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

raggedtrousers
Posts: 416
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:29 pm

by raggedtrousers

RTW wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:58 am
graeme_f_k wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:01 am
In practice, SCs use their discretion - but that does not extend to blatant abuses of the material.
:) People never seem to understand this. If you are in charge of warranties, you see some warranties - and lots and lots and lots of non-warranties being passed off as warranties. As Graeme says, if you work with the product day in day out, you know just by looking if a product has been misused. When I was at Assos, we would get things sent to us all the time which we could tell have been washed in a hot wash (30 degrees is the max you should use) or tumble dried, and thus had been damaged by the owner. Of course, the owner claimed they hadn't been. Like Graeme says upthread with the scratching, we could tell by the stitching. It would annoy us - being lied to does that to people.

My advice to anyone is to be reasonable. Put in a warranty claim if it is a warranty, but be honest. If you used something with other components, say so. If you were a fool, write and say "I messed up, but can you help me please?".... you're more likely to get help than if you claim you were JRA, because, you know... that is REALLY rare.
Absolutely this. I have had both Trek and Rapha respond very positively to emails from me that went along the lines of 'this is probably at least partly my fault, but please help'. I won't derail the thread with the details but in essence Trek fully warrantied a second-hand frame, while Rapha offered me 50% off a replacement jacket. They earned considerable loyalty in my mind by doing so.

EdWiser
Posts: 188
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:50 pm

by EdWiser

AJS914 wrote:Let's face it. The type of person on this board that specs a frame and picks all the components one by one is rare. In my club of 100 riders, I think I'm the only one that does this.

Most people in my club go to one of the two bike stores in town and buy a Trek or a Specialized. And they are only have disc brakes today so basically zero sales of rim brake among the average population.
This is what Campagnolo is up against.
Campagnolo is not even seen in the LBS. You have to search it out. You want to be different. Not something most people want to do.

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Butcher
Shop Owner
Posts: 1925
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:58 am

by Butcher

Once working at the Mercedes dealer, a client came in yelling and screaming about the check engine light being on and the engine running bad. He was saying the car was a POS. Since I was the go to guy, I hooked up the test equipment and checked to see the cause. I like that Mercedes stores all the data. Further down in the stored data, it indicated it was out of gas.

I asked the client to come out to the shop and showed him the computer screen showing that it was out of gas. He looked at me and said 'It stores that information too?'

The customer is not always right and they should be treated that way. Let the facts dictate who is right and fire the customers that lie to you. The list should be shared to all business'.

SilentDrone
Posts: 254
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 5:55 pm

by SilentDrone

Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.


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TLN
Posts: 630
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:50 pm

by TLN

EdWiser wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:57 pm
AJS914 wrote:Let's face it. The type of person on this board that specs a frame and picks all the components one by one is rare. In my club of 100 riders, I think I'm the only one that does this.

Most people in my club go to one of the two bike stores in town and buy a Trek or a Specialized. And they are only have disc brakes today so basically zero sales of rim brake among the average population.
This is what Campagnolo is up against.
Campagnolo is not even seen in the LBS. You have to search it out. You want to be different. Not something most people want to do.
It would be easy sell if it was affordable and modern bikes were easy to work on /s.
Was looking at rim-brake frame for my SO, but decided against it, since it's easier to be on same system, or at least generation of bikes.
His: Orbea Orca OMX
Hers: Cannondale Synapse HM Disc

g32ecs
Posts: 815
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 2:50 am

by g32ecs

raggedtrousers wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 12:59 pm
RTW wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:58 am
graeme_f_k wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:01 am
In practice, SCs use their discretion - but that does not extend to blatant abuses of the material.
:) People never seem to understand this. If you are in charge of warranties, you see some warranties - and lots and lots and lots of non-warranties being passed off as warranties. As Graeme says, if you work with the product day in day out, you know just by looking if a product has been misused. When I was at Assos, we would get things sent to us all the time which we could tell have been washed in a hot wash (30 degrees is the max you should use) or tumble dried, and thus had been damaged by the owner. Of course, the owner claimed they hadn't been. Like Graeme says upthread with the scratching, we could tell by the stitching. It would annoy us - being lied to does that to people.

My advice to anyone is to be reasonable. Put in a warranty claim if it is a warranty, but be honest. If you used something with other components, say so. If you were a fool, write and say "I messed up, but can you help me please?".... you're more likely to get help than if you claim you were JRA, because, you know... that is REALLY rare.
Absolutely this. I have had both Trek and Rapha respond very positively to emails from me that went along the lines of 'this is probably at least partly my fault, but please help'. I won't derail the thread with the details but in essence Trek fully warrantied a second-hand frame, while Rapha offered me 50% off a replacement jacket. They earned considerable loyalty in my mind by doing so.
Anecdotes:

Rapha once sent me a replacement jersey and let me keep the damaged one they shipped - it just had a small snag to it. Totally fixable with a pair of scissors but unacceptable at the same time. All I had to do was take a photo of it

Re: Trek - this is why they got a nod from me when looking for a new bike. Not only their fully stocked their CS also is applaud-able

Assos: I once crashed a 2 week old jacket and replaced it fully. Theyve flip flopped on this rule many times the past 10 yrs and I believe it's now 30 days only for a discount. Regardless, it was pain free back then

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ultimobici
in the industry
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Location: Trento, Italia
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by ultimobici

SilentDrone wrote:Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.


