Why Campagnolo Wireless is a Flop/Disaster

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Did Campy make a bunch of terrible design choices?

Campy released an on trend GS with features and a design I like
77
28%
Campy released a steaming pile of garbage with features I dont like
199
72%
 
Total votes: 276

warthog101
Posts: 872
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:05 am

by warthog101

Lina wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:44 am


And how often did you run your tubed tires all the way to the thread? Because you can do that with tubeless without getting constant punctures. Which is something that starts happening once the tire wears down too much with tubes.
I don't do that with any tyre as I don't want to be riding a squared off thing with poor grip.

AJS914
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by AJS914

Does anyone know why Record/Chorus mechanical are on discount now? When 12 speed came out it was a little pricey compared to the previous 11 speed but I'm seeing the best prices I've ever seen. Not selling and lower prices? Or, the covid bike boom is over? Or, Campagnolo is discounting it because sram style gears are coming to all groups soon?

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ultimobici
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by ultimobici

AJS914 wrote:Does anyone know why Record/Chorus mechanical are on discount now? When 12 speed came out it was a little pricey compared to the previous 11 speed but I'm seeing the best prices I've ever seen. Not selling and lower prices? Or, the covid bike boom is over? Or, Campagnolo is discounting it because sram style gears are coming to all groups soon?
Every single piece of Campag you see on sale was paid for before it left Vicenza.

Many shops and online retailers have excess stock to clear down from the pandemic, hence the discounts.


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BenCousins
Posts: 1366
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:46 am

by BenCousins

Xabi wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:18 pm
BenCousins wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:11 pm
Xabi wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 4:43 pm
Let's hope that the Chinese shake the market up, just like they did with carbon rims
Be careful what you wish for

https://scashwin.medium.com/the-case-of ... ac9a35db56

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenni ... s-economy/
It's the American brand the one that produces in cheap Asian countries. campagnolo produces in Italy and mostly eastern Europe, Shimano in Japan and Malaysia.

Western brands produce/buy their frames from Asia, I would rather not pay for a brand that just increases the price in marketing/sponsoring.
Given this thread appears to be just people talking about their own personal preference (!), my personal preference is for western companies to do the design and quality control.

graeme_f_k
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by graeme_f_k

As probably one of the very few here to have actually ridden WL, I wonder if I should start a thread "Why Campagnolo Wireless is OK by me" ... :D
I've got 500km on it now, in it's pre-production (so very close to final) form, having ridden some earlier stuff as well.

I'm pretty relaxed about it, in terms of look and feel.
I am now officially blown away by rear shift speed. The prototypes were fast but now, its really fast.

There's a couple of things I think they could give a light tickle to, to improve them - but likely, if they were to take me up on those changes, they'd be in the nature of "running change" modifications ...
A Tech-Reps work is never done ...
Head Tech, Campagnolo main UK ASC
Pls contact via velotechcycling"at"aim"dot"com, not PM, for a quicker answer. Thanks!

Bondurant
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:28 pm

by Bondurant

Please don't Graeme. I think it's possible a mob would turn up outside your place of work.

"Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel."

MatosVelo
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2015 11:35 pm

by MatosVelo

After discussing with AG2R's mecanics, they tell me riders don't want to use new cassette, they wille continue to use old cassette with 11 T. Only 3 riders will ride this groupset on Tour de France, O'connor, Van Avermaet and Cosnefroy.

vinc
Posts: 165
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:50 pm

by vinc

MatosVelo wrote:After discussing with AG2R's mecanics, they tell me riders don't want to use new cassette, they wille continue to use old cassette with 11 T. Only 3 riders will ride this groupset on Tour de France, O'connor, Van Avermaet and Cosnefroy.
Quite understandable to stay with the cassette combo you’re used to in the middle of the season…

solarider
Posts: 577
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:08 pm

by solarider

Thanks once again to Graeme for the inside line and insight. As always a valuable and thought provoking contribution.

As you rightly say, a lot of armchair criticism has been levelled at the groupset. However, much of it doesn't really need hands on experience to be valid.

A couple of conclusions for me as a potential purchaser.

1) The marketeers have set the price almost despite the market. The price hasn't been so much set as value for money given the spec as it has as an intentional halo Veblen product. I would feel ripped off buying it rather than a sense that I was paying a fair price for the very best product in the market. The Campagnolo tax has been overestimated.

2) It doesn't feel like the finished article has made its way to market. Campagnolo lost me at V1 of EPS when they released V2 and then V3 with very little backwards compatibility. Having been an early adopter I simply don't want to risk buying V1 of WL when there are already so many obvious updates required in V2. The sense that they have rushed the announcement is further reinforced by the lack of availability. With the latest SRAM launches the product has been on the shelf on the day of announcement. Even with Shimano's well documented supply issues the availability of Dura Ace and Ultegra was pretty close to the announcement. Fine to level the criticism that 'none of you have tried it yet', but even if I wanted to I couldn't today. Even the only World Tour pro team using Campagnolo don't have enough groupsets to equip all of the riders and are using a mishmash of previous chainsets with the new shifting. They don't have supply, they don't have all of the components (blips, power meter etc) and there are some obvious improvements still to be made.

