What Happened to Campagnolo?

[@JanGoh-jb5ge]

I miss my Chorus group--the best feeling and functional groupset I've ever had. But everything is so expensive now, I just can't justify it. Race what you can replace, as the saying goes, and I can't afford the repair costs if I crash or get careless for a moment.

[@Raymond-Farts]

I was a Campy fanboy most of my road cycling life, a couple of decades, but not anymore. I bought Dura-Ace 9170 Di2 and will not switch ever again. I am so in love with this group that I bought a second 9170 group that is in the boxes in my spare parts drawer for when that day comes I would need it. I'm not going 12 or 13 speed because I'm not a pro level racer who needs the exact cadence to maintain power levels. The shifting is so smooth most of the time I don't even realize the thing shifted. In the 3 years I've had this group it has not missed a shift or dropped a chain. I've replaced the 52T chainring and a couple of cassettes and that's it for maintenance aside from replacing chains about twice a year. I agree with you about the looks of Campy, it just doesn't draw my attention anymore.

[@larryt.atcycleitalia5786]

When I look at this new stuff I think "SHIMAGNOLO" :-(

[@richdubbya]

The main reason I choose Campagnolo mechanical is for the thumb levers, which I hear Campy drifted from? But what I hate is how Campy basically forgets past products and focus on the new stuff. Forget abbout buying new Campy Mirage parts. But you can get 30 year old Shimano replacement parts all day

[@ariffau]

Just bring back Athena, Veloce, Potenza and Centaur. Doesn’t have to be the best of the best. It just have to be somewhat affordable. Chorus 12 being their cheapest groupset is wild! They also don’t spec stock bikes with their groupsets.

[@jeffparnell5805]

I agree. My first Campy groupset was Centaur, and I loved it. It was a great balance of value & performance for the riding I was doing. Then back in 2021 I built my dream bike with Chorus 12 speed disc. For me it was the most I was willing to spend for style & performance, without getting into exotic pricing with little in return for performance and weight savings. It'd be nice of Campy could find a way to tap back into that market, because I just don't see how sustainable getting more and more stratospheric with their pricing can be and a shrinking market share. I still love my Chorus 12 speed regardless though; but I will say getting spare parts can be a pain and require a lot of research.

[@slighter]

Who’s buying lower end campy these days when it is more expensive, less supported and less functional than the sram and shimano counterparts? It’s a vicious circle.

[@ariffau]

@@slighter my local Campy distributor is awesome. Lol

[@Andresrdo]

As a younger rider with no older Campy experience, I was thoroughly impressed with the Super Record Wireless groupset. For context, no I haven’t ridden the new Red or Dura Ace Di2. Have ridden old early 2000s Dura Ace, new Sram Force AXS and 105 Di2. The Campy brakes are far far far ahead. Out of the box the reach is a bit long(my understanding is they’re maxed out from the factory). If you dial them in a bit, the reach is better for average/small hands AND improves the sponginess by miles. I don’t think any of the reviewers has done this because I have seen zero comment on it. Unless you have huge hands, this is a must!! The performance and feel are elevated 100 fold On the shifting, I do think Shimano handles the front deraileur shifts slightly better, but Campy rear deraileur shifts again, are the absolute best. Sram does great things but shifting is NOT one of them. Hoping for Shimano to upgrade its offroad lineup so they can compete with Sram better and I can ditch them Wholeheartedly agree this stuff is too expensive. Bought it on sale and is the only reason I could afford the Campy stuff. Zero regrets. Seriously dial back the brakes a bit and you’ll see

[@sebastianm2381]

Wholeheartedly agree. I love Campy and I want to keep loving them. But they’re making it virtually impossible at this point. I love my Ekar - albeit on a custom steel frame with external cabling. It would probably give me a world of trouble on a fully integrated frame. I love 12sp Record with rim brakes despite running it on a fully integrated Dogma frame. It shifts quicker than any electronic group ever will and there’s just something beautiful about an all mechanical bike. But I doubt that I’ll buy another Campy product. For my new disc build I went with Rival AXS. Campy’s electronic groups are basically completely irrelevant to 99% of cyclists.

