What Happened to Campagnolo?

It's the pricing I think which will eventually do for Campagnolo. SRAM is a great value group and as a full wireless set up, it's easy to install and it just 'works '. I've got it on two bikes I use the most and it's total revelation. I wouldn't build a new bike without it.

Super Record pricing is really getting kinda ridiculous now:

Super Record 13 w/ power meter: €5,399 / US$5,899 / £4,950

Super Record 13 w/o power meter: €4,300 / US$4,750 / £3,900

Etap 12 disc: 1850 euro

Etap 13x 1 AXS: 2749 euro.

It's a no brainer.
Well Campagnolo has become a very arrogant company who makes very finicky products costing a fortune. If I had to buy a modern bike it would be with Dura Ace 9000 but with FSA carbon cranks and certainly not the bonded one that fails all the time. As for SRAM, I am not a fan of it but to each their own, same with disc brakes
 
Thankfully, I am not part of the 0.5% - 5.0% who might benefit from 12 or 13 on the rear.

Friction on the DT 5/6/7 is fine for most of my rides. 10 speed Campa (mixed levels) is sweet for my bikes with integrated levers - 3 with the pre-2005 components. I also had to experience electronic shifting - and chose Di2, four years ago - which came with 11 speed cassette.

My plate is full of options in the road cycling category. But I love to see new tech as it, ultimately, drives the industry - for better or worse.
Drives the industry to ruin more like... When bikes become the price of a small car the shark has been well and truly jumped. A plague on all their houses...
 
The target audience for high end stuff has changed so radically that many of us struggle to recognise them.
Sure, I'm one of them. @gfk_velo gave some great insight into how they're still a very viable company, albeit a niche one. I was Campagnolo target market and now I'm not. Age and cycling tastes move me out of the Campag orbit and into the clutches of Brooks, SKS, Schwalbe...all of which I swore would never happen to me :D
 
Back in the 1970s I rode Zeus but spares were few and far between and the kit became more and more difficult to get hold of so by the mid-80s I'd moved to Campag. The last complete group set I bought was 9-speed Record Ti in either 1999 or 2000. I have had to move to UT crank sets on a couple of bikes and the factory setup isn't great. Use of the Hirth joint is a great idea but the wave-washer positioning of the LH bearing is seriously Mickey Mouse - it's almost like they were finalizing the design on a Friday afternoon before a long vacation and just said "F@ck it - just use a spring washer. It'll be fine".
 
Drives the industry to ruin more like... When bikes become the price of a small car the shark has been well and truly jumped. A plague on all their houses...
Have you bought a new car lately? I think I heard that (in USA) the average cost of a new car/truck is $49,000 and poised for a big tariff increase.
 
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