What Happened to Campagnolo?

[chickendrumsticks]

That must have hurt

Oh! My ar*e.. I know how that hurts..

 

[Canuk]

I'm surprised that Campagnolo haven't adopted the Shimano cassette spacing, it would have opened so much more if the market, especially in wheels, where they have done more than okay but could've done better though. Proprietary systems are a royal PITA, I've known a few Italians in my time. Pride always gets the better of em!

 

[Canuk]

I believe they put unprecedented investment into R+D, and computer modelling (in the mid 80s) particularly with 7400, which was a landmark in shifting at least. Very subtly engineered, savvy design.

Yes, big props to Shimano for putting the 7400 group together, that must have made Tullio go reaching for the cheque book to catch up, but by then the writing was already on the wall. Some say they Japanese are merely imitators or copyists, but the 7400 group was imo completely revolutionary in bringing together a lot of bicycle technical threads and making something very useful and appealing to a mass market racing and by and by touring community.

 

[pigman]

Yes, big props to Shimano for putting the 7400 group together, that must have made Tullio go reaching for the cheque book to catch up, but by then the writing was already on the wall. Some say they Japanese are merely imitators or copyists, but the 7400 group was imo completely revolutionary in bringing together a lot of bicycle technical threads and making something very useful and appealing to a mass market racing and by and by touring community.

As was the 1050 and 6400

 

[zerogravitas]

Neil McGowran's reflections on this are well worth reading:
https://dentoncycles.co.uk/2017/12/...-7410-series-road-component-system-1984-1996/

Whilst there are annoyances with how Shimano did certain things like deliberate incompatibility of parts between tiers of group to keep people locked in ...and inconvenience vintage fans 40 years on trying to obtain the right hoods to fit their obsolete DA brake levers! I think it is undeniable how important a set of components the 7400 range is and was. The functionality is still amazing today, and the durability surpasses most modern kit.

 

[LondonClassic]

As was the 1050 and 6400

For all of the talk of 7400, 1050 and 6400 did the real damage, esp as OEM fitment. 1050 was the first group where they fired all the guns at once (SIS, SLR, Biopace, Uniglide) in an affordable package.

I still wanted a Victory gruppo more though, and an SR gruppo even more than that.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Neil Denton's reflections on this are well worth reading:
https://dentoncycles.co.uk/2017/12/...-7410-series-road-component-system-1984-1996/

Whilst there are annoyances with how Shimano did certain things like deliberate incompatibility of parts between tiers of group to keep people locked in (and inconvenience vintage fans 40 years on trying to obtain the right hoods to fit their obsolete DA brake levers), I think it is undeniable how important a set of components the 7400 range is and was. The functionality is still amazing today, and the durability surpasses most modern kit!

If only they'd chosen 110

 

[pigman]

Neil McGowran's reflections on this are well worth reading:
https://dentoncycles.co.uk/2017/12/...-7410-series-road-component-system-1984-1996/

Whilst there are annoyances with how Shimano did certain things like deliberate incompatibility of parts between tiers of group to keep people locked in ...and inconvenience vintage fans 40 years on trying to obtain the right hoods to fit their obsolete DA brake levers! I think it is undeniable how important a set of components the 7400 range is and was. The functionality is still amazing today, and the durability surpasses most modern kit.

I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exception

 

[Canuk]

I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exceptio

I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exception

IMO not collaborating on a standard for cassette bodies (or adopting it later on) was a huge mistake for Campagnolo. Sure it's possible to make Campagnolo 9 speed work with a Shimano cassette and rear derailleur but it's a technical faff/force. SRAM have really capitalized on being able to use Shimano bodied wheels, chains and cassettes. I guess pride got the better of the Italians in the end and they've lost a good part of their market share and a place at the grand tours table (albeit with the exception of one team).

I remember my first Kellogg's city centre race as a kid and seeing almost everyone on Campagnolo kit, there really were very few alternatives for 'racing men' back in the day. It must be a real kick in the goolies to have lost that tremendous marketing advantage over the intervening years.

 

[Rapparee87]

Campag's new Super Record groupset is reviewed on the comic's website. 'more affordable ' is the tagline at the top of the piece.

Scroll down to the bottom and I see the price is £3,900, so a snip clearly. That's without the power meter obviously..

What in the wide world of sports has the cycle industry become...