Okay.

Apparently, you are a wizard.

The spare part thing is really never an issue for Shimano users. First of all there are enough used Shimano components floating around on Ebay that you rarely need to look for factory spare parts. Secondly, the fact that Shimano sets the industry standards, means that you have, say for brifters, a choice of Microshift, Micronew, LTwoo, and Sensah aftermarket Shimano-compatible brifters. For what it costs to rebuild a set of Campy brifters, you could have bought a brand new set of Microshift with change leftover. Same thing with rear derailleurs. I think this is a central downfall for Campy. When you are the big dog, you get to set standards. When you are a bit player/ has-been, you really should just follow the industry standards and forget about setting your own goofball standards. Campagnolo arrogantly stuck to their own standards and now they have painted themselves into a corner.

Thanks for proving the same point over and over again. Choosing Campagnolo means putting common sense on hold and buying into some historical lore much like a cult.

Take the simple bottom bracket replacement. Well the bearings alone are over $200 and the specialty tools required are hundreds more. Add to this the cups which also have to be replaced as they wear independently, again ask me how I know. Plus you will most likely need to do this yourself as there are very few shops which support or sell Campagnolo anymore. Shimano Dura Ace for comparison is under $50 and can be done by any shop.
This explains the dead end trajectory they are on. Crazy premium prices, awkward unique standards, minimal support and no performance or status advantages.

Image paying over $1,000 for a cassette! Or how about almost $100 for disc brake pads EACH.

Apparently "maintenance" is not something many of you are familiar with. Do it, and rebuilding is something you either will not have to do, or by the time it is needed, you'll want to upgrade to something more modern.
My 40 year old Shimano 600 equipped bike still operates as smooth as silk, but then I am a retired mechanical engineer, so maintenance is something I am familiar with.
Many people have more money than brains, they buy something, use it until it doesn't work (and never or rarely maintain it), then complain what an inferior product it is.

Your prices are pure nonsense. I can walk in my local shop and get CULT bearings for $80/set, disc brake pads for $50/set, 12 spd cassettes for $228, and 11 spd cassettes for $180, And, I can almost always find the parts cheaper if I spend a little time online.

I provided supporting links from the largest Campagnolo retailer in the country. Also watch the video and explain where I am wrong. Look at the tools which are required and tell me the average back yard mechanic is going to do this.

You are right about the bearing prices I was wrong they are over $275

You’re not reading the links correctly. Their price for those bearings is $195/set*, brake pads are $65/set, and the most expensive Campy cassette is $710**. And, as previously stated, you can find better prices that if you spend a few minutes online.

*. Campy ultra torque CULT bearings are $80/set on their site.
** The most expensive Campy cassette on the site is $710. The most expensive SRAM cassette is a mere 7% less, at $660.

Or you could spend $51. Of course they're not ceramic, but why would you? But ceramic can be found for $100 or less. Too long ago to remember, I also found some generic ones of correct size for less, but not enough less to make it worth while.
Campagnolo Ultra-Torque Bearings (pr) FC-RE012 | eBay

I easily made a tool to remove the bearings. Is it as handy and easy to use as the Park Tool version? Absolutely not, but for once a decade use (it's one of 5 bikes I ride), I can afford to fiddle a bit to make it work or take it to the LBS

Apples to oranges comparison below but no matter what industry you belong to, you can only push the value proposition of a product so much before it gets just downright ridiculous. And how do you know you've reached the ridiculous threshold? When nobody buys your stuff and your company folds. Opps.

Same $700 gets you a Nvidia GPU containing 46 billion transistors. A product that cost billions to invent and is manufactured in a factory that cost hundreds of billions to construct. What is Campagnolo's R&D budget? Like the R&D of a paper airplane compared to the R&D of the space shuttle.

Somebody in the thread was chanting on and on about how advanced technology deserves to cost more. I guess in their unique logic this rule somehow doesn't cross industry lines. Cue the predictable complaints about apples to oranges, pears to turtles, not the same for X Y Z reasons... yawn.

Meanwhile a Chinese factory is stamping out cassettes for $3.50 per unit factory cost. Sure, nowhere near as shiny, but a functioning cassette all the same. LOL.


Video showing the size of a single transistor:
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Video showing a zoom-in of a transistor on a chip:
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Without knowing the context of the job layoff, the who and for what, it's all conjecture. My softball in the air proposal is those jobs lost are of a nature that has been replaced by computer software. Fake intelligence, aka: a-eye.

Boy, for a thread about a company that supposedly no one is interested in, no one cares about, and which has been irrelevant for decades, it sure has garnered a lot posts and attention, particularly from people who don’t even ride Campagnolo.

It raises some questions…

Is Campy-curious some new repressed identity group, like Incel, who blame their low FTP on the machinations of a crafty cabal of Italians in Vicenza on testosterone therapy??

