Campagnolo – The Greatest of All Time?
Campag Delta Brake
When we're talking about cycling components that riders have looked desiringly at over the years through the shop windows with lusful eyes there are plenty of candidates for the number one spot. The first Shimano index gearing, the first look clipless pedals, the first purpose built mtb groupset or any groupset from Campagnolo that had been perfectly engineered to provide the best possible synergy between rider and bike possible at the time.
Campagnolo started out in 1933 when Tullio Campagnolo came up with various ideas while competing as a racing cyclist. These included quick release mechanisms for bicycle wheels, deraillieur gearing and a rod gear system for positioning a deraillieur. Although this can be contentious as many companies have later claimed to come up with the same design. Infact as a teenager in 198os east end of London an old and somewhat eccentric local character was adamant in conversation that he had infact invented deraillieur gearing. And he didn't have an Italian accent!
The company slowly expanded from making hand built hubs and deraillieurs from the back of Tullio's father's hardware store in Vicenza to making parallelogram front and rear deraillieurs.
During the 1950s Campagnolo started manufacturing high end parts for sports cars such as Ferrari and Maserati and built parts for space sattelites during the 1960s. To this day it is still possible to purchase high end Campagnolo wheels for Ferrari sports cars.
Major success came Campagnolo's way when Eddy Merckx used the refined version of the earlier produced Record deraillieur, the Nuovo Record to win the first four Tour de France victories.
Following on from this success Campagnolo introduced the Super Record groupsets for road and track use in 1973, one of the most sought after groupsets in history.
Shaken by Tullio's passing in 1983 Campagnolo continued to make advances in bike design with one of the most beautiful brakesets ever produced - the coveted Delta calipers.
In 1986 Campagnolo launched the C-Record groupset - A redesigned Record to meet the challenges posed from Japan's Shimano components and then 3 years later tried a short lived foray into the emerging MTb world with the Euclid off road groupset which failed to catch on.
The 1990s saw Japan's dominance increase over Campagnolo with Shimano stealing a march on integrated brake and gear shifting and Campagnolo trying to catch up.
The day's where Campagnolo were the default high end player in cycling were over but as retro cycling vintage collectors we are blessed that the Campagnolo parts from before this era were made to such high standards of workmanship and design that many examples still exist today in almost perfect condition.
If you are putting together a bike and want classic components that still work perfectly you know what brand to hunt for...
There is only one Campagnolo
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