Is Campagnolo disappearing?

pblakeney

amrushton said:

Digressing sliģhtly, has anyone seen a Specialized owner with Campagnolo on their bike? No GCN presenters either use it (prob not free)

Not sure about a Specialized but I have seen a Trek.

teisetrotter

I think you are overplaying the cost situation. Potenza and Centaur are all reasonable. Whenever Camy drifts up a cog it gets pricey and as it flows down we can all buy our replacements at the lower end. As we have discussed off the peg bikes are the new thing ..... a strange thing to an oldie like me ..... and the off peg bike manufacturers get great deals and importantly a better supply chain from Shimano. A mass manufacturer vs a small Italian engineering company will win for many sensible reasons.

DeVlaeminck

Yes I've never seen Campag as *that* expensive. Googling it I can get 11spd Chorus hydraulic under a grand.

the_cyclist_of_catan

teisetrotter said:

So I will be one of the rare people who'll be riding Chorus discs as I am building a new bike and it is not a cheap alternative to Shimano. So in the end whilst Campy' does have a more flexible gear change .... only a few care and even fewer will pay a premium for it and those few are not large bicycle companies.

I intend to be riding Campag Chorus disc brakes in a few weeks' time, when my "you spent HOW much on a bicycle?" bike gets built. Why?

When I first bought a bike, almost a decade ago now, I’d read all the usual advice - Shimano was the reliable, cost-effective groupset to go for, SRAM the "new kid on the block", and Campag was "heritage" but overpriced. Being unable to actually test-ride any of the systems for myself, I spent some time in the bike shop just holding the hoods - and the Campag hoods were the only ones that felt right. And that’s before you start thinking of the elegance of the Campag “one control per function" advantage (I’d ridden a 105-equipped bike for a couple of months prior to that, and never could stand the way you have to swing the brake lever to change gear; it's not natural).

But the Campag system has other advantages that for me make it well worth the money. Apart from the shape of the shifters and the levers only doing what they are supposed to, there’s also the multiple shifts - up to five one way, three the other.

So I’m sticking with Campag - it feels better and works better than the competition. Hopefully they'll stay in business long enough to equip my third bike, in about another decade's time.

amrushton

Can't deny they have better ergonomics and as much as I complain about the price just wait the SRAM AXS owners need to replace that chainset or cassette. Interesting that Malcolm is dealing with global requests. Maybe Campag will just stay niche.

yellowv2

Campagnolo was and is developed by cyclists who are also engineers aimed at road cyclists and racers. They are a small company and could not meet the supply and demand of all the bicycle manufacturers that are around now, together with the must have a new bike every five minutes brigade who fuel the market.
I imagine most who use Campagnolo don’t buy a new off the shelf bike as soon as a new model with go faster/lighter/aero frame shapes and inserts et al to make them comfortable is released!

kevin_stephens

amrushton said:

Can't deny they have better ergonomics

Not very ergonomic if you need 165mm cranks

kellys_heroes

Always had Campag on my bikes (35 years) and prob wont change. But having seen the new Chorus Record and Super Record, its just like a version of Shimano now. Yes i know companies need to progress and move on, but whats happened to the beautiful polished chrome components. Their hubs were like works of art and i dunno how many times asked "Are you selling the wheels" Even the finish on the silver Potenza is not the same quality finish of the old Record 10speed. I met an editor of a well known Cycling Magazine and he said that Campagnolo "was in serious trouble"

shortfall

kellys_heroes said:

Always had Campag on my bikes (35 years) and prob wont change. But having seen the new Chorus Record and Super Record, its just like a version of Shimano now. Yes i know companies need to progress and move on, but whats happened to the beautiful polished chrome components. Their hubs were like works of art and i dunno how many times asked "Are you selling the wheels" Even the finish on the silver Potenza is not the same quality finish of the old Record 10speed. I met an editor of a well known Cycling Magazine and he said that Campagnolo "was in serious trouble"

Many of not most businesses will be in serious trouble in the next few years. Not sure what difficulties Campagnolo were in before Covid but a financial holocaust is underway that'll wipe out a lot of household names. I hope they survive, they make a fantastic product.

neilophenia

amrushton said:

No GCN presenters either use it (prob not free)

If you look at their older videos you’ll see that they used to. I remember Simon Richardson saying in one of them that Campagnolo was his favourite brand and that he was a real fan of their stuff. But, as you write, I assume the bikes they get don’t come equipped with it.

mpatts

The price thing, I don't think its as bad as you think. I have Potenza on my £999 bike.

madlaughlee

I’m sorry but I disagree that campag is a great product.
I have super record 11 group set which recently had a catastrophic failure with the battery unit supposedly at fault.
After much searching, I Sent all the kit back to the main And only support center in the uk and was told that this fault sometimes happens but unfortunately the warranty was now out of date ( 2 years), we were advised a New battery (400 quid), all the other kit tested and we would be good to go.
After waiting over a month, and I have taken into account the current climate. (Bike shops are allowed open)
The battery arrived first, then 1 week later the Other kit arrived back, in the same box packaged as we sent it....
a quick plug in confirmed that it didn’t switch back on And none of it was tested.
We were then advised to send all the kit back while they re test.
4 weeks later, numerous non returned calls, 400 quid paid out on kit now in the sale And we are still non the wiser !
I get things break, and sometimes you have a bad egg.
But the support on a so called top end offering is shocking.
So, will campag last ? With customer service like that, I fear for them...“Customer experience” is everything nowadays.
Stay safe !

shortfall

madlaughlee said:

I’m sorry but I disagree that campag is a great product.
I have super record 11 group set which recently had a catastrophic failure with the battery unit supposedly at fault.
After much searching, I Sent all the kit back to the main And only support center in the uk and was told that this fault sometimes happens but unfortunately the warranty was now out of date ( 2 years), we were advised a New battery (400 quid), all the other kit tested and we would be good to go.
After waiting over a month, and I have taken into account the current climate. (Bike shops are allowed open)
The battery arrived first, then 1 week later the Other kit arrived back, in the same box packaged as we sent it....
a quick plug in confirmed that it didn’t switch back on And none of it was tested.
We were then advised to send all the kit back while they re test.
4 weeks later, numerous non returned calls, 400 quid paid out on kit now in the sale And we are still non the wiser !
I get things break, and sometimes you have a bad egg.
But the support on a so called top end offering is shocking.
So, will campag last ? With customer service like that, I fear for them...“Customer experience” is everything nowadays.
Stay safe !

Sorry you've had a bad experience but you did say it was out of warranty and yes we are in unprecedented times. I understand your anger and frustration but a skim through the BR index will reveal that Campag aren't unique in suffering gremlins with their electronic groupsets. I think their reputation for quality products and good after sales holds up.

pblakeney

Must admit, it’s one hell of a first post.

def_defyr

joe2019 said:

I've never ridden anything but Campagnolo in 40 years of cycling, since I was a teenager.

Nor I. It's a Mac vs PC thing. Whatever works best for you. I loved Campy's chain ring design and the lack of shifter cables sticking out of the hoods.

Having said that, my wife has Dura Ace on her bike and it's really good stuff. Electronic shifting, hidden cables and power meters have somewhat erased Campy's aesthetic advantage, at least in my eyes.

As said here, it's economies of scale. Shimano are a "do everything" bike company, and a very, very good one. So they can spread R/D costs over more products and drive a harder bargain with their supply chain. SRAM are another worthy competitor -- I thought (and still think) that Grip Shift is a great mountain bike solution.

I could see Campy disappearing or becoming a real boutique brand like Nitto, however.