My awareness of this forum, and in particular this thread has come through it being mentioned on the Campy Only website's New/Rumours page.I've gone to the trouble of joining this board inorder to quote your post as it highlights just the kind of rubbish I often read about advancement of cycling component technology. It's all about wanting rather than needing.

On the one hand you state that the last significant change Campag made was the redesign of the Ergopower lever in 1998 and then go on to write off the 10 speed introduction as insignificant as you didn't notice any difference in your performance. Can you tell me what difference the change of Ergopower design made to your performance?

You write off Campag's research in to electronic shifting as not really making any sense yet you add that you want them to develop new designs rather than just refine old ones. What exactly is it you want them to look in to? Do you think outboard bearings on your bottom bracket will make a noticeable difference in your performance? It will clearly have to make a bigger difference than having more choice of gear ratios for the same or less weight as that's rather too subtle, evidently. If you are in to racing I would have thought that, for example, adding an 11T to your gears without having to lose any of the existing ratios in your favourite cassette was beneficial.

And another thing, you say Campag took a long time to catch up with Shimano's STI. STI was launched in 1991....Ergopower was released in 92.....clearly an eternity for you but Campag spent the time coming up with a design that was cleaner, lighter, cheaper, repairable and triple compatible from the outset. Time well spent I think.