Customer Reviews

Campagnolo: 75 Years of Cycling Passion

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As good as "Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hell" is, this book is bad. Indeed, the ONLY recommendation I can offer about the book is that the layout/graphic design is competent. Every other aspect -- photography, product selection, content, tone, writing -- is pitiful. As a Campagnolo aficionado, I suggest that if this book had been subject to the same quality evaluation as the namesake components, it would have been deemed fit only to paper a shop floor. Written more like an English-as-a-second-language press release by an Intern, there's endless laudatory puffery about "the genius of Campagnolo" at the expense of meat and potatoes information about the storied products. There haven't been that many generations of groups. Omitting detailed pictures and descriptions of them is unforgivable.

High-end bike components are BEAUTIFUL. They are FUNCTIONAL ART. This book is not not bike porn. Even the Huret Allvit managed to redeem itself with ball-bearing pulleys. This, absent almost any redeeming qualities, is just plain bad.

...Sigh...

In conjunction with the manufacturers' 75th Anniversary, Velo Press recently released the book Campagnolo: 75 Years of Cycling Passion. Whether you are a member of the Campy cult, a user of their components or a fan of cycling history, this book is worth a read.

Written by long time Italian cycling journalists Paolo Facchinetti and Guido P. Rubino, the book starts with the birth of the bicycle itself and its growing popularity in Europe, but quickly moves to the fateful Fall 1927 day on the Croce d'Aune when a young racer named Tullio Campagnolo struggled to change the gearing on his racing bike with nearly frozen hands. Out of his frustration came first the quick release axles that we all use today, and eventually, a gear changer that allowed a racer to change gears without dismounting the bike.

Tullio Campagnolo grew up poor, but was fortunate to grow up in a home where he had access to files, pliers, anvils, vise grips and hammers, as well as a small blacksmith forge. It was there that he learned the skills that would serve him in prototyping, building and improving bicycle components.

The first quick release appeared in 1930, and Campagnolo filed the first of his 185 patents for a system he called "gearing for cycling." He attended as many races as he could, showing his quick release and gearing system to racers and mechanics alike and listening, improving and promoting some more.

Along the way, Campagnolo saw his components used by such racing greats as Vito Ortelli, Toni Bevilacqua, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Fiorenzo Magni, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond, Laurent Fignon, Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, Paolo Bettini and Danilo Di Luca, and the Campagnolo name became synonymous with cycling.

The early beginnings and Campagnolo's passion for cycling and for continuous improvement lead us to where we are 75 year later, with the introduction of the new 11-speed Super Record group.

Some Campagnolo cultists have said that there are some notable omissions in this book, but I still found it very entertaining and educational. The illustrations and photography are top notch as well.

If you love cycling, this book should have a place in your library.

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I looked forward to the release of this book after I saw a copy at a bicycle trade show. They had two copies and I believe one of them was stolen! I waited for mine and it was money well spent. If you're a fan of the components from Vicenza, you'll want this book. A few errors don't tarnish the read for anyone but the fanatic who expected this to be the "Encyclopedia of Campagnolo" complete with Tullio's fingerprints and DNA. My only real complaint is the book was printed in CHINA! I would have gladly paid twice the price for a book printed in ITALY where they still do some of the nicest printing in the world.

Campagnolo 75 years of Cycling Passion by Paolo Facchinetti is a very poorly written book. The aurthor in my opinion just found articles on Campagnolo and threw them together in order they occured. Not a complete history of Campagnolo. I wouldn't recommend anyone purchase.

I've been a fan of Campagnolo since I was in high school in England. There was Simplex, Weinman and Benelux and a few others besides, but there was nothing to compare to Campagnolo. I use to gaze into the local bike shop window, fixated on the gleaming hubs, downtube shifters, sculptured brake levers and of course the derailleurs.... and dream.

I'm fortunate enough now to run a full Campagnolo Record set-up on my Italian bike. My passion and admiration for their product has never faltered. So how does this book and a passion for Campagnolo fit?
Nearly - but not quite.

This coffee table book although wonderfully produced is a little cumbersome, and although covers a lot of history, and includes many great photographs comes across as plainly 2-dimensional.

A product listing with dates and serial numbers would have been nice, and perhaps a few superimposed grubby fingers prints, with a animated passionate text could have given this nice book zest and life. This book should have been the main resource for all things Campagnolo. Instead we have a pretty picture book with text.

It's still a must have for the enthusiast, but a missed opportunity to truly honour Tullio Campagnolo and the 75 years of manufacturing - which is a feat in itself.

Keith

After much anticipation and waiting for the release of this book, I was very disappointed with all the omissions and misstatements that are made by the two writers Facchinetti and Rubino keeping in mind that they are Italian. A very good example of this is how poorly the 1984 release of C-Record is covered in the book. No where will you see a photo of the group, or even of the crankset which is considered to be the most beautiful crankset Campagnolo ever made. They also missed the introduction
date of C-Record in Century finish by 10 years by stating that it was introduced in 2001 instead of 1991. Instead of buying a new coffee table book, I think it will be bathroom reading material.

Great to receive this book. Typically Italian - it wanders all over the place, is barely chronological, covers only randomly selected topics and is more stylish than practical. If you want a history of Campagnolo like reference material - this aint it.

However, great snippets, great pictures, a little of a great deal - just not enough of anything for me...

I'm not a frothing Campy nut, but I do know a fair amount about the brand having been cycling since the mid-70s and working in a bike shop for 5 years in the 80s.
I'd really hoped for more than the book delivered; I know it was important to Tullio having racers use his equipment and provide feedback, I just didn't need to know the month-by-month details of how racers would use Campy, switch to Simplex, then back to Campy in the 50s. I wanted more of the technical details about the equipment - especially from post WWII to the present; where the designs came from, what the manufacturing processes were, what decisions drove the development of the Record brakesets, Super Record, C-Record, the ill-fated Triomphe, Victory gruppos and then Campy's return to the pinnacle of component design, style, and execution with the current product lines.
And as mentioned earlier, couldn't someone have found a NOS 1979 version of a Super Record rear derailleur and not the one that looked like it had been on a Gulf Coast region bike for 6 years?

That said, it's a book still worth having, just know in advance that the authors didn't attain the heights of excellence that their subject has.

A carefully composed, entertaining and well-illustrated work. The tales of races and champions are fascinating! The technical photos offer a close look at what makes Campagnolo such a legendary name. For any cyclist who is either interested in history, or is a hard-core fan of Italian cycling in general and Campagnolo in particular. To have this book on your coffee table is to proclaim you are a cyclist and racing fan for life!

Not what I had hoped.. A superficial history which may have lost something in the translation.