Campagnolo News for 2004



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Robert Schinner

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Hello, everybody is talking about Dura Ace 2004. Is there already any news about Campy 2004?
Electric maybe??? Thanks and regards
R.S.
 
<< everybody is talking about Dura Ace 2004. Is there already any news about Campy 2004?
Electric maybe???

Word is that some pros will be racing Electronic Record this year...perhaps a carbon triple crank or
carbon calipers, 10s will probably go down to Veloce or perhaps Mirage. Not eveybody is talking
about 10s DA, even tho it does seem it took shimano 4 years to figure it out.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Qui si parla
Campagnolo) wrote:

> << everybody is talking about Dura Ace 2004. Is there already any news about Campy 2004? Electric
> maybe???
>
> Word is that some pros will be racing Electronic Record this year...perhaps a carbon triple crank
> or carbon calipers, 10s will probably go down to Veloce or perhaps Mirage. Not eveybody is talking
> about 10s DA, even tho it does seem it took shimano 4 years to figure it out.

Sheesh. I have no strong feelings for any bike part maker, but is 10v so necessary? I happily
upgraded my bike to 8v, only so I could use a rear brifteur (a great choice, BTW; the shifting is
definitely faster and more convenient than a DT, and since I plan to become complete and utter crit
scum this year, that's important).

That said, I agree that Ergotronic (or Campy Zap?) will be a much more significant change in
drivetrain tech. It should be interesting to see how it works, and what benefits (if any) Campagnolo
manages to pull out of the system.

In an ideal world, my bike would be 10v Campy and weigh less than 15 lbs., but then in an ideal
world, I'd have a collection of stuffed lions and yellow jerseys. I'm okay with the status quo :).

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
 
Ryan: are you a Luddite? Of course 10, 11, 12 speed cogsets are necessary! Progress! 11 is one
faster than 10. The ability to have X+1 cogs will definitely open up my wallet and make me buy!

Not. In fact, Campy's switch to 10 speed made me abandon a long-term committment to the brand. I use
Campy 8 and 9-speed shifters and rear derailleurs, but the rest of my drivetrain is now Shimano. The
close cog spacing between Campy and Shimano 9-speed is a fortunate but I'm sure unintentional
feature. Shimano will not duplicate this mistake when they go to their own version of 10-speed. Even
9-speed is wrong for mountain bikes. My favorite tech shop here says that their #1 requested upgrade
is converting XT and XTR drivetrains to 8-speed. Why? better shift reliability under dirty
conditions, and fewer missed and ghost shifts due to vibration.

Seriously, is the bicycle industry so devoid of engineering-based innovation that it has to depend
on a 4-year cycle of just adding another cog?

Personally, I've jumped off this merry-go-round. When the industry comes up with a 10-speed
internally-geared rear hub that weighs close to existing drivetrains, then I'll buy once more.

Other so-called new stuff: Electronic shifting. What's the point? My drivetrains are so dialed-in
and smooth that I couldn't be bothered with the cost and the complexity.

Dura-Ace and Record triple cranksets? As if any Cat. riders will use these... If you need anything
lower than a double with 39-28 gearing, then you shouldn't be riding a a $200+ crankset.

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Qui si parla
> Campagnolo) wrote:
>
> > << everybody is talking about Dura Ace 2004. Is there already any news about Campy 2004?
> > Electric maybe???
> >
> > Word is that some pros will be racing Electronic Record this
year...perhaps a
> > carbon triple crank or carbon calipers, 10s will probably go down to
Veloce or
> > perhaps Mirage. Not eveybody is talking about 10s DA, even tho it does
seem it
> > took shimano 4 years to figure it out.
>
> Sheesh. I have no strong feelings for any bike part maker, but is 10v so necessary?
> --
> Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
 
In article <[email protected]>, "Dave Mayer"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Ryan: are you a Luddite? Of course 10, 11, 12 speed cogsets are necessary! Progress! 11 is one
> faster than 10. The ability to have X+1 cogs will definitely open up my wallet and make me buy!
>
> Not. In fact, Campy's switch to 10 speed made me abandon a long-term committment to the brand. I
> use Campy 8 and 9-speed shifters and rear derailleurs, but the rest of my drivetrain is now
> Shimano. The close cog spacing between Campy and Shimano 9-speed is a fortunate but I'm sure
> unintentional feature. Shimano will not duplicate this mistake when they go to their own version
> of 10-speed. Even 9-speed is wrong for mountain bikes. My favorite tech shop here says that their
> #1 requested upgrade is converting XT and XTR drivetrains to 8-speed. Why? better shift
> reliability under dirty conditions, and fewer missed and ghost shifts due to vibration.
>
> Seriously, is the bicycle industry so devoid of engineering-based innovation that it has to depend
> on a 4-year cycle of just adding another cog?

I'm waiting for the much-anticipated fourth front ring. But pity the poor bike industry: everything
works fairly well. The last interesting road innovation happened when STI was introduced (which I
think is a boon for criterium nerds like myself).

> Personally, I've jumped off this merry-go-round. When the industry comes up with a 10-speed
> internally-geared rear hub that weighs close to existing drivetrains, then I'll buy once more.

I wonder how much development time Shimano is putting into their Nexus stuff? I certainly would like
to see a reasonably priced competitor to the Rohloff 14-speed.

