http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Campy_s_Seat_Tube_Motor_1977.html
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There’s a guy on our local group ride who has a sponsorship deal with them, actually. It’s not as strong as you’d think (not that much room in a seat tube)…maybe 20W or so, but that’s good for an extra 1 or 2 mph. Nothing wrong with free speed! The guy on the group ride is already pretty fast, so I think we’d be better off giving it to someone else to keep him from hurting everyone so badly during the leadouts for county-line sprints. Definitely real, though.
thanks for the info – I just called Campy (I actually called their Italian headquarters) and they confirmed that there is a product in the works; I signed up for their prototype-program but the guy said the list was pretty long.
I’ve heard that it was actually two middle eastern engineers who came up with the concept knowing how lucrative the tri market is. Iman Idyit and Gull Ibl sold this concept to Campy for a relatively low cost years ago and Campy took their time to develop it. A contact I have at Campy just laughed when I spoke to him about this, so you know it’s serious and still very hush-hush.
The ops reply to his own post is the funny part.