Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Tech Weenie Wednesday!

Today's post is a short one again because it's equipped with discs and thus ends sooner due to the increased stopping power.

It's a significant occasion in bike geek history as storied Italian shifty-parts maker Campagnolo has finally gone disc:

This is huge, because until now if you wanted to use disc brakes with Campagnolo you had to retrofit a set of Delta brakes:

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to do that in case you're interested.

Of course, it's tempting to say that if Old Man Campy were alive today he'd be hoisting his pants even higher and harrumphing indignantly, but that's probably not true:

Oh, sorry, wrong pic:

After all, this is the man behind the quick release and the derailleur, which were cutting-edge Fred tech in their day, so if anything he'd probably be wondering why it took so long.

As for the brakes themselves, Campagnolo claims they're even better than Shimano and SRAM, because what the hell else do you expect them to say?

Campagnolo claims its new road disc brakes stop faster than Shimano and SRAM in the dry and the wet, with less hand force required.

They also feature two innovations.  The first is that there are two lever travel settings, which is actually pretty nifty:

The brake levers have two settings for pad engagement. There is adjustment via a 2.5mm hex key socket on the inboard side of the lever body. A clearly marked two-position cam controls the long or short travel settings, with the long position allowing about half of the lever’s full travel before the pads engage.

And the second is Campagnolo's introduction of a"disc-specific crankset:"

This is particularly groundbreaking, because now it's only a matter of time before companies start introducing other disc-specific components such as saddles, pedals, and bar tape:

Then again, there's no such thing as a disc brake "conversion" that doesn't basically involve buying a whole new bike anyway, so what's the difference?  As for what makes the crankset "disc-specific," it basically just moves your chainrings a bit, which in the olden days you'd accomplish with a different spindle or some spacers.  Fortunately now that that we have integrated bottom brackets and proprietary chainrings those days are gone, and you get to buy a whole new crank instead.


Alas, what I was really hoping for when I read "disc-specific crankset" was this:

One of the most entertaining aspects of the Fixie Golden Age was their steadfast refusal to do anything even remotely sensible in the area of braking.  If they weren't destroying $50 tires in three days because they insisted on skidding in order to slow down they were using the greasiest part of the bicycle as a braking surface.

Those were the days.

Lastly, a Bahrain-Merida rider was booted from the Giro d'Italia for pushing, and here's the dramatic video:

If only he'd waited until they were under the tree canopy he might have gotten away with it.


Anonymous said...

1st time 1st

Anonymous said...

Podium and I read the whole thing

TimThePainter said...

Podium, read it. CHECK EM

Stop at Nothing said...

Them's the brakes.

leroy said...

Oh I see what you did there Mr. BSNYC.

Substituting Fred Mertz for Tullio Campagnolo.

It's funny because Mike Sinyard named his erstwhile shock absorbing inserts as "Zertz" as an homage combining the names Desi Arnaz and Fred Mertz.

Arnaz-Mertz was too long.

It's a little known fact that Mr. Sinyard loves him some Lucy.

Okay, maybe not a fact.

But def little known.

Also def little known: my dog does a terrible Ricky Ricardo accent. I am def not buying his "Honey, you can't be in the show."

Serial Retrogrouch said...

...WHAT??? it's only weednesday today? I started celebrating last night.

dnk said...

I'm hopeful that the disc-specific handlebar tassel will be introduced soon.

So I can finally complete my glorious custom-build bicycle.

Serial Retrogrouch said...

..."in the dry and the wet, with less hand force required"

...sign me up, please. And, is there a tutorial on how best to use both techniques?

N/A said...

I need gravel-ready, boost-compliant, dick-breaks-compatible cable crimps in a cerulean colorway with a ceramic coating. I currently am waiting to hear back from Paul Components on the machining costs for 4 of them. Initial calculation figures roughly $800 per unit.

Olle Nilsson said...

Wow, old man Tulio was on I Love Lucy? Who knew? Primo job with the 'merican accent.

Thanks Leroy - I had him down to one of two oldtimey shows, but couldn't remember which one.

Unknown said...

I can only hope in the "my brake is not really a brake" fixie arms war, that the lever for that was mounted as stupidly as possible, perhaps on the right seatstay? Or was there a lever at all?

Confusedcious say: said...

Crank have nothing to do with brake.

Anonymous said...

