Tullio Campagnolo was an avid Italian cyclist in the early
1930's. But his interests were not limited to mastering the
art of competitive cycling. His desire was to push the boundaries
of his tool of choice, his bicycle. Never quite content with
status quo, he was forever tweaking the various bicycle components
of the time to gain speed, power and reliability.
His first claim to fame was a redesign of the gearing systems
on his bike of the time, which ultimately led to a number of patents
for bicycle parts in the late 1940's. His involvement became so
great that Tullio finally gave up riding career for a more concentrated
devotion to his new design and fabrication factory for Campagnolo
bicycle parts.
By 1955 he had designed his first complete line of bicycle
components including a drive-train, brakes and lever system.
Today the Campagnolo headquarters are in Via della Chimica,
in Vicenza Italy. They have over 400 employees spread across
5 branches and 9 agencies that export bicycle parts to over
30 countries.
In fact over 70% of their sales are outside Italy, with France,
United States, Germany and Belgium representing their leading
geographic markets.
It is not hard to understand their current focus when you read
about their new Composite Materials Department. It was founded
in 1998 and today, 10 years later employees one third of all
their staff within this one division of specialization. They
experiment, design and fabricate all bicycle components from
carbon fiber or carbon fiber composites.
In the not too distant past Campagnolo parts were re-known
for their forward thinking in aluminum alloy fabrication, putting
them technologically advanced even when compared to the aeronautical
industry. Today they take these same bold steps but in the carbon
fiber arena and from their 2005 collection see an increasing
inventory of headsets, BB, seatposts and bicycle wheels in carbon
fiber.
It is interesting to that to make their extensive line of Campagnolo
parts they also make the production equipment and the quality
control tools .
CAMPAGNOLO SRL HEADQUARTERS
Via della Chimica, 4 - 36100 Vicenza ITALY
Tel. +39-0444-225605
Fax +39-0444-225606
E-mail: service@campagnolo.com
Further Information:
Campagnolo Bike Parts
Index of Campagnolo Bicycle Part Articles