> Other so-called new stuff: Electronic shifting. What's the point? My drivetrains are so dialed-in
> and smooth that I couldn't be bothered with the cost and the complexity.

Amen, brother! Actually, I came up with some theories about electronic shifting, but I don't think
they'll use it for anything but making bicycles battery-dependent.

> Dura-Ace and Record triple cranksets? As if any Cat. riders will use these... If you need anything
> lower than a double with 39-28 gearing, then you shouldn't be riding a a $200+ crankset.

This, I have to call you on. There are probably some hillclimbs and brutal over-the-top races where
a triple is a reasonable choice. Several USPS riders used triples in the major stage races (Vuelta
Espana, Tour) last year. Hey, maybe with the 10v, they won't need to! :)

Also, Dura-Ace and Record are Acura NSX or Ferrari groups. Beautifully made, very functional, vastly
beyond the needs of almost any cyclist. I doubt that any rider outside of the Tour de France could
tell the performance difference between a bike with Dura-Ace and 105, and I'm sure there isn't a
Category rider around that could change their placing in a criterium with the difference between
Dura-Ace and Tiagra, and probably Sora. And the same goes for the Campy stuff.

But I'm sure there's some loaded tourist out there quite glad to have a triple on his all-Dura-Ace
bike, just as people commute in Ferraris. Perhaps these things make Tullio Campagnolo and Enzo
Ferrari turn in their graves, but what the customer wants....

For most Dura-Ace and Record riders, I'm sure it's really about being able to point at the bike and
say, "full Record gruppo," than it is about a performance benefit. And why not? If I was fabulously
wealthy and had a bike budget to match, I'd have a bike built up with all Record, too. I'm sure I'd
even love it. But right now I have a 105/Sora mutant with a carbon fork on a steel frame, and it's
not slowing me down a bit.

> > Sheesh. I have no strong feelings for any bike part maker, but is 10v so necessary?
> > --
> > Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
 
On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:46:41 +0000, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

>> Dura-Ace and Record triple cranksets? As if any Cat. riders will use these... If you need
>> anything lower than a double with 39-28 gearing, then you shouldn't be riding a a $200+ crankset.

Just wait until you get older. Your words will come back to haunt you.
:) Seriously, I prefer a triple for any sort of sustained climb anymore -
too much pain otherwise. Fortunately I live in the flatlands, so my triple is only required when I
go to the mountains - not often.

> Also, Dura-Ace and Record are Acura NSX or Ferrari groups. Beautifully made, very functional,
> vastly beyond the needs of almost any cyclist. I doubt that any rider outside of the Tour de
> France could tell the performance difference between a bike with Dura-Ace and 105, and I'm sure
> there isn't a Category rider around that could change their placing in a criterium with the
> difference between Dura-Ace and Tiagra, and probably Sora. And the same goes for the Campy stuff.
>
> But I'm sure there's some loaded tourist out there quite glad to have a triple on his all-Dura-Ace
> bike, just as people commute in Ferraris. Perhaps these things make Tullio Campagnolo and Enzo
> Ferrari turn in their graves, but what the customer wants....
>
> For most Dura-Ace and Record riders, I'm sure it's really about being able to point at the bike
> and say, "full Record gruppo," than it is about a performance benefit. And why not? If I was
> fabulously wealthy and had a bike budget to match, I'd have a bike built up with all Record, too.
> I'm sure I'd even love it. But right now I have a 105/Sora mutant with a carbon fork on a steel
> frame, and it's not slowing me down a bit.

I have to grin about this - I've lusted after Campy for years, then ended up buying a full Chorus
group about 5 years ago. (Why not Record? Those plastic levers just don't do it for me. Yeah, I know
they're carbon fiber
- but it's still plastic. There's nothing like the feel of finely tooled metal.)

I know I could be just as fast with a lower-end group, but I'm never going to win anything. I don't
have any desire to race anymore. Cycling for me is all about feeling good on the bike, and damn it,
Chorus feels good! Not only that, but with about 25K on the bike, it lasts long too.

Of course, with the economy in the crapper, if I were buying today, I couldn't afford Chorus - heck,
I'd probably be buying a WalMart bike....

>> > Sheesh. I have no strong feelings for any bike part maker, but is 10v so necessary?

Nope. Not unless it comes with that painless gear.... I'd say there is a huge difference between a 5
speed and an 8 speed. Those extra cogs are useful. The marginal improvement between an 8 and a 9,
and now 9 and 10, is minimal.

-Dondo
 
Dave Mayer <[email protected]> wrote:
>Personally, I've jumped off this merry-go-round. When the industry comes up with a 10-speed
>internally-geared rear hub that weighs close to existing drivetrains, then I'll buy once more.

The Rohloff's not _that_ heavy, once you strip off extra chainrings, two derailleurs, all rear
sprockets - and the undished rear wheel is an obvious reliability win.

>Dura-Ace and Record triple cranksets? As if any Cat. riders will use these...

Hey, if it's good enough for the Tour...

I was amused, though, by the Shimano long-cage DA rear derailleur, which is carefully designed not
to look like it has a long cage to avoid "the touring look".

I wonder if there really is a sufficient market of people who are too proud to admit they need a
triple _and_ too dumb to realise anyone looking will just count their chainrings. :)
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Distortion Field!
 
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