[@antoninfrank3301]

This video is very honest. Support to the author. Campy needs to come out with some serious upgrades, improvements and customer more friendly politics otherwise even fans like me will be leaving. I can survive the idiotic attitude to pricing, I can stand probably even the service issues. What is really anoying is the feeling you do not get the best you can for the incredible loads of money. Wheels are still top class. The S groupset is very good. The thumb solution for gearing needs to come back. Hope the rumours of Campy developing a wireless thumb controler are true. In general, the electronic wireless era cought Campy unprepared. The mechanical Superrecord is absolute top in groupsets. Wake up guys! Thats the message of this video and I hundred percent support it! Wake up!!!

[@monkmchorning]

They boutiqued themselves right out of the business. There was a day when Campagnolo only cost a little more than the competition. Sure, SunTour shifted better, but a Campagnolo-equipped bike was an investment. Nowadays, with "innovations" coming out every year or two, who cares about that?

[@ralphc1405]

You're kidding right? I remember that by the mid-90s (right before 9v) their Dura ace 8v gruppo had superseded Campy Record in everything. Ergopower brifters needed to wear in in but D.A. STI was like a bat out of hell in out-of-the-box performance. I do have a Colnago steel with 1980s C-record mostly for nostalgic purposes but that's it, when I started riding in the mid-90s Just because Indurain was winning the TDF it still wasn't betted than watching team MAPEI winning all those Classics on their Dura ace 'Nagos

[@jeffparnell5805]

I remember getting Centaur 10 speed, right around 2006 at the same time SRAM released Rival. Centaur was slotted between Shimano 105 and Ultegra. It was stylish and distinctive, without being exotic. Just an overall solid groupset without much fuss. Looking back for me it felt like the good old days.

[@RemiWillassen]

This is just a big LOL! Sure I am not qualified to do any comparison with Shimano or SRAM, but this quy clearly has an agenda that is not fair. I have been riding WRL all this season, living in Norway I have also ridden i sub-zero temp with big winter gloves. Shifting is easy and the buttons are absolutely fine to use with big gloves. Look at your fingers, index a bit shorter than the middle one, perfectl for the button position. I guess if you are used to other brands then you must rewind you mussle memory a bit, but I also had to do that comming from EPS (wich I still use on my 2nd bike). Brakes are fabulous, and most rewiews place them higher in performance that the competition, but this guy. Looks? well, make your own opinion, this guy surely have one. It seems that ditching Campagnolo has become a favorite hobby for some of his kind. Well, they dont sell it so they have nothing to loose, but readers to win. I will not rate Campagnolo above anything else, but the cycling world would be a boring place without.

[@markrushton1516]

Stupidly expensive and harder to get parts. Stuff like offset bolts on the chain set drove me crazy. Prob reached their peak with 10 speed

[@mohamadafzal203]

expensive if you dont have the money, for some its a bargain made by artisans in Italy, I dont think you've ever ridden campagnolo in your life, so stop pretending and telling the world what a big fool you are

[@keatonhanson]

Yooo! Bicycling Looking for the clicks! 🤣 Campy for sure needs to look at themselves hard in the mirror. Been on WRL since June of 2023 (most commenters have 0 to at most a ride or two on the WRL groupset). The groupset is FINE. But we expect greatness from Campagnolo, and honestly, we should. They need to get back to their roots, racing. seeing pro tour riders on Campagnolo made me want it. There are a couple things in the WRL groupset I consider unforgivable, and I truly hope Campagnolo gets them sorted. Hoping this is their dura-ace 7900 era and they rebound!

[@OpusXtr]

Campy was mechanical art. Ever since they went “tactical black” they have looked just “ehhh..”. I spent months on *bay finding the last evolution of polished 10 speed record for my old Colnago Master. After that they’re just expensive groups that look like all the others.

[@maxsievers8251]

If the frame manufacturers are too lazy to put on cable stops then they should just give up the business! When I spend 2K upwards on a frameset I expect it to have all the mounts I could ever wish for.

[@CrankyNebelung]

another point to look at Campy is that they are marketing to romantic wealthy riders, which tends to fall to older demographic of riders. Younger riders(think Gen z and Millennials) are more acquainted with Sram and Shimano, specially the lower tiers drivetrains. Campy is falling in a future bomb since they are not acquiring younger markets. they themselves have said that they can only realistically sell drivetrains with the name “Record” in them. And when Super Record is clocking in at over $4k they will miss a future of young generational riders. Their reputation dying with wealthy, romantic dentists. I for one have owned grx, tiagra, dura ace, red, apex. yet never anything campy. nor interested. i didn’t grew up riding it like a lot of older people so simply, i don’t care.