I'm wet where I'm supposed to be dry,and dry where I'm supposed to be wet... Roseanne

wle said...

the original Fred: MERTZ!

N/A said...

"Crank have nothing to do with brake."

No shit?

McFly said...

Who wants to stop in the wet?

Unknown said...

Retro-Fred here. While Tulio Campagnolo was most certainly behind the invention of the quick release, he was most certainly not behind the invention of the derailleur. His were the first quick releases sold to the market, but his derailleurs were variations of preceding derailleurs.

JB said...

But it's Campy.

CommieCanuck said...

oh man, it was just like the Cinzano team pumping it to Dave.

Tullio was a genius, he invented the nipple-secured pant belt in 1923.

"Crank have nothing to do with brake."

It's all connected, it's all PIPES

Cat 404 e-Racer said...

I like the word "Expulsado"

It is brimming with good anagrams....

pox us dale
pseudo lax
axled opus
sexual pod
Dual expos
exodus pal
louped sax
paused lox
sex upload
soup axled

Grump said...

I Remember the days when you could buy a Shimano cartridge bearing bottom bracket in widths of 115, 113. 107, & 103, for doubles. It made it so easy to adjust your chainline, depending on what crank you were using.

Hair Furor said...

Campy doesn't make shifty-parts! They are all handmade, Italian, precision performance tools. Nothing shifty about that!

McFly said...

Average Shimano Employee Yearly Salary = $8000

Average Campy Employee Yearly Salary = $43000

Anonymous said...

Shoving is a part of racing.. Every race. Just one of many rules the UCI ignores.

I wonder what was different about this shoving episode. Not enough bribe money to let it go?

Drock said...

All Italians drink at work along with most the worlds population. However the Japanese drink after work not at work. Plus they must be the greatest machinist the world have ever seen, maybe Germans are there to but dick stopper on the road is like a hot shower on a sun burn.

JLRB said...

My scranus is disc specific

Because what else would you expect me to Say

No Braking for Human Biology said...

Are we talking Campy here or the guy who got fired yesterday for investigating Russian hackers for stealing the new double distance braking system design and slapping it on a 90 pound Russian bike. Available on-line only through Russia's version of War-Mart. Only difference is the disk is made of aluminum foil. Jets are little more than heavy duty aluminum foil with engines attached, they fly, so why not.

Lucy used to lay on their bed and coo coo in a fake Cuban accent "Oh, Ricky" while using her forefinger in a come here motion. Ricky would look at those one inch long nails and think "my back, my back", and then he'd dive in.

Anonymous said...

Unknown Retro Fred at 1:44: Right On.

For history of the derailleur, find a copy of "The Dancing Chain". I recall the dominant, successful companies (over decades) were:

Cyclo (it worked !)
Early Campy - It did not work.
Many companies: It was better (Campy was in this bunch)
SunTour (slant parallelogram, baby!)
Shimano (SunTour's patent ran out, and then Shimano invented indexing that worked).
maybe next: SRAM's 1x system??

I'm a happy user of Shimano's smooth shifting cassettes.

Specialized specific cruise missile targeting said...

I don't have dick brakes, so i don't have dick brake specific headache.

Upright Politcal Member said...

In Bab's land British Columbia they had an erection. It is close, and because of absentee voters it will be days afore they know who comes out on top. What fun!

Dooth said...

Rim brakes are beautiful
Disc brakes are ugly
New tech makes you ride smugly
With the blessing of Tullio

Anonymous said...

The force exerted by a road cyclist's arm at full strength is about the same as a 2mph wind gust. What's the problem?

BeerDrivenCyclist said...


Anonymous said...

As always, great pictures. Really curious about that fixie crank brake. Who would have ever thought the crank would have something to do with the brake.

melted plastic fondue said...

It's a transmission brake.

I'm waiting to see a cassette turned into a rotor. Or a rim.

Comey free at last said...

I was hoping the orange dude would say it tv style instead of writing a letter

Anonymous said...

I would love to know which is more likely after a crash: a disc rotor in your rectum, or a chainring in your rectum. Please advise.

N/A said...

Bike crash. Rectum? Damn near killed him!

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised about the shoving. I thought Bahrain was more about caning?

Unknown said...

I fell for the disc conversion video link, got me...

Anonymous said...

I didn't watch the video but I know a "Stage 4 Expulsado" must smell really bad.

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