I'm just having fun watching people defend a company that makes bike parts that shift gears +/- just like all the other companies!! Like everything else in the world - if someone owns a product, they will typically defend said product no matter what. Especially if they paid a premium.

I have no love or hate for any groupset - if they work and shift gears, I'm good with it. It is fun to watch people defend something simply because they bought it. Its also fun to watch people attempt to justify $700 cassettes!! (Yes, I am poking)

Oh and - who won what race on what groupset... Pogi, Carapaz, Julian, El Bala - those boys could win using Microshift.

Campy has a business management problem. Since they are essentially the OG in this realm, their innovations have been touted here... why are they 1/10th+/- the size of Sram, and 1/25th+/- the size of the Shimano (bike parts) business?

LOL. I find engineers (except the ones that drive trains) should be kept away from wrenches and other tools in most cases, and most can't fish a lick... :)

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4be17e5b6.jpeg

rebuilding is sometimes necessary, regardless of maintenance - what’s the maintenance routine for the innards of a shifter? My Campag shifters, which started out as 9sp, have been rebuilt twice in ~25 years/~120k miles - once by me, when I also took the opportunity to retrofit them to 10sp using readily available parts, and again ~15 years later when I had them overhauled by Branford, after which they were like new again. Sometimes, after many years/miles, rebuilding is simply an inevitability, regardless of maintenance - you as an engineer should know this 🙄

<<-- this non train driving engineer can catch some feeesh...!!

My only comment was that Campy shifters are rebuildable -- and they are. That's all I wrote.

I don't know why you are ranting about all of this other stuff.

Edited to add this: for fun while drinking my morning coffee, I followed your links. Do you realize that the cassette you linked is not "over $1,000"? And as for the brake pads, do you really think that $65 is "almost $100"? I'm not debating whether those prices are high or not -- just pointing out that you have posted misinformation.

LOL. Everyone in MD thinks they can catch them, most can't, let me guess, you're on TF....

TF... 15 years ago!!

I essentially live on the Susky Flats - fished the heyday's just after the moratorium ended. Fishing was phenomenal... not so much anymore. Probably not even getting my license this year - with the lack of fish, shutdowns and regulations, just not worth it.

But lakes to offshore - I love to fish. Worked on offshore fishing boats in my younger years, and if I had a little more money/time, I would be offshore all the time.

Here is a set of Ultra Torque bearings for $27. Others are available for $50. I don't remember what I paid but I think it was around $50.
Campagnolo Ultra Torque Chorus bottom bracket bearing, Black | Bikeinn (tradeinn.com)

I was able to replace the bearings without any special tools. Non drive side came off fairly easy and the drive side was harder but I put the crank in the freezer for a few hours and popped it off with 2 screwdrivers. I already had snap ring pliers. If I didn't want to do it I could have taken it to the lbs and he would have done it cheap.
I've never replaced the cups in 70K+ miles. The bearings don't rotate in the cups so they shouldn't wear. I suppose they could distort over time but they are still snug.

I use Miche cassettes. The last one I bought was around $60, iirc.

I don't understand, either. It's just parts. If you don't like a product line you can state your reasons and make your point. But some are going on and on and insulting people who use those parts and calling it a "cult".

I've only had the one Campagnolo equipped bike. I haven't experienced any of the difficulties people have posted about. Would I buy another bike wearing Campagnolo kit? I don't know, maybe. If the frame I wanted was built up with Chorus and the price was right, sure. If they (Campagnolo) are going to fold that would be a concern, but otherwise, I'm fine with it.

I'm not devoted to it, or to other mechanical things. I drive GM vehicles because I am trained in and am familiar with GM products. I am retired now but still have connections to the old dealer for service and parts. But I have owned Fords and VWs and a Subaru and even a Toyota. I don't name my cars or bikes, they are just tools, objects that serve a purpose.

And sorta related to here... and how I think sometimes about bike stuff.

I grew up a fisherman, ran a bait/minnow business when I was 9 - got my first boat and would catch minnows for all the local marinas to sell to fisherman. You name it, we caught it - sometimes with basic electronics (paper chart sonar), sometimes without - basic fishing rods, basic tackle, basic everything.

The weapon was a hook and a fresh piece of squid.

It wasn't until I joined a fishing based website till I was told I was doing everything wrong and "needed" product x/y/z+++ more products, then more products, then more products... top tier rods, top tier reels, the best of the best fillet knives and pliers... the best boat, the best motor...

Basic fishing rod, a bare hook and chunk of bait, a spoon or metal jig = a basic alloy frame and 105. everything else/extra is just fluff - fluff that people really like to argue about!!

Remember, this is the same group that'll give Deason 8-10 pages.

Preach brother, preach. I tell folks, you can commute to work in your Kia or Maserati, you aren't at Indi, or a Formula I course, but I sell bikes for a living, so if they want something with a laundry detergent logo on the hood, we make that happen....

RMOT