Inside Campagnolo

Nice article Mat. I have the original Record groupset on my 2005 Opera. I love the feel it and it's amazing it still works flawlessly today.
The best description I've heard to describe Campagnolo is, "Shimano wears out, Campagnolo wears in". Noticing the guy about who mentioned SRAM, I'd love to see more on SRAM as I've heard some abominable feedback about their quality.

Love it. I couldn't compare Campag with anything else as I've never used anything else. I do have a couple of friends who've had a go on one if my bikes, been puzzled by twin levers and after 10 mins have thought the system superior so there you go. Hardly exhaustive research but good enough for me. The 'unreliable Italian c**p versus 'soulless Japanese c**p' battle rages on.

Great article. Love the Record(?)hub as a roller on the chain machine.

Campag no1, end of! Great read and pics!

Interesting article I have loved Campag since 1966 and still ride a Nouvo Record on one of my bikes with Campag handlebar controls!!! It is a shame that Campag have to manufacture outside of Italy but I suppose that is modern day economics.

another Campag fan here - I have it on 4 road bikes. what I like about Campag kit is that it needs so little fettling in use. once it's set up correctly it keeps on working day in day out without complaint. friends who have Shimano or SRAM always seem to be fettling with their setups.

someone once told me that Shimano sell more groupset kit in a day than Campag do in a year - now I don't know if that's true or not but who cares about volume sales as a user? I'll go with quality every time.

BL - one thing I have found with Campag kit to ensure it keeps working fine is to completely strip it down once a year and give it a good degrease and clean. It will feel like brand new when you put it back together and any little annoyances seem to go. maybe a thought with your issue?? alternatively you might have a little kink somewhere in the cabling, or even some dirt in a cable outer, which is causing it to stick - perhaps strip the system down and have a good look at it, and lube any moving parts (even inside the cable outers) with something like GT80.

Just trying to count the bikes I've had over the last 30 years, got to 16, nearly all with Campag, I love it. I keep being told that Shi*maNO works best, is most reliable, lasts longest. My usual reply is 'It's not a completely rational business', i.e. even if it does work better, I'd still buy Campag. I can't say whether Sh... works better, who can? I just like Campag, the history, the character, the style.
However, just to give the Campag man a little pain, I have four groupsets at the moment, newish Athena and Chorus, and two Record, one 10 yrs old and one 5 yrs old. All the changers suffer from the same problem: the lever for rear shifting down (i.e. to a bigger rear sprocket) sticks. You'll be needing a smaller gear at the start of hill and the lever won't budge. A few tries, moving the lever back and forth as well as to the side, usually gets it going, but it can be a pain if you're in a competitive situation (not that I am any longer, but still a pain).
Does anyone else have this problem? What's going on?

There's just something about Campagnolo..

PPF. I have to agree with C@L,Last campag record groupset I had was on a racer in the 80's. having had dura ace and currently sram force on my racer,I am goin for a super record groupset soon,The quality of force is about tiagra/105,no higher.Very high wear on chains (2),chainrings,cassette and front mech,(5,000 miles so far)Very poor.(It's the first time "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply.) So it won't be long C@L before you get your campagnolo groupset!
Good article though road c.c.!

Romanian labour is cheaper, but it's close enough that they can keep their experts going back and forth to make sure quality is maintained. They're training the Romanians to be craftsmen in their own right. I don't think that's so bad. It's a nod to business sensibilities (expanding capacity, keeping costs down) while maintaining high quality fairly locally.

I bought a SRAM Force gruppo with my latest CX bike, and I regret it. It's not that SRAM is bad, but I've been riding Campagnolo exclusively for about 10 years now. I had a 9-speed Veloce gruppo working on my road bike for 6 or 7, and a 10-speed Veloce group on my other CX bike for 5 or 6. I've ridden it through the winter and snow and salt and it's only now started getting a bit too sloppy to maintain. I was blinded by the low price and weight combo of SRAM; I didn't realise I'd miss the ergonomics and finish of the Campy stuff so much.

The build quality of my new Chorus group on my road bike is so obvious and the parts are such a delight. They make me feel like a *real* cyclist, even though I know there's nothing special about them in particular. After this Force group has worn itself out, I'll ditch it for something great from Campagnolo again.

Quality products at a premium price, I am happy to pay extra for Campagnolo kit. Feeling the benefits and a happy rider ...

Not sure I fully agree with Dave.

Assuming they are increasing production shouldn't an Italian company with their countries problems be looking to create employment at home? Not necessarily Vicenza but must be a facility somewhere. I accept it may be cheaper in Romania (by how much?) but most campag owners can/will probably afford it.

"their goal is to make products that perform well and that are going to last. They want to make products with parts that can be replaced if they wear out or get broken, not ones that need to be ditched at the first sign of trouble"

Word!

Great article.

How about I, an anonymous criminal, kidnap one of you and threaten to kill you unless you tell me what that secret product is? Of course you couldn't identify me and no harm will be done to you so everyone would be happy

Great story, but Campag is about to move another large chunk of its Italian production to a second facility in Romania !

ace story - thanks for that