Campagnolo reserves to its customers and fans a special surprise in occassion of the upcoming holidays.
The new Campagnolo Webstore will be initially dedicated to the sale of the famous Campagnolo BIG corkscrew.
It's not a big secret that Campagnolo had a bit of a rough time a couple of years ago, but that they are now back on the right track. They have been releasing new products, both electronic and mechanical, and now this - most interesting!
There are critics of Campagnolo. They accuse the company of being snobbish, outdated and excessively expensive, and complain about their Italian attitude. To some extent they are right. We would not say that Campagnolo are snobbish, but they have a sense of pride about their legacy that sometimes does border on snobbishness, a sense of "If you don't understand what we are doing, then we are not going to waste time on you". And sometimes you get the feeling that they think that their legacy is reason enough to buy their products, but... OK, we guess that they are a bit snobbish.
Outdated, however, they are not. Perhaps you should know that some of our members still ride with their gears on the frame, à la Sachs Huret and they really like it. And despite their gears being from the 1980's they seem to be working well, so we don't feel the need to have all the latest stuff. But those of us who have Campagnolo components on their bikes really don't want to change. We (including yours truly) find the products easy to install, really well working and aesthetically pleasing, looking new and shiny.
Excessively expensive, though... Yes. Campagnolo has never aimed to sell their products to anyone who is not serious about riding road bikes. You buy their products because you know that you can trust them when you need to. But charging €179 for a chain tool, when you have already had to pay €42 for the chain itself, is just ridiculous. And if you want to buy one of their corkscrews you will have to be prepared to pay at least €178. Honestly, you can find similar corkscrews from about €7.
But remember, here, that all Campagnolo products are manufactured in Europe. (To be more specific in Italy and Romania.) Your products are not made in dictatorships (yes, we are talking about you, People's Republic of China) who occupy other countries (Tibet) and have no environmental legislation to speak of. They are not made by convicts, dissidents or by underpaid workers in other countries. So how much are you prepared to pay for a good conscience?
And compared to Shimano, SRAM and Rotor, Campagnolo's products (except their tools) are actually quite reasonably priced.
So we like Campagnolo, even though we get mad at their Italian attitude from time to time. (If you mail them, be prepaded to wait for weeks for a reply from them, if you do get a reply at all.) And we are really excited to find out what Campagnolo is up to this time!
(Campagnolo's overpriced corkscrew. Though we have to admit that it is really good-looking. By the way, how about an opener for bottle tops? Well, the picture is from Campagnolo's website.)
Ride safe!
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