[@RB-xv4si]

I think you need to take their claim that they can’t sell much that doesn’t have the name “record” in it with a grain of salt. While this may be true, it’s not a mystery why this phenomenon exists. It’s because for whatever reason, Campagnolo is not securing the contracts with frameset manufacturers and shops to have complete ready-to-buy builds. These are the bikes that sell with mid to low tier components. The group sets purchased by people that will build a bike up from parts or have it built up by a shop are naturally more picky about their build (hence why they’re not buying a standard spec build), so of course I assembled group sets purchased by people (the vast majority of Campy’s business) are going to be their top shelf offerings.

[@mohamadafzal203]

itys true wealthy riders overwhelmingly use Campagnolo....but maybe because they are also smarter?

[@foldupaudi7645]

I love Campagnolo, I am also insane

[@slighter]

Welcome to the club.

[@dh7314]

Proprietary tools needed. Expensive parts. Hard to source spares. Limited stockists. You’d have to be insane to buy Campagnolo

[@mohamadafzal203]

and you must be a complete ignorant fools to ignore Campagnolo, unless of course you are riding children bicycle, in which case youd be riding Shimano, or you are too lazy to train and need that pizza sized cassettes that SRAM makes

[@rg807]

I run Campy rotors on my SL7 simply because they look better. Yes, looks matter. Dura Ace for the rest of the group set, however.

[@sankarpai]

Aluminum is stiffer than carbon? Then how are carbon bikes qay more stiffer than Aluminium bikes? 😮

[@AngelGonzalez-hc4zw]

Way overpriced!!! That’s where I am OUT. I use to be very loyal to Campy, both of my vintage Italian race bikes are fully Campy equipped. My 2008 carbon bike was the end of my Campy purchasing. More power to those who can drop a second mortgage on bike components. Glad I experienced the best era of Campy, which in my honest opinion was the 80s and 90s. Thanks

[@Viamscience]

Nope.... sorry. Campy WRL looks Lamborghini sick IMO. It works brilliantly, weighs the same as DA or Red and isn't made in a sweat shop (hence the price). Campy all day.

[@wonchoe]

Yet another pundit riding the anti-Campy bandwagon for clicks. Flexy levers? Those things are ROCK solid! 🙄 Amazing feedback. The transition to the stacked shifters was seamless. Simpler than the thumb shifters. The shifting is spot on and the groupsets and wheels still look the best. I thought the WRL derailleurs were huge in the pictures, but they look great on the bike. I miss the multi-shift of the mechanical Campy groupsets, but no electronic groupset can match that yet. Main downside is the price, but even that can be mitigated tremendously if you shop smart.

[@jasonhutchinson8060]

Campy make the most beautiful groups on the market, namely their EPS and Wireless ranges. The Wireless 'S' range is not.

[@lingijenging577]

Campagnolo chasing for idealism but loosing its customers.

[@GT-cx8vd]

I see some merit in criticism. my Athena 11 and Record 11 perform flawlessly the feeling is exhilarating, shift like charm. My Potenza 11 simply sucks, qualifies as the worst group set of my experience. My bora 2011 deep section wheels simply kick ass and perform like new after thousands of km. but the world has changed a lot since then, Campagnolo too by consequence, but not necessarily to the better. The new generation groups do not appeal to me, I just hate the aesthetic of their design. So I will remain stuck with my 2015 tech, seems ok though because for us the average Joes that make up the mass, cycling is fun primarily

[@PikachuV4RsY1Rs]

Nothing wrong with them I just like shimano

[@mohamadafzal203]

and you are riding children:s bicycle en route to going fishing with your Shimano reels?

