Originally Posted by
kunsunoke
The thing I've never understood is why there's so much snob appeal for Campagnolo Nuovo Record and Super Record. Campy's parts may be durable and pretty, but the shift quality is HORRIBLE in comparison to Suntour Superbe/Cyclone/Sprint.
There's some history here. Campagnolo started as a company that made effective problem-solving for road racers, in the European pro peleton. They were durable, effective, and designed for the needs of professional racers. They did not begin with groups or derailleurs, or as bling. The best bikes reasonably widely available were road racing machines, made by Cinelli, Masi, Peugeot, and many others. The bikes came with Campy because it was what racers used, and because Campy provided attachment points to be built into the frames to accept and support their parts. Improvements were made over the years, but were backward-compatible in many cases. Many improvements were unsung or unannounced. The image was of quality and devotion to function and durability. It wasn't designed as bling. In those years, 1950s and 1960s, there was very little if anything imported from Japan, and the early imports were price leaders.
A truth in racing is that you do not win races that you do not finish. Trust of the professional race team management was key, to the early Campy. Racing, for example did not change to light weight Al cranksets from TA, Stronglight, or Campy overnight. Initially they were at least unproven, and in some cases prone to fracture compared to steel cotterred cranksets like FB and Magistroni, just to look at Italy. The Campy Record had to prove itself. The Record derailleur did not spring forth in aluminum, it was steel, then Nuovo Record was aluminum. They were not designed to shift 7 cogs spanning 12 to 32, they needed to cover 14 to 24 5 speed. They did that better than anyone else up until perhaps the late 1960s. Simplex came up with some better-shifting derailleur designs, but not very durable, and they were the newcomer.
I don't know the history of the Japanese brands so well, but I didn't see them on bikes in my local shops in top-line frames much before 1975 to 1980. They were price leaders, not performance leaders. Campagnolo slowly began to compete, with some good results and some not so good. And the Asian companies raised their game as time went on.
All I can say, is that Campagnolo NR and SR were designed to fit the top markets of the day and satisfied in that task. The needs changed, and others came it. Many today do not understand that NR and SR should not be compared to the indexing performance of modern groups. The were not designed for it and are not suited for it. But they were the best solution to the market they did have.
Today they are nearly antiques and more scarce every year. Those of us who own and use old frames sometimes want to recreate the past. Other times we're happy to put modern parts on retro frames (see the retro-roadies thread). Prices today are largely based on the Internet, which means value is strictly subjective. It's not the fault of the current Campagnolo company that their 40 year old derailleur sells for 20 times what it did new. It's not even Ebay's fault.
Bottom lines: Understand some of the history.
Nobody is twisting your arm to buy Campy.
If you buy Campy and it doesn't work for you, maybe you are misapplying it, or maybe it has a flaw. But hey: it's 40 years old, and you can find good instructions if you look. On Youtube? Maybe not. But Campy did provide the knowledge required.