Tullio Campagnolo, an amateur racing cyclist, was racing on a classic Rule #9 day in Italy. The weather was cold, and I believe he was racing in the mountains. Riding with the leaders, I can almost feel in the pit of my stomach the dread that must have crept over him as he realized he wouldn’t be able to change gear. At the time, wheels used a flip gear to allow for changing of gear, and were fixed in place with wing-nuts which made it easy to remove the rear wheel – assuming everything was well greased, nothing was dirty or frozen, and the rider had just taken a refreshing shower. Which happened to not be the case on this particular day, as he had the misfortune of actually riding his bike.
It almost goes without saying that his frozen fingers were unable to loosen the frozen wing-nuts. And here is where Tullio distinguishes himself from people like me; whereas I would have chucked a Millarcopter you could see from the International Space Station, Tullio made the slightly more productive move of inventing perhaps the most sensible component on our bicycles: the quick-release.
There is no component a Velominatus can own that speaks more clearly to the history of our sport than a Campagnlogo Quick-Release. Bearing that in mind, it’s a shameful thing that I, a self-proclaimed Velominatus, have never owned one. Until a few months ago, that is, shortly after procuring my Record hubs, when I finally got my hands on a set.
And I have to say, they don’t disappoint. They’re not the lightest skewers in existence, but they do have a beautifully solid feeling when opening and closing them, and they grip amazingly true to the Campagnolo dropouts on my steel frame. The arc of the lever defies description; on the front it hugs the fork and tucks neatly behind it while on the back it bisects the angle of the chain and seat stays in perfect Rule #41 compliance. It is a sight to behold. In fact, it’s a little bit dangerous because I should spend less time staring at them when I’m riding and more time starting at the road.
Grazie, Signore Campagnolo.
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@Chris, @Oli
Very cool, corrected. I knew he the creative spark was lit by not being able to loosen the wing-nuts, but didn't know why he needed to loosen them. Damn WikiPedia has betrayed me again! If only I was willing to do actual "research", but that sounds too much like "work".
@Souleur
Man, if I had a Margaritaville derailleur, I'd certainly do a reverence on that one!
Yeah, the mechs make a big impact, but I guess I see those as more iterative and incremental improvements over an existing design...what I love about the QR is that it's just from nothing - there was nothing like it and he just conceived of it. That's innovation!
@Pedale.Forchetta
Sounds like you've got an identity crisis! You are in fine company, though, as Museeuw also rode Campa with shimano shoes/pedals. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up to think of mixing like that, but to each their own! I rode Shimano pedals a long time, they're great pedals.
@Ron
I know which ones you're talking about, and Shimano did make some beautiful stuff...still do, actually, just from a different perspective.
The Shimano 7400 Group, along with Suntour's Superb Pro were stunning as well. It was a beautiful time, actually, as there was so much diversity in the groupos, and you could still pretty easily mix and match components from one group with another. Campa, Suntour, Mavic, Shimano, Simplex, Sachs (feel like I'm forgetting some) in the late 80's early 90's. Nirvanna.
Then Shimano came up with the STI lever (Shimano Total Integration) and the idea that each part was made to work specifically with all the others was born. And that was the end of that. The competition that thrived on the mix-and-match appraoch died out and only the big names lasted.
Few people knew, though, that despite the persistent rumors, you could still mix it up. I remember I ran a Superb Pro rear mech with Shimano 105 STI levers with a Sachs freewheel for a while, and it was fine. No worries at all.
@Gillis
I remember those days on eBay. It was amazing. As a point of fact, however, I got my entire 10spd Record Group for my TSX - including built wheels with Record hubs for about $600 on eBay due to a what I believe is a micro-effect of the 11spd upgrade craze. Those riders who are willing to shell out for Record are probably also anxious to upgrade to 11spd for the same reasons they wanted Record in the first place: to have the best. They're now dumping all their old gear as they upgrade, making a surplus of 10spd Record bits. It was actually cheaper to buy (and easier to find) Record than Chorus!
By the way, I like the curved ones better...that sexy bend just gets me!
@scaler911
Abso-fuckin'-lutely.
@austin
Photos please. Not sure I'm even familiar with them!
@frank
Feel free to run any articles by me beforehand for fact checking. Your writing is good enough that it deserves to not be let down by just making it up as you go along.
@Oli
You know a little about poor fact checking don't you?
Er, it depends what you're referring to? If you mean a recent article in a Wellington weekly paper, then yes. And GRRR!
Nice post, Frank. The quick-releases, like the Bianchi they're on, are elegant, if such a posh word is not out of place.
My Campa skewer quiver... all courtesy of Aussie velominata Bel, and her persuasive ways to barter coffee for such treats!
The newest models are in use on the Bozzie...