Campy Goes Ugly

As I've been looking at the state of modern bicycle components, pointing out the bloated, swollen proportions of today's cranks and derailleurs, it might have been noticed that I generally avoided criticism of the designs from Campagnolo -- and in fact, even noted the Veloce group as having one of the nicest-looking current-model derailleurs (at least in its silver version). Campy's Veloce (for 10-speed) and Athena (for 11-speed) are both still available in aluminum with nice-looking polished or anodized silver finishes. The cranks bear a familiar look to those who remember the smooth aero design of the mid-80s C-Record, though the vintage versions were a bit more svelte than the current ones.

Well, if the spy photos released on BikeRadar last week are any indication, things from Vicenza are about to get ugly.

At the Giro d'Italia, a rider for the Europcar team was reportedly sporting some prototype equipment from Campagnolo, and while it didn't bear any logos, it is believed that the new parts will eventually bear the Record name. Both the crank and rear derailleur make a complete departure in design from the current offerings. Take a look:

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.

The wide, fat new crank has a 4-arm spider, much like the current Dura-Ace, except that it has a symmetrical bolt pattern. The BikeRadar article says that the crank should take both standard or compact rings -- but considering that the chainrings are almost certainly incompatible with anything else on the market, that seems like a moot point. Then again, proprietary crank BCDs are more or less par-for-the-course with Campagnolo these days. From the photos, it's clear that the bolts attach from the back, and the chainrings have been sculpted by CNC machining. While the current model Campy cranks (the aluminum ones, that is) look okay on a steel frame -- maybe not a skinny-tubed vintage frame, but on the slightly larger tubing diameters common today -- these new ones, should they make it to regular production, would look pretty atrocious. Perhaps they won't translate this design into aluminum, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 4-arm spider becomes the new "standard," thereby making the current cranks and chainrings obsolete.

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.

The new carbon-fiber rear derailleur looks twisted and deformed. The parallelogram seems to have some kind of kinky s-bend in it. Why, I can't imagine. Interestingly, one might notice that it is cable-operated, not electronic. Who would've imagined there would still be cable operated shifters in our future? I don't know if there would be an attempt to translate the design into polished aluminum, though I can't say it would look any better.

I suppose what this all means for retrogrouches and fans of traditional styling is that the vintage market is about to get a lot more popular.