Dealers, shopstaff - is campy difficult to deal with?

in terms of getting replacement parts and warranty items taken care of. How do they compare with Shimano?

any reputable shop should have no problem getting these parts. QBP carries all this stuff don’t they? branfordbike.com seems to stock all the parts to rebuild the campy stuff. in any decent sized town a significant number of the roadies will be riding campy so it’s not like it’s really weird stuff.

the only reason I can see a shop complaining about it, is that they’re so used to having to throw away the non-rebuildable shimano stuff when/if it fails that they just aren’t used to having parts that can be rebuilt.

As a guy that owns three bikes equiped with Shimano let me tell you that Campy is definately superior. This is common knowlege in roadie circles but still a well kept secret among tri-geeks.

Some will come back with the arguement that Shimano has a larger market share. So what. So does General Motors.

i own two bikes with campy, one record bike and one daytona bike. i also have 2 or 3 dura ace bikes. as far as road bikes go, i seem to always want to take my campy bike when it’s in good running form (wheels true, tires in good shape).

but campy tries as hard as it can to get itself omitted from tri bike spec. its bar end shifters are grossly expensive, and they’d rather spend their money on stupid marketing stuff than to just lower the bar end shifter price. and the list goes on.

but ergopower is imho definitely superior to STI, so for a road bike set up a campy drivetrain is the way to go. unfortunately, because of cassette options, race wheel compatibility, and that darned expensive bar end shifter, i end up riding shimano on my tri bike, which means i have my power tap wheels built around shiimano, which means i often choose my shimano road bike because of the power tap, etc.

if i just consider the shimano that i PERSONALLY, for my own PERSONAL use, have purchased because of that stupidly expensive campy bar end shifter, and i figure out what that would’ve meant in campy purchases over the past 2 or 3 years, and i amortize that out, campy could’ve afforded to take a few bucks of the cost of the shifters for EVERYONE right there, just on my personal bike business alone.

i know one OEM that is trying REALLY hard to spec campy, but he just can’t, because they won’t budge on the cost of the shifters.

it’s crazy. triathlon is the fastest growing segment in all of cycling, i’ll wager, and campy’s stubborn insistence in charging OEMs almost triple for their bar end shifters what a set of dura ace shifters cost, well…

This issue came up recently when I was talking with a LBS owner about Campy and Shimano. He showed a bike he’d been working on (not mine) and was frustrated that a simple part he needed from Campy was taking weeks to get - Campy apparently didn’t have the replacement in stock and had no urgency to get it. “Rebuildable” doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get the parts. He then picked up a pair of busted Shimano shifters - “Four years old and they’re going to honor the warranty!”

It seems like from this and other stories I’ve heard or read that Campy isn’t as responsive as they could be and might do well with a little humility. The attitude that the public is privileged to ride Campy can only go so far when Shimano has a similar (if marginally inferior) product at a cheaper price. And stuff like perma-link and the $70 chain tool for a one year lifespan don’t show a whole lot of respect for the consumer.

This bit from Dan’s piece on Dura-Ace and Record kind of captured my perception of Campy:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/prodreview/components/campyvda.html
“Why doesn’t the washer come off?” I asked the Campy guys.
“Why didn’t you just spec a Campy band-type derailleur?” they replied.

Having said that, I’m a huge fan of Campy components and they’re definitely my choice to ride on. They make quality stuff - you know they take pride in what they make - even the low end stuff like Veloce hubs I had on a set of wheels were good. And I prefer Ergo shifting enough that I am willing to pay a premium to go with Campy.

However, Campy can’t keep on acting as God’s gift to cycling unless they want to end up in a smaller niche than they’re in now. When I went to Italy last year I expected Campy everywhere. Nope. Maybe a slightly higher percentage of Campy than in the US but not by a whole lot. If they’re losing ground on their home turf they may want to start thinking things over.

The LBS owner I was talking with said he saw a similar arrogance from Cannondale a few years back and wasn’t surprised that their hubris led to their downfall. I doubt Campy’s going to do anything as stupid as start a motorsports division (though electronic shifting comes pretty close) but some better customer service might do well to engender some loyalty. Everyone really wants to love Campy - they just seem to make it difficult to do so.

" i seem to always want to take my campy bike …but campy tries as hard as it can to get itself omitted from tri bike spec. …but ergopower is imho definitely superior to STI, so for a road bike set up a campy drivetrain is the way to go… triathlon is the fastest growing segment in all of cycling, i’ll wager, and campy’s stubborn insistence in charging OEMs almost triple for their bar end shifters what a set of dura ace shifters cost,"

Dan, in your many writings and posts I’ve noticed a subtle anti-Euro position. Particularly with shallow vs steep frame design, 650 vs 700 wheels and the fact a lower % of Euros use bar end shifters. Not like you’re going to pour good wine down the gutter because of Iraq, but more so because a higher % of the Euros are doing things a bit different from your philosophy. Many of the fastest bikers are Euros, and they often see to be doing it all “wrong”.

You may very well be right. Perhaps the Euros are missing the boat in some areas. You’ve been a major player in tri bike design, but there is nothing wrong with average Joe consumers such as myself questioning the gurus. We’re fortunate to have a media such as the internet where people such as yourself, Gerard, John Cobb, etc are willing to answer questions.

To us, a lot of Euro products seem overpriced, but currency exchange may have a lot to do with that.

In my post I was thinking of Ergo vs STI as a roadie and you’ve already admitted that Campy is better in this respect. Even if the tri bike % is the fastest growing, it’s still a very small % of the total bike market. This is irrelevant anyways IMO, so GM makes the most cars, is a Chevy the best?

If Campy thinks the tri market is that important, then they’ll get into it. Or perhaps making parts for Ferrari beats making fishing gear!!!