Campagnolo

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Campagnolo, Corp.

Type	Public
Founded	1933
Headquarters	Italy
Key people	Tullio Campagnolo (Founder)
Industry	cycling components
Products	Bicycle and Related Components
Revenue	undisclosed
Slogan	unknown
Website	www.campagnolo.com

Campagnolo Ergopower lever

Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy, historically regarded as the most prestigious brand name. These components are organized as groupsets (gruppi) and are a near complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's current highest grade groups are Record (Super Record up to 1985), followed by Chorus. Both the Record and Chorus groupsets are slightly more expensive then their counterparts made by Campagnolo's main competitor, Shimano.

Founded by Tullio Campagnolo, the company began manufacturing in 1933 in a small Vicenza workshop. The founder was an accomplished bicycle racer in Italy in the 1920s and he conceived of several innovative ideas while racing, which later turned into such revolutionary fundamental cycling products as the quick release mechanism for bicycle wheels, derailleurs, and the patented "rod" gear for gear changing. Gino Bartali made a strong impression as he won mountainous races while using this gear system.

A racing bicycle, built with Campagnolo Chorus parts.

Despite having lagged behind in the innovations such as the development of indexed gears, and combined brake and gear levers in the 1980s, Campagnolo introduced its Ergopower gear system, which are still used today. In contrast to Shimano's approach in miniaturizing parts and adding complexity to the design, Campagnolo instead uses material engineering to differentiate their products. Campagnolo components tend to be made so that they can serviced, and spare parts are available. Campagnolo products have always been valued for their rebuildability, and many very old parts are still in service.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw Campagnolo start using carbon fibre parts in their groupsets, and the development of complete wheelsets. In 2004 Campagnolo introduced a complete compact drivetrain system, to enable the use of lower gear ratios compared with the standard racing versions. Campagnolo is currently developing an electric shifting system.

Campagnolo focuses exclusively on road cycling and track cycling. Its primary competitor, Shimano in Japan, produces road, track and mountain bicycling components. Campagnolo sponsors many top racing teams in the UCI ProTour, such as Iles Baléares, Cofidis, Lampre-Caffita, Saunier Duval - Prodir and Liberty Seguros-Würth. Campagnolo is often associated with the victories of Eddy Merckx, who had a close personal relationship with Tullio Campagnolo himself and used Campagnolo almost exclusively throughout his professional career.

Campagnolo is also known as the manufacturer of alloy automobile wheels for exotic cars, as well as a high quality wine bottle opener.

Campagnolo Record brake caliper from the 1970s.

1 Campagnolo history and timeline
2 Current products
3 Tour de France Winners with Campagnolo
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Campagnolo history and timeline

1901 Tullio Campagnolo is born on August 26th in the eastern suburbs of Vicenza, Italy

1922 Tullio Campagnolo begins his racing career

1930 Campagnolo patents the quick release hub

1933 After fabricating parts in the backroom of his father's hardware store, Tullio starts Campagnolo, S.P.A with the production of the quick release hub

1940 Tullio hires his first fulltime employee. The first derailleur enters production, enabling the cyclist to change gears without removing the wheel. The pieces of the derailleur are all handmade, requiring a massive investment of time and labor

1949 Campagnolo introduces its first parallelogram rear derailleur, the Gran Sport

1956 Campagnolo introduces its first parallelogram front derailleur

1963 The Record rear derailleur (chromed bronze) is introduced

1966 The Nuovo Record rear derailleur is introduced. This derailer will be a fixture on Eddy Merckx's bicycles during his first four Tour de France victories

1973 The Super Record Road and Track groups are introduced. This groupset is widely viewed as the best set of bike parts money can buy until the introduction of indexed shifting in 1984

1983 Tullio Campagnolo passes away on February 3rd

1985 Campagnolo creates Delta brakes, a unique type of brakes (requires a photo here of the delta brakes) using a unique parallelogram linkage to actuate the brake

1986 Introduction of re-designed Record road and track groupsets (also know as C-Record), replacing Super Record as the top of range groupset

1987 The last year of production of the Super Record groupset

1989 Campagnolo introduces its first mountain bike groupset. These components end up being less popular than those made by its competitors, Shimano and SunTour. Campagnolo leaves the mountain bike components business in 1994

1992 Introduction of Ergo Power levers, combining the functions of a brake lever and a shift lever in order to answer Shimano's STI levers

1993 Production of Delta brakes is discontinued

1995 Introduction of Group names printed on componentry

1997 9-speed shifting is introduced

1998 Introduction of Next generation Ergo Levers and last year of Athena

1999 Introduction of the Record Carbon Ergo Levers

2000 10-speed shifting is introduced

2001 Carbon fibre shifting levers introduced for Record group

2004 Carbon fibre cranks introduced for Record and Chorus groups

2005 10-speed Centaur and Chorus shift and brake levers introduced for flat bar road bikes

2006 Hollow external bearing crankset announced

2007 Introduction of 10-speed Mirage and Xenon component groups, new Ultra-Torque components

Campagnolo Super Record chainset from 1981.

[edit] Current products

Campagnolo's 2007 road groupsets, listed in approximately descending order of price and quality are:

Record
- Carbon crankset
Chorus
- Carbon crankset
Centaur
- Aluminum crankset
Veloce
Mirage
Xenon
Record Pista for track use (with aluminum crankset)

For 2007, Record and Chorus Ultra Torque cranks are only available in carbon, and Centaur Ultra Torque cranks are only available in Aluminum. Campagnolo is widely regarded as superior to Shimano in terms of aesthetics.

All 2007 Campagnolo component groups, including Xenon, are now 10-speed. Furthermore, the well-known feature of Campagnolo Ergopower shifters allowing the rider to perform both multiple-cog upshifts and downshifts has been limited to the high-end Record and Chorus groups. Centaur, Veloce, Mirage, and Xenon now feature the new "Escape" mechanism, limiting downshifts to a maximum of two cogs at once and upshifts to one cog at a time. Centaur shifters now incorporate carbon like its more expensive siblings and also features a carbon faceplate on the rear derailleur. Veloce is offered in a new "Infinite" shiny black finish as well as the silver.

Campagnolo 10-speed components are generally inter-compatible with older 9-speed components; for example Chorus shifters can be used with a Veloce rear derailleur. The primary exception is cranksets and bottom brackets. Record and Chorus cranksets can only be used with Record and Chorus bottom brackets due to a different degree of spindle taper. Centaur, Veloce, Mirage and Xenon cranksets and square taper bottom brackets are all inter-compatible.

Campagnolo also produces wheelsets.

Low-profile
- Hyperon
- Neutron
- Proton
Medium-profile
- Eurus
- Zonda
- Scirocco
- Vento
- Khamsin
High-profile
- Bora
- Ghibli

In addition, Fulcrum Wheels is a company owned by Campagnolo that produces wheelsets compatible with both Campagnolo and Shimano cassettes.

The ErgoBrain is a cyclocomputer compatible with the Ergo shifters. It displays cadence, gear that is being used, as well as the normal functions of a cyclocomputer.