I so want to love this product and I would dearly love to like it enough to buy it. Maybe a close up might change my mind. I think it might be a while before I see it in the wild.

rollinslow
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Location: New York

by rollinslow

graeme_f_k wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:46 pm
As probably one of the very few here to have actually ridden WL, I wonder if I should start a thread "Why Campagnolo Wireless is OK by me" ... :D
I've got 500km on it now, in it's pre-production (so very close to final) form, having ridden some earlier stuff as well.

I'm pretty relaxed about it, in terms of look and feel.
I am now officially blown away by rear shift speed. The prototypes were fast but now, its really fast.

There's a couple of things I think they could give a light tickle to, to improve them - but likely, if they were to take me up on those changes, they'd be in the nature of "running change" modifications ...
Can you comment on the shifting experiencing/buttons? I listened to the Escape Collective podcast - Ronan opinion who rode the groupset and he is a Campy rider but said he missed a lot of shifts one of which could have resulted in a bad situation. Since Escape is independent journalism I put a lot of weight on that.
Last edited by rollinslow on Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Moots Vamoots RSL (2019)-Super Record 12
Cervelo S1 (2010)-Super Record 12
Kestrel RT700 (2008)-Dura Ace 9000
Mosaic GT-1 (2020)-SRAM Red viewtopic.php?f=10&t=174523

rollinslow
Posts: 864
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2018 2:25 am
Location: New York

by rollinslow

I want to say that I remain perplexed why Campy did not include the thumb shifter even as an option. It is just a button and could have been detachable like an XBOX elite controller. It has paddles on the back you can use/remove. Why not a removable lever and keep everyone happy? If you alienate the die-hard Campy fans, are you really going to get people to swich from Shimano/SRAM? Maybe they will upate the shifters in the future.

I was riding Di2 today and I keep my index finger resting on the brake and use my middle for shifts mostly. No finger on the brake lever as would be for the vertically oriented buttons on SR WL seems unnatural. The thumb shifter and "one lever one function" was intuitive and functional for me.
Moots Vamoots RSL (2019)-Super Record 12
Cervelo S1 (2010)-Super Record 12
Kestrel RT700 (2008)-Dura Ace 9000
Mosaic GT-1 (2020)-SRAM Red viewtopic.php?f=10&t=174523

Sock3t
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2018 2:20 am

by Sock3t

AJS914 wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 3:58 pm
Does anyone know why Record/Chorus mechanical are on discount now? When 12 speed came out it was a little pricey compared to the previous 11 speed but I'm seeing the best prices I've ever seen. Not selling and lower prices? Or, the covid bike boom is over? Or, Campagnolo is discounting it because sram style gears are coming to all groups soon?
link to sales?

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

Just search prices at the usual online retailers. You'll see some prices that are way better than last year. Velomine has great prices in the US.

graeme_f_k
Shop Owner / Manufacturer
Posts: 611
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by graeme_f_k

rollinslow wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:31 pm
graeme_f_k wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:46 pm
As probably one of the very few here to have actually ridden WL, I wonder if I should start a thread "Why Campagnolo Wireless is OK by me" ... :D
I've got 500km on it now, in it's pre-production (so very close to final) form, having ridden some earlier stuff as well.

I'm pretty relaxed about it, in terms of look and feel.
I am now officially blown away by rear shift speed. The prototypes were fast but now, its really fast.

There's a couple of things I think they could give a light tickle to, to improve them - but likely, if they were to take me up on those changes, they'd be in the nature of "running change" modifications ...
Can you comment on the shifting experiencing/buttons? I listened to the Escape Collective podcast - Ronan opinion who rode the groupset and he is a Campy rider but said he missed a lot of shifts one of which could have resulted in a bad situation. Since Escape is independent journalism I put a lot of weight on that.
Leaving aside the vexed question of whether we feel this lever layout is good or not - if I were designing this button layout I'd put a "step" between upper and lower buttons, so that the upper button sits 2-3mm "inside" of the lower. This would improve the tactile element and much reduce the chances of the kind of mis-shift that Ronan refers to.

Most of my mis-shifts were down to me not getting the lever logic through my thick skull. Once I can tune with the App (my current system doesn't allow mt App functionality), that problem should disappear.
A Tech-Reps work is never done ...
Head Tech, Campagnolo main UK ASC
Pls contact via velotechcycling"at"aim"dot"com, not PM, for a quicker answer. Thanks!

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



graeme_f_k
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Posts: 611
Joined: Mon May 26, 2008 12:21 pm
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by graeme_f_k

rollinslow wrote:
Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:33 pm
I want to say that I remain perplexed why Campy did not include the thumb shifter even as an option. It is just a button and could have been detachable like an XBOX elite controller. It has paddles on the back you can use/remove. Why not a removable lever and keep everyone happy? If you alienate the die-hard Campy fans, are you really going to get people to swich from Shimano/SRAM? Maybe they will upate the shifters in the future.

I was riding Di2 today and I keep my index finger resting on the brake and use my middle for shifts mostly. No finger on the brake lever as would be for the vertically oriented buttons on SR WL seems unnatural. The thumb shifter and "one lever one function" was intuitive and functional for me.
It may be possible to reprogtam the Mode button as a "thumb button" - it actually sits almost exactly where, ergonomically, the thumb button used to.
A Tech-Reps work is never done ...
Head Tech, Campagnolo main UK ASC
Pls contact via velotechcycling"at"aim"dot"com, not PM, for a quicker answer. Thanks!

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