In the Dancing Chain the author talks about Campagnolo refusing to copy anything from Shimano until all else failed and they were almost ruined. Enter Ergo and more like the second generation Ergo.
It is a great book, some of the older stuff can be boring but when you get to the '70, '80s and '90s and see how close some companies like Campi, Schwinn, Raleigh (well and some of them went over the edge I guess) it gets pretty good.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk