Campagnolo

When it came to buying my first proper racing bike back in 1982 I wanted the best that I could afford.

This extravagance was only possible through a bequest from my Grandfather as at that time I was an impoverished student.

Money was tight, even under the old Grant system and my diet reflected this. I lived on ox liver, tinned tomatoes and for a real treat I could often be found sitting in a city centre doorway working my way through a baguette, just the baguette with nothing on it.

Momentarily flush for cash in my bike fund the decision on what equipment to put on the custom measured racing frame was made easy. It had to be Campagnolo.

The founder of the Italian components empire, Tullio Campagnolo was a legend in his own lifetime.

He not only invented, engineered and patented an unsurpassed catalogue of equipment but also a larger than life image of himself on which he capitalised for his business interests.

Take the most well known story of how the quick release skewer came to be.

Anyone with a modern racing bike with lightweight wheels will be very familiar with the quick release. In design it is the epitome of form and function. In its pure incarnation it consists of a long, thin rod, threaded on one end and with a lever operated cam assembly on the other. The rod, inserted into the hollow axle of a wheel hub is secured at the threaded end by a nut fixing and then the lever can be closed to secure the wheel to the frame forks and dropouts.

My first experience of a quick release was fraught with difficulty and uncertainty and to some the use of it can constitute a major problem.

There are, in this internet age, many on-line tutorials on how to correctly use the mechanism. How to loosen, how to tighten, in what position to leave the lever when the wheel is secured are the main issues.

This only goes to illustrate the pitfalls as well as the advantages.

At the age of 26, as the Campagnolo legend goes, the enthusiastic Tullio was competing in top level cycle races in his home country. His Palmares or record of achievement shows participation in events such as the classic Astico Brenta (still running today) in Northern Italy, the epic Milan San Remo and the Giro Lombardia albeit very much in the lower placings.

Racing bikes of the time were unwieldy although there were innovations taking place to make frames stronger and lighter. Fixed gears were the normal transmission with the rear wheel being the mounting for different cogs, one on each side.

If a gear change was required it was a case of stopping, dismounting and wrestling with the wingnut fixings to be able to turn the wheel around, refix and then continue.

You can imagine the sheer frustration and inconvenience arising from this performance. Any forward momentum and motivation to go fast would just disappear. It would only be on a downward slope that you could hope to turn a bigger gear to regain lost time.

On an undulating course the stop-go-stop-go rhythm, or lack of it, must have been infuriating.

The Campagnolo story in this instance involved just such a scenario.

Tullio was in the Gran Premio della Vittoria (now the name of a major horse race). On snow covered roads, whether due to altitude of just the early Spring weather he attempted to change gears.

Frozen hands made it difficult to operate the wing nuts on the back wheel and he lost time on his rivals. This setback had quite an affect on the mid twenty something. The phrase "necessity is the mother of invention" must have been at the forefront of his post-race-post-mortem and so, the legend goes, the quick release skewer was invented.

There has been some doubt cast on the authenticity of the story. The photograph looks like an intentional pose but that is not intended to be a criticism.

Research has suggested that Tullio did not even appear on the start list for the Gran Premio della Vittoria and that the race is later in the season and therefore unlikely to be subject to an extreme winter climate.

Whatever the truth Tullio was a prolific inventor during his life and many developments that we now take for granted were amongst his many Patents.

He was also quite analytical of existing equipment and had a determination to reverse engineer and make them much better.

He pioneered an early version of a derailleur gear changing system although already widely used in mass production models.

I cannot help but marvel at the Campagnolo components that still adorn my 1982 wonder bike purchase.

The brake sets, front and rear changers retain that satin lustre as though machine polished only yesterday.

I have kept the downtube gear shift levers even though their operation demands a lot of pre-planning and that momentary downward glance can be hazardous whilst travelling at speed on a public highway. Younger cyclists on expensive carbon or aluminium frame bikes with integral components often flag me down to have a gawp at the Campag group set as even at distance it just shouts out quality and style.

The chainset, unfortunately, sheared its threads a few years ago now but I keep that work of art on public show on the shelf at the back of the garage/bike shed/workshop.

Me and Tullio have a bit of history through his beautifully crafted and manufactured components.

I have my Grandfather to thank for the means to purchase the bike and I think that he would certainly have got on well with Mr Campagnolo had they ever had an opportunity to meet.