a new Toyota Corolla, you'd have to break down the bike etc.. is 26-29,000$ in the usa. Suv's Honda, Toyota are 50-55,000$ and you can stick the whole bike in. We have cheap Petrol though • relatively typing.
New XTR with 11-12speed looks ugly and not as solid and reliable as the old one. Campagnolo line of products past 2005 look horrible, isn't reliable and is of mediocre quality.
The only UT bike I use (a winter training/utility/hack - the other I've not finished building) has developed a creak - every left pedal stroke, it creaks. Originally I thought it was the sole of my shoe rubbing on the pedal platform but no, it's the left bearing moving in the cup - it'll take some fiddling to work out a way to stop it. I don't want to face the same issue on the other bike so it's now got a Record Titanium square tape cartridge fitted like my Colnago has.
Campagnolo has been overhyped especially with their new carbon cranks but it began to make poor quality components after 2005 and their ultra torque system made things way worse. They are outrageously expensive for mediocre quality components nowadays and no pro team has won anything with them lately. It is like Ferrari high maintenance stuff but poor reliability over the long run .
Looking forward into the void...They would always tell me that campy was looking forward and not backwards. So that tells you where they're at... Looking towards blobs of carbon and really comfy shifters.
I'm a fan too, Campag came good with 8sp in the 90's. Same functionality over a wide range of gruppos and priced to suit however deep your pockets were. They did copy the Shimano 7400 derailleur design but then again so did Mavic. I believe that Shimano used the design from Suntour but had to wait for the patent to expire before launching. The old pre-index mechs required over shifting, but were reliable and completely rebuildable. That was a big selling point back then. Also the Nuovo Record rear mech is a beautiful thing with the heart emblems as part of the design. Plus if good enough for the likes of Hinault to race with ..I love pre-2011 Campy. I can say that most all my bikes run an assortment of post 1995 Campagnolo and have a bin full of 1970's and 1980's campy I used to ride before I really got into the whole slant parallelogram thing. That being said Campagnolo didn't really shift all that well till they ripped off Shimano 7400. They're brakes didn't start working well till the Monoplaner brakes and really took off with the dual pivot's.
I can go on and on.
They did have some great things like the double bolt seatpost. Or the spiffy spiral machining to keep dirt out of the pedals and bottom brackets. But for the most part the old stuff doesn't work all that well. Looks good but functionally it was meh.
I used to live by the west coast USA distribution hub and would pester the workers while I was buying parts about why campy doesn't make a vintage vibe limited edition groupo. I told them there's definitely a market for it. They would always tell me that campy was looking forward and not backwards. So that tells you where they're at... Looking towards blobs of carbon and really comfy shifters.
