My point was exactly that Americans will buy full Record gruppos, where Europeans might buy a mid-priced group. Perhaps Campy suffered worse in America from the Japanese blitz, but I think the Japanese beat them up a bit in Europe, too. I agree about the durability of the best Campy stuff, but I think the Japanese showed how vulnerably Campy was at the lower end of the market. Let's face it - the Campy Valentino line and the Grand Tourisimo RD were crap. Japanese derailleurs priced lower were infinitely better. And at the high end, the Record and Grand Sport stuff did last forever, but as Berto demonstrated, the Japanese derailleurs shifted much better. Don't know if it was Berto or not, but someone famously observed in comparing the Campy NR to SunTour that "the best you can say for the Campy is that it will shift badly more or less forever". I use Campy NR's and like their history, their durability, and their beautiful appearence, but almost any SunTour model will shift much better. You could easily argue that the invention of the slant parallelogram rear derailleur by SunTour in the late 60's ws the biggest advance in bicycle technology since Campagnolo's invention of the quick release hub. By 1980 Campagnolo's stuff, durable and beautiful as the best of it was, was technologically obsolete compared to the Japanese competitors. It was only after the SunTour patent expired, and Campy had the sense to copy the slant paralleogram like everyone else, that they caught up to SunTour in shifting performance.
I don't like mountain bikes either, but I'm not sure that they discourage people from bicycling in their childhood. I don't think there has ever been an era in US history, except maybe for a very brief time during the bike boom, when large numbers of American children and young adolescents rode derailleur road bikes. These were generally bought, even in the peak years, by young adults and older adolescents, while children had ballon tired coaster-brake bikes or 3-speed "English racers". And considering the abuse and neglect that the typical youngster subjects a bike to, maybe mountain and BMX bikes are better suited to their needs than would be a quality lightweight. I'd rather see a youngster out riding a mountain bike than being chaufered around by mom in a 3 ton SUV. True, a lot of kids never make the transition from childhood mountain bikes to serious adult cycling, but that was true when kids had baloon tire or 3-speed models also.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
> Jerry Moos wrote:
>
> > I doubt that Campagnolo would have survived had they not been able to
sell
> top of the
> > line products to American buyers whose abilites would have been as well
> > served by lesser equipment.
>
> I disagree, I believe it was the American market that is most responsible
of
> any market in the world for all of the bad times experienced by
Campagnolo.
> It was the US market that allowed the attrocity which are mountain bikes
> become accepted as standard fare for beginning cyclists. This has done
more
> to keep people away from cycling than anything else in my opinion. The
less
> people becoming hooked on cycling as youngsters means that fewer will
> develop into serious cyclists which have always been the market for
> Campagnolo. The US and supposed 'expert' gurus like Frank Berto have also
> done the darndest to devalue the durability, quality and rebuildability of
> components that were Campagnolo hallmarks. Try and find older versions of
> those Suntour and Shimano derailleurs that were so highy lauded by Berto's
> ilk back in the 70's and 80's. It is not a question of 'mojo' but of real
> durability. The US is also much more inclined to follow trends and styles
> than Europe. If you look at the dark periods in Campagnolo's history, you
> will always see that the biggest percentage drop was in the US. Their
place
> in Europe has always remained relatively stable and strong. It would be
> interesting to know exactly what percentage of world Campagnolo sales were
> ensured by the US. Perhaps we can find out some numbers for 1960, 1970,
> 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000. What the US market does 'better'
than
> anywhere else is buying the top-of-the-line models. Instead of Valentino
or
> Gran Sport, they will gravitate to a full Record gruppo.
>
> I suppose that I have written enough controversial statements above to get
> some response.
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ
>
>
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