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Steel isn’t over the hill by any means, nor is SR.

There are countless builders still selling steel aplenty. It may not be the predominant material in use for racing bikes but it is far from on the out.


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RTW
in the industry
Posts: 3756
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:32 pm

by RTW

SilentDrone wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:52 pm
Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.
I bought SR12 rim mechanical today for a steel frame on its way.

Later I will do a Chain Gang on my SWorks SL7 eTap.

EdWiser
Posts: 188
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:50 pm

by EdWiser

SilentDrone wrote:Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.


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The bike you bought last year is already over the hill. This is the way the cycling companies want you to think. They love people to think this way.

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ultimobici
in the industry
Posts: 4460
Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Trento, Italia
Contact:

by ultimobici

EdWiser wrote:
SilentDrone wrote:Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The bike you bought last year is already over the hill. This is the way the cycling companies want you to think. They love people to think this way.
You’ve only just figured out how a capitalist economy works? LOL!


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

by AJS914

I have warrantied one single item with Campagnolo in 40+ years of riding their parts - a Record high flange hub from the 70s. It cracked and they gave me a new one. My mechanic was surprised that they didn't build me a new wheel.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

Dov wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:33 am

There is really nothing wrong with mechanical shifting and rim brakes on road bikes. It has and does continue to work. There are obvious benefits (albeit limited and with their own associated trade-offs) to disc brakes and electronic gear shifting but surely we can all agree that the move from the old modalitiy is orchestrated not by functional necessity but by the need for the market to continue to supply newness to the consumer - which is toally fine, and I'm in no way making some hegemonic 'big bike' claim - but the endless pursuit of improvements to something that is now a very very long way down the design pipeline (derailleurs are 90+ years old) is becoming a bit reductive.

I expect that the next groupsets form SRAM and Shimano will be equally underwhelming as they try in earnest to sell a 1% improvement for the price of second-hand car.

From that which I've read and can see online I think the SR WRL grouspet is fine - a decent offering form Campagnolo given the deisgn constraints of patents, changing market dynamics, and very limited scope for real and tangible improvment to the experince of cycling a bike, but would I buy it? Maybe. Am I excited by it? *f##k* no.

It’s okay not to be excited about a new release.

raggedtrousers
Posts: 416
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:29 pm

by raggedtrousers

RTW wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 3:46 pm
SilentDrone wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:52 pm
Campy SR is now squarely in the same category as many other over-the-hill fashions, such as steel bikes. Sure, there will always be a few who are adamantly devoted and insist that this is the “one true way”, and that’s great for them, but they are no longer in the mainstream or even relevant.
I bought SR12 rim mechanical today for a steel frame on its way.

Later I will do a Chain Gang on my SWorks SL7 eTap.
I did a chaingang this evening on a steel bike. The 2 guys who dropped off the back were riding a Melee and a TCR respectively. Below Cat 1, it's your legs and nothing more.

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Dov
Posts: 445
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:45 pm
Location: London

by Dov

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 6:17 pm
It’s okay not to be excited about a new release.
But how do I validate myself if not by the things I buy???
Brooklyn Gangsta V4 with DXR
Cannondale CAAD 10 Track
Cielo Classic Sportif U8000
Cinelli Supercorsa DA9000
Colnago C64 R12
Concorde DA7800
DeRosa Nuovo Classico SR12
Eddy Mercks Corsa Extra Ch12
Felt F1 DA9050
Trek L500

Long time supporter of Rapha
Strava

by Weenie


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

by warthog101

Dov wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:33 am

There is really nothing wrong with mechanical shifting and rim brakes on road bikes. It has and does continue to work. There are obvious benefits (albeit limited and with their own associated trade-offs) to disc brakes and electronic gear shifting but surely we can all agree that the move from the old modalitiy is orchestrated not by functional necessity but by the need for the market to continue to supply newness to the consumer - which is toally fine, and I'm in no way making some hegemonic 'big bike' claim - but the endless pursuit of improvements to something that is now a very very long way down the design pipeline (derailleurs are 90+ years old) is becoming a bit reductive.

I expect that the next groupsets form SRAM and Shimano will be equally underwhelming as they try in earnest to sell a 1% improvement for the price of second-hand car.

From that which I've read and can see online I think the SR WRL grouspet is fine - a decent offering form Campagnolo given the deisgn constraints of patents, changing market dynamics, and very limited scope for real and tangible improvment to the experince of cycling a bike, but would I buy it? Maybe. Am I excited by it? *f##k* no.

Yep, marketing and the preference for the industry to sell more new stuff.
Agree on the ridiculous pricing that now seems to be the norm and just accepted as the cycling tax we all pay.
The price rules me out from ever owning this groupset.
By the time it is old enough to be affordable second hand I'll be a crusty old man :( :lol:

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