One Year Ago Today

is campagnolo the luckiest company in history

given campagnolo's relative weaknesses against a manufacturing giant like shimano, campagnolo had to rely on things like grace, elegance, history and reputation, along with shimano's fuckups like unconscionably ugly components and inexcusable new standards that serve no purpose except to force new component sales, to compete for the enthusiast and racer dollars.  when sram decided to go all in with the racer market, they could have used their deep pockets and mountain-bike presence to become the alternative to shimano's best and deliver a death blow to campagnolo, but instead they came out with crap.  the big 2012 facelift to sram's top of the line red components is an abortion.  if anything, it looks even cheaper and less-refined than original version.  those brakes?  that crankset?  the rear derailleur?  fucking horrible.  it looks every bit the plasticky, disposable, no-name junk--except the name is plastered all over it in perhaps the least appealing style possible.  a well-designed, classy, and attractive mechanical gruppo at the right price could stab campagnolo in the heart, especially with a world-class racing program and original equipment saturation.  well, nobody with any sense is going to buy red assuming dura-ace, record and chorus are still produced.  campagnolo is the barack obama of bike components.  had they been given any real competition, they would probably have folded, but like obama, they got mittens.

campagnolo in 2012.