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What does it mean when people say that a bike part is "campy"?

I've heard people say "campy hub" and "campy chain", for example.

BSO rider
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2 Answers2

21

It's an abbreviation for Campagnolo.

Móż
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ojs
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  • I believe that it may be the US abbreviation for Campagnolo. I believe the UK may say Campag, e.g. in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fx45RBgY4U I'm not certain about Commonwealth countries. – Weiwen Ng Feb 17 '20 at 14:31
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    In that case, the question is irrelevant for UK readers. – ojs Feb 17 '20 at 14:49
18

"Campy" is an affectionate name for Campagnolo, an Italian bicycle parts manufacturer. The reason why you see it specifically mentioned in many cases (whereas you don't see Shimano/SRAM mentioned) is that the parts are rarer (and more expensive) and often incompatible with Shimano/SRAM (though Zinn notes it may be accidentally getting better). Shimano/SRAM have some compatibility with each other (e.g. chains, cassettes, freehubs) and some incompatibility (e.g. shifters), but they're far more incompatible with Campagnolo.

RoboKaren
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Batman
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    Besides which, no one can remember how to spell (or even pronounce) "Campagnolo", whereas Shimano and SRAM are easy. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '15 at 03:41
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    Campagnolo isn't hard to pronounce if you look at the word and actually say it – ebrohman Nov 29 '15 at 05:18
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    @DanielRHicks "Campagnolo" is no harder to spell or pronounce than "lasagne". – David Richerby Nov 29 '15 at 10:58
  • To be fair, I practically never see lasagne used -- just lasagna. And I don't think its all too easy to pronounce, especially if Campy is not used in your area very often (for example, the nearest Campy dealer is over 120 miles / 200 km away from where I live, so you rarely hear people talk about it). – Batman Nov 29 '15 at 13:34
  • @DavidRicherby - "Lasagne" is easy to spell if you know how to pronounce it -- la-sahg-knee. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '15 at 14:12
  • @Batman Lasagne/lasagna -- no particular difference. In Italian, they're plural and singular, respectively, but English seems to use them interchangeably. – David Richerby Nov 29 '15 at 14:16
  • @DanielRHicks And it's exactly the same pattern in "Campagnolo". How can one of them be easy but the other hard? – David Richerby Nov 29 '15 at 14:17
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    @DavidRicherby - Like I said no one (who doesn't deal with the stuff regularly) can remember how to pronounce "Campagnolo". It's generally pronounced as a mumble. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '15 at 15:14
  • To be fair, for SRAM, you hear S-Ram and Schram/Shram and some others. Shimano is the only one I think that everyone uses the same. – Batman Nov 29 '15 at 17:12
  • @Batman and very few western people pronounce Shimano correctly, because most people Anglicise it. The guy in the LBS probably wouldn't know what you meant of you did say it properly. – andy256 Nov 29 '15 at 23:11
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    This is how it sounds: https://youtu.be/AVnZ7cWEIcc?t=10s. My friend uses Campa-YOLO and gives 0 f's :) – Jerryno Nov 30 '15 at 09:32
  • @andy256 - fine, nobody can pronounce any of the current major drivetrain manufacturers normally sans Microshift. – Batman Nov 30 '15 at 12:55