[@joehart3826]

Click bait title. Too much analysis of ekar No mention of pro peleton

[@mohamadafzal203]

its actually nothing wrong with Campagnolo, what is wrong is the mushrooming of ignorant journalists , who rely on industry sponsorships, and who do not care that most parts are made in ASIA using cheap parts , cheap material in some undisclosed factories scattered all over the world. With Campagnolo, you know your parts are being made by true passionate artisans who are being paid fairly , and the products cycles run a lifetime.Shimano are good for children"s bicycle, and SRAM are known known for family sized pizza like cassettes for those who are not fit enough to climb but insist on taking those pictures for their IG....after reading his piece and hearing his crazy rants, i can conclude that Matt Phillips knows very little about road cycling. Time for a new Editor, perhaps?

[@slighter]

I think you buy into the PR a bit too much. The fact that you basically have to paint a black and white picture and oversimplify things show clearly that the firm struggles to bring real life advantages to the table and convince customers with a good enough product.

[@mohamadafzal203]

No not at all. I am just comparing what the editor is saying and my actual experience. It can't be further from the truth. I'm a transplant surgeon and I am not that stupid to buy into PR without comparing to my actual experience. What the video show is an example of poor journalism. Shimano cranks break ...SRAM shift like and old man and the chain drops regularly.. Everyone who owns enough bikes know these as facts

[@mohamadafzal203]

I mean this guy say aluminium is stiffer than carbon just to defend SRAM...how laughable is that😂😂😂

[@hayabusa27]

UAE Tadej Pogacar dropped Campag then won more races and Tours with Shimano straight away says a lot. They were held back! but Campag fans are always butt hurt about those facts, maybe you shouldn't have overspent on too much Made in Italy junk and paid rent instead? I work on thousands of bikes Campagnolos are pricey fancy more problematic than DA or Red. Getting replacement parts is a shyte show. I wouldn't run then on World Tour teams.

[@larryt.atcycleitalia5786]

Sure, he never won before that? He'd win on SRAM!

[@tommyfreckmann6857]

What?!?! He won the Tour on Campy.

[@puntoycoma47]

Dude, Pogs can win whatever he pleases in a Tiagra equipped bike. What a bunch of bs

[@santiagobenites]

You have no idea what you're talking about. Tadej Pogagar won the Tour riding Campagnolo, and there were absolutely no issues with Campagnolo components performance.

[@foldupaudi7645]

Hilarious but incorrect

[@Johnwis-gp9yy]

I have Sram Axs, DA Di2 and Campy WRL… and use them on my bikes… WRL is amazing, but I also like Axs and Di2… Axs is definitely the most practical and if I had to have only one bike it would be with Axs… the only thing that I don like with WRL is the front mech which is more bulkier than DA… this reviewer is waaay too biased, can not consider him seriously really… flexing brake levers ?? LOL… WRL braking is superior to DA, and DA is better than Sram

[@Andresrdo]

As a younger rider with no older Campy experience, I was thoroughly impressed with the Super Record Wireless groupset. For context, no I haven’t ridden the new Red or Dura Ace Di2. Have ridden old early 2000s Dura Ace, new Sram Force AXS and 105 Di2. The Campy brakes are far far far ahead. Out of the box the reach is a bit long(my understanding is they’re maxed out from the factory). If you dial them in a bit, the reach is better for average/small hands AND improves the sponginess by miles. I don’t think any of the reviewers has done this because I have seen zero comment on it. Unless you have huge hands, this is a must!! The performance and feel are elevated 100 fold On the shifting, I do think Shimano handles the front deraileur shifts slightly better, but Campy rear deraileur shifts again, are the absolute best. Sram does great things but shifting is NOT one of them. Hoping for Shimano to upgrade its offroad lineup so they can compete with Sram better and I can ditch them Wholeheartedly agree this stuff is too expensive. Bought it on sale and is the only reason I could afford the Campy stuff. Zero regrets. Seriously dial back the brakes a bit and you’ll see

[@GT-cx8vd]

I see some merit in criticism. my Athena 11 and Record 11 perform flawlessly the feeling is exhilarating, shift like charm. My Potenza 11 simply sucks, qualifies as the worst group set of my experience. My bora 2011 deep section wheels simply kick ass and perform like new after thousands of km. but the world has changed a lot since then, Campagnolo too by consequence, but not necessarily to the better. The new generation groups do not appeal to me, I just hate the aesthetic of their design. So I will remain stuck with my 2015 tech, seems ok though because for us the average Joes that make up the mass, cycling is fun primarily