The Cult of Campagnolo

December's issue of Bicycling magazine has a feature on fans of Campagnolo, the Italian bike parts manufacturer.

Entitled The Cult, the article documents some of the ways Campagnolo customers feel about the company and its products. It's all very familiar. Consider:

* Campagnolo makes only high-end bike parts and charges premium prices. The company makes no attempt to go after the mass market, ceding low price but high volume mountain bike parts to rival Shimano.

* Campagnolo has a history of "startling innovations" – first quick release, early derailleurs, 10 speed cassettes, etc.

* Campagnolo's components are high quality and high design. Described as "lovely, curvaceous, sexy," they are made from the latest technology – titanium, aluminum and carbon fiber.

* Apple and Campagnolo have similar corporate histories. Both once dominated their industries, went through a bad patch (Campagnolo in the eighties), but were saved by innovation and customers, described in the article as "the most dedicated in the business."

As for the fans, they get tattoos, wear logoed caps and jerseys, and amass collections – sometimes huge collections – of old Campagnolo parts. Fans have even been known to spend "hard-earned cash on empty parts boxes." (Just like the guy who bought an empty Mac box for $500).

One fan recalled seeing his first Campy bike: "I remember the crank and hubs, how they shined... it was like having a Ferrari. It threw my senses completely off," he said. (Sounds just like an adulatory iMac review, no?).

The company is steeped in history and lore. Just like Apple's miraculous birth in a humble garage (which has biblical overtones, according to one consumer behaviorist), Campagnolo fosters a "creation myth" surrounding its founding. Company literature describes company Founder Tullio struggling with frozen components during a mountainside race, and then having a vision "as though struck as if by lightening from God" for his first product: a quick-release lever.

The Campagnolo brand is about more than just bike parts. The story quotes a branding expert, who says, "It's about heroism, drama, innovation, passion, suffering and tradition." Likewise, Apple's brand connotes creativity and individuality.

Campy fans foster an Us-versus-Shimano attitude. Shimano is seen as making inferior, cheaper parts. Worse, Shimano riders "have no loyalty." One Campy fan interviewed for the story (and who owns 35-Campy bikes) said, "In the 1980s Campy came up with the perfect slogan: "when technology becomes emotion.' That sums it up to me... They don't just make tools for riding, they put art into their work and that's the mojo."

Campy fans love to wear the logo, particularly "the hat." As the article says, "You couldn't be near a bike event in the 1970s and 1980s without seeing a Campagnolo cycling cap or t-shirt."