Hello, I'm a friend of Eric. If you haven't been officially fried in e-mail here it comes.

How can you as a dedicated Shimano rider know anything about the joy, the excitement, the passion and spirit of riding true classic cycling components which Campy produces?

Why, you ride a bike with small wheels, wide tires, maybe even suspension. You ride a frame made in Washington of recycled beer cans, by a company which has been swallowed by the large GM of Bicycling (TREK). Why, Campy hasn't even gotten around to a serious line of products for your type of riding. (They actually have but the t-shirt renegade BIKERS whined so much "It's TOO expensive", they left that cry-baby market for a while). If you can find Campy canti's, grab 'em! They're far superior to any LX/XT/XTR V-Brake, U-brake, M-brake, disc brake, hydro set up you can find.

Sorry, Don't get involved in this Campy-Shimano stuff. I'll tell you, Shimano makes good stuff, expecially for off-road (of course they're not even "CYCLISTS", they call themselves "BIKERS"). I'll still ride my XT Rapidfire Plus over Grip Shifts anyday.

The Point is that Shimano cranks out great parts, they look decent and work well.

They just don't have any SPIRIT! They just don't have passion and life that Campy does, they're just parts, you pull the cable, they shift or brake. You turn the cranks, they transmit the power to the chain. They work.

Campy has something else. You can really FEEL the work that's gone into them, the Italian, German or other European that set the alloy billet into the forging stamp, the hand finishing and cleaning of the derailleur or the brake caliper, it's real.

If that's not enough, each part has a part of the history, the life of cycling (Cycla Vita), which the greats have imparted. Eddy Merckx, Coppi, Moser, LeMond, Indurain all have had a hand in the parts we ride.

Campy's stuff was weird in the late 80's when the new C-record was developed. That really changed in 1993 when they came out with "ERGO Power". Now the whole road line is FABULOUS!!!!

I expect Campy is developing a new off-road line now. That will give you BIKERS something really GREAT to use (it won't break).

Consider yourself COOKED in HOT CAMPY OIL.

--Dave Murakami

Thanks, Dave, for a great letter!

Everyone else out there, remember that the Campagnolo Only page is open 24 hours a day, spreading the word about the world's greatest components. E-mail us with your comments, and they might just show up here on our pages!