I wasn't saying that Campy never invented anything - obviously they did - but except for that original QR, there were few if any Campy inventions that would mark them as an innovative company. Cable operated rear and then front derailleurs, then parallelogram rear derailleurs, RD's that followed the freewheel better (Allvit, Duopar), spring loaded upper RD pivots, good sidepull brakes, racing cranks with a wider range of chainwheels, extensive use of plastics (whether good or bad) and titanium were all developed or popularized first by some other company, often French companies like Simplex, Stronglight or Huret. Then the Japanese got into the game with slant parallelogram, ratcheted shifters, indexed shifting, clipless pedals (although Look may have been first) cassette hubs and dual pivot brakes. Campy was always playing catchup on the the technology front.
The irony is that, once they shed their immediate post-WWII image as producers of cheap goods, the sterotype of Japanese industry then for many years became that they were excellent at quality control and efficient production, but largely copied western innovations. In the bike industry, the reality was just the opposite. From the early 70's on, SunTour then Shimano were the primary sources of technical innovation, while Campy, in their more successful efforts, copied or slightly refined Japanese designs and manufactured them with excellent qulaity control and traditional Campy durability.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca> wrote: I think that Jerry is being a bit harsh in saying that the original QR lever was campy's "only innovation". There were minor improvements in EVERYTHING that campy made, e.g. oiler covers, wingnuts on shifters, micro adjust seatposts (i think), and I believe some innovations to the gransport derailleurs (but i haven't memorized that chapter of "The Dancing Chain v2" yet - give me some time !! *grin*.)
Campy's problem in the 70's and 80's might have been that they did not have a culture of innovation. It was "Tullio or the Highway" perhaps. They did not strive to be an "Invention Factory" as Thomas Edison strived to have in the 1880's.
When Suntour started to ascend in the drivetrain business in the late 1970's, if John's reviews of the patents are correct, then what happened is (a) Shimano strived and succeeded as an invention factory (SIS), whereas (b) Campy failed as an invention factory (Victory / Triomphe / C-record.) After Shimano had figured out the rear indexed Dura Ace derailleur, according to Berto, campy was forced to simply copy all the good ideas from Dura Ace and put them in Record mechs.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA