Low weight and high performance are a winning combination in bicycle racing. That’s why these factors are the focus of Italian bicycle-part specialist Campagnolo.Italian company Campagnolo is a leading designer and manufacturer of lightweight, high-tech components and assemblies for road-racing bicycles. Campagnolo supplies the pedalling world with derailleurs, hubs, brakes, pedals, seat posts, crank sets and other drive-train parts. The company, situated in Vicenza, 60 kilometres west of Venice, produces 2,500,000 bicycle components and 50,000 pairs of wheels yearly. In the fiscal year 2000/2001, its turnover was 165 billion Italian lira (USD 73 million); the company has a presence in 42 countries worldwide.
Tullio Campagnolo was a promising contender on the racing scene of the early 1920s. He had many innovative ideas that he thought would contribute to the development of high-class competition bicycles. In 1933 he founded the company and eventually gave up his sporting career to commit himself to his business. Since then, many bicycle manufacturers have turned to Campagnolo for their supply of bicycle parts.
A passion for the products is part of the Campagnolo family heritage. Today Valentino Campagnolo, the founder’s only son, is CEO and the person in charge of the company’s operations. His focus is on product development. He also focuses on quality, emphasising a strong collaboration between company departments to maintain high quality standards. His – and the company’s – aim is to secure consistently high product performance and, above all, a long service life.
“There is a modern tendency towards consumerism and distribution of short-lived products,” explains Simone Roncali, marketing director at Campagnolo. “We steer our policy in the opposite direction, towards durability, and we invest in what we believe is a circle of high quality that will reward both the buyer and the seller. Our components offer high performance with a combination of durability and low weight, to cater to the needs of racers and amateurs alike.”
The company offers a three-year guarantee for its products, exceeding the minimum two-year period required within the European Union. The company’s after-sales service includes warranty and after-warranty assistance via a network of service centres and spare-parts centres situated around the world. During 2001 Campagnolo, Roncali says, is restructuring its organisation to ensure that the distribution system for spare parts will be substantially improved.
A major focus of Campagnolo is to help racing cyclists improve their performance in any terrain, principally by achieving higher speeds. Product development is accomplished through in-depth testing in cooperation with the riders, which has led to Campagnolo victories in many classic races during the past decades. The company works with 17 professional teams and technical sponsors from Italy to Japan, in competitions such as Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. Several other teams that are not directly sponsored by the company also use Campagnolo components.

Cooperation strategy
Campagnolo enters into alliances with leaders of complementary technologies to enhance its product development. For example, Campagnolo is in a joint venture with Japan-based Cat Eye, a world leader in bicycle electronics. The Campagnolo-Cat Eye alliance has led to the release of a bicycle computer called “ErgoBrain,” which features many innovative functions.
ErgoBrain was developed by Campagnolo designers to integrate with its nine- and 10-speed drive trains for both training and racing. It is equipped with self-calibration and sprocket self-learning, which means the sprockets no longer have to be programmed one by one to set the system. This is now performed automatically, regardless of sprocket combination. ErgoBrain also constantly indicates the number of teeth in the chain ring and sprockets in use. It has a back-lit display and acoustic functions to guide athletes through their training routines and help them evaluate their performance.
“Campagnolo is ready to make a transition towards electronically functioning bicycles,” says Roncali. “This will eliminate the use of manual, mechanical brakes and gear systems, and make way for commands that [are delivered by] a slight touch of the hand.”
In terms of material technology, Campagnolo is substituting aluminium alloys and other metals with composites similar to the materials used in the aerospace industry. Composites contain high-strength fibres and bonding resins, to offer both high performance and low weight.
The “Record” carbon seat post is one of several components that already incorporate composite material – for example the headset, bottom bracket and rear derailleur. The carbon seat post is an extremely light component (180 grams) because it is made from a tube of interwoven carbon fibre. The head of the seat post is made of a light alloy.
Cables and casings are also fundamental components to the proper functioning of a bicycle. The metal windings of the casings must withstand the compression generated by the pull of the cable to avoid reducing braking power and ensure accurate gear changes. A special lubricant is used to minimise the coefficient of friction over time.
It’s important that a racing bicycle be fast, but brakes are also crucial. While the geometry and structure of the cold-forged brake arches remained unchanged for the 2000 season, the brake arches were made lighter by the use of special alloys in selected positions. An analysis of bicycle dynamics in different braking situations has allowed Campagnolo to lighten its brakes still further for the 2001 season. A new rear brake for 2001 weighs 40 grams less than its predecessor did but has identical applicable stopping power.
The use of composites leads to more efficient lightweight bicycles that accelerate more easily. Bicycles of today weigh less than 7 kilograms, compared with the 9- or 10-kilogram weights of a decade ago. In 2002, Campagnolo’s new components and wheels made of composite materials will knock an additional half kilogram from the total weight of the bicycle. In a bicycle race, legs are paramount, but for anyone looking to win, reliability and performance are also crucial. And every gram counts.

Anna Maria Sifo
a journalist based in Rome
photos Campagnolo