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Well, the Campagnolo obituaries keep on coming:
As is typical in cycling, each one of us thinks we know exactly what Campagnolo needs to do in order to thrive once again. “They need to go back to classic silver components!” “They need to make an unbeatable modern pro-level component group!” “They need to make a great value entry level electronic group!” And so on.
Whatever, none of this matters, they’re doomed. You know it, I know it, the disapproving ghost of Tullio knows it:
[“Why you put-a ‘da battery in ‘da gear-changer? Figlio di puttana!”]
At this point they might as well just start making car rims again:
What’s more important here is the irrevocable damage cycling journalists are doing to the English language–which, as I often mention, is already being destroyed by the gratuitous double-word formations that characterize marketing speak. For example:
“Use case” instead of use
“Design language” instead of design
“Design intent” instead of…design
“Price point” instead of price
“Gravel space” instead of gravel
And so on.
Look, it’s fine if people want to talk that way in their business meetings, but we should not be allowing it to contaminate everyday communication. Now the latest one I can’t un-see that the bicycling world seems to be appropriating from the consumer culture at large is “ecosystem,” now commonly used in reference to bicycle drivetrains.
I’d argue that if you start out on Shimano or SRAM and get used to their ecosystem and ergonomics, you won’t make the switch to Campagnolo. You’re even less likely to do so when that gamble would cost you thousands for the privilege – no matter how good Super Record 13 could be.
Okay…I’m going to stop and take a deep breath, because I don’t want to get too angry.
Breathe…
Breathe…
Oh, fuck it. It’s not an “ecosystem,” goddamit! IT’S A SYSTEM.
SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM!!!
Yes, I get it, they’re making it clear that the parts only work with each other. But here is the definition of “system:”
There it is! The perfect description of your Dura-Ace or your Record or your Red or whatever. Meanwhile, an ecosystem is a specific kind of system, because the “eco” prefix refers of course to the environment:
Ecosystem is a term that includes all resources, both living and nonliving, that make up our environment: plants, animals, microbes, soil, rocks, water, weather and climate.
So calling a bicycle drivetrain an ecosystem instead of a system is gratuitous, excessive, inaccurate, salacious, and outrageous:
It’s like receiving a letter in the mail and calling it email. IT’S NOT EMAIL. EMAIL IS ELECTRONIC MAIL. IT’S JUST MAIL. Similarly, the Campagnolo Record 13 group you shift with your sphincter is not an ecosystem. IT’S JUST A SYSTEM.
I’m glad that’s finally clear. Now stop doing it.
Speaking of Campagnolo, as you know, I’ve been riding a bike equipped with Campagnolo parts from what I imagine most people would agree is their heyday, or at least the very end of their heyday just as Suntour and Shimano started outdoing them:
While it’s obviously not nearly as refined as a newer ecosystem, it’s wonderfully simple and quite dependable (except maybe for the crank, which people say is prone to breaking), and lately I’ve particularly come to especially appreciate the brakes:
Like most people younger than 100 I’ve generally taken it for granted that dual-pivot brakes are better, and they probably are, but as I’ve mentioned before, Jobst Brandt helped me to appreciate the virtues of the single-pivot Campagnolo brake:
The sole purpose of the dual pivot brake is to guarantee centering,nothing more. The dual pivot is half centerpull and half sidepull andhas the problem that the short arm sweeps up into the tire ascenterpulls do, requiring pad adjustment as they wear. You may havenoticed that dual pivot brakes always remain centered and cannot tracka wheel with a broken spoke. This is an advantage?
Of course, road bikes today, with 2mm tire clearance can’t be riddenwith a broken spoke. You call a tow truck if that happens (in themiddle of nowhere). The people who only cruise the main with theirflashy bikes don’t care about that anyway, so as a result you can’tbuy a bike with clearance. It’s gotta be tight.
Of course the dual-pivot brake also requires a little less effort to operate, but Brandt believed that was merely a concession to the “woosies:”
In recent years, many new riders joined the ranks of bicyclists,including many less than athletic people who took up the sport tochange that facet of their lives. Not only did they discover thatsitting on a bicycle saddle causes soreness for the beginner, but thatbraking is more difficult than they had imagined. The push was on fora brake that had a higher mechanical advantage than the classic 4:1brake lever and the 1:1 caliper. This ratio did not come about byaccident. For bicycle racers, this was an optimal design that alsoallowed a non fatal quick release. Campagnolo Record brakes, ifproperly adjusted, could be used in the open position, and couldsurvive a race in the rain on dirt alpine roads without adjustment.
It’s a hell of a stretch to say “modern” dual-pivot brakes are even remotely difficult to live with (I put “modern” in “quotes” because those too are now obsolete thanks to dick breaks), but everything Brandt says above (and elsewhere) is true. The thicker pads last longer and don’t have to be set as close to the rim, the pad angle remains consistent as they wear, they “track a wheel” if it’s wobbly, and overall they work great. The only real drawbacks is they’re a little trickier to center when you’re first setting them up, though at the same time the centering doesn’t have to be perfect due to the whole wheel-tracking thing plus the large pad-to-rim clearances, and as long as nothing rubs they’re fine. Depending on your own sensibilities you might even say this era of components represents the optimum balance of performance and simplicity: not nearly as refined as what came after, but certainly quite effective and essentially idiot-proof.
Finally, speaking of old-timey companies, Lance Armstrong is narrating a Schwinn documentary:
I found this noteworthy…
Lance Armstrong says: “My first bike was a Schwinn Mag Scrambler, which was the beginning of everything for me. I have always been curious with Schwinn and its history, and this documentary captures the essence of the iconic brand in a truly compelling way.”
…because that was my first bike too. (Well, technically my first bike was a hand-me-down Ross, but it was my first big-kid bike and it saw me through to the start of my adolescence.) This was mine pretty much exactly:
I can remember pretty much every change I made to it over the years, including having the local bike shop convert it from a coaster brake to a freewheel.
Also noteworthy is this:
No Hands is said to use “AI-enhanced visual storytelling” to track Schwinn’s 100-year history, alongside archival stills and material from private collections that have never been made public.
So basically it’s doped.
