShimaNO.

Campy Only wishes them well. We'll report back on this shift as we hear more.

 

Today's Photo

Taken with CampyOnly's Lytro camera:

Click on the image to refocus.

Campagnolo Launches New Cult ... Wheels

Campagnolo has announced the arrival of an all-new Bora Ultra 35 carbon tubular wheelset that includes both diamond-ground braking surfaces and "Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology" or "C.U.L.T."

The wheels feature all sorts of high-tech wizardy, starting with those diamond-cut braking surfaces.

As reported by Bike Radar,

"The company claims that this process eliminates impurities that can result from sanding the surface to remove resin."

Well, at least until you use the brakes for the first time in the wet, in which case you'll be loading impurities onto the rims faster than you can say "road grit."

Also of interest is Campagnolo's use of a dab of extra carbon fiber opposite the valve stem to balance the wheels. Great for riders who regularly go so fast that they can feel their wheels going out of balance, and news to the rest of us who have been riding unbalanced wheels for more than 100 years.

Bike Radar's writeup (which as of today lacks pricing info ... hint: they'll be expensive) is here.

Davis Double Early Miles 5-18-13

Davis Double Early Miles 5-18-13, a set on Flickr.

Although the Campyonlyguy rode the entire Davis Double Century route a week ago, the temptation to take part in at least a bit of the official ride was too great. So ... the alarm went off at 4 a.m., left the house at 4;49, and off we went on the firat 40 or so miles of the course. Hit up the link for photos from the early miles.