What Happened to Campagnolo?

[sjcprojects]

where art and passion are as or more important than profit

I'd like to think Tullio Campagnolo would have sympathised with this idea, though maybe I'm being overly romantic. Anyway, whatever anyone thinks of the actual products they make these days, I'm glad a family-owned business like Campagnolo can still exist at all in this world of private-equity and leveraged buy-outs.

 

[bagpuss]

Apart from for a short period in the 70's ( rare side pull) Campagnolo has never made a deep drop dual pivot brake [ rim] as far as I know . Surely a revenue opportunity missed.
I used Campagnolo triple chainsets for years. Unfortunately I can longer pedal a 48 outer ring [TA] make one for the square taper racing t and other models .
The companies reluctance to get into the touring market proper always surprised me . We only do racing?
Their later long cage derailleurs models from the 1990's always worked well imho .
Racing t derailleur. I still use one and the short lived Record long cage from the 90's with the carbon main plate . Again mine has done 1,000's of miles . Just new jockey wheels fitted .
Both my first gen Record ergo levers and later Chorus carbon ergo lever are working as well as ever .
I have Shimano Grx on another modern tourer . Yes it works well but it's aesthetics is another matter.
Time waits for no one and innovation in cycling continues. And a lot of marketing hype.
Rose tinted glasses for sale .....try e bay that's where I got mine

 

[georges1]

I'd like to think Tullio Campagnolo would have sympathised with this idea, though maybe I'm being overly romantic. Anyway, whatever anyone thinks of the actual products they make these days, I'm glad a family-owned business like Campagnolo can still exist at all in this world of private-equity and leveraged buy-outs.

It is a family owned business but until when. Are Tullio's heirs as passionate as he once was ? I don't think so. Since 15 years , they are struggling with sponsoring road bike pro teams and the reliability of their products can be very questionable some times worse with spare parts availability. Also, has Campagnolo been profitable the last 15 years ? Honestly, I don't think so.