DISRAELI GEARS
In 2006 Campagnolo decided to take yet another shot at the market for long cage derailleurs - launching a range of 3 models. These had special names that did not correspond with the names of the racing groupsets - although the technical crossover, and commonality of component parts is obvious.
At about this time I was lucky enough to attend a stage of the Vuelta that ended south of Grenada on a mountain top in the Sierra Nevada. We toiled up towards the finish in our rented Fiat Panda. As we did so I was amazed that we kept on passing a seemingly endless stream of rotund men of a certain age, clad in impeccable team outfits and riding exquisitely beautiful bikes. They were pedalling very smoothly, but very slowly up the terrifying gradients. At the top of the climb I was equally surprised to see a large group of equally rotund women of an equal age laying out a huge feast on a forest of trestle tables. There were more lobsters, cooked in more different ways, than I have seen in one place before or since.
Suddenly, as if I had been flooded with divine light, I understood the inherent contradictions of a Campagnolo long cage derailleur. It is a derailleur with an uncontestable racing pedigree, but for the rider who cannot possibly race. It was for precisely these lobster-lovers that Campagnolo released the three derailleurs in 2006.
The derailleurs were:
Ironically the low-end Champ Triple, with its composite knuckles, was notably lighter than its more prestigious (and expensive) siblings.
This is a, nearly perfect, example of a Campagnolo Race Triple.
Ref. 1466