Are current gruppos ugly?

[reuben]

Or is it just me?

Background:

Just joined up. Thanks for letting me in on the group ride.

I started riding when Look pedals first appeared - mid 80s I guess. Lemond, Hinault, Kelly, Fignon, Herrera, Longo, Twigg, Rooks, Theunisse, Roche, Argentin, Alcala, Musseuw, Yates, Anderson, Delgado, Rominger...

In the late 80s/early 90s I did triathlons and such on a low end Bianchi. I started to make a "comeback" in the late 90s to get into road racing but then broke both arms in a nasty crash and never followed through. Then I did nothing for a coupla decades and got fat.

Now to my point:

This old Chorus group is pretty - to my eyes.



The current offerings from Campy and Shimano are not - IMHO. It's not just the old polished look versus the current black/anodized look - the old lines were cleaner, smoother. Nowadays they look like skeletor components and I don't mean just the rear derailleur, I mean things like the crankset as well. Even the skewers are ugly, like I could use them to grill some kebabs and not have to worry about any of the meat or veggies falling off.

And electronic shifting? Bicycles now need batteries? You're kidding, right? When did Tesla start making bicycles?

Maybe I'm just geezin'. Quite likely, actually.

Anywho, these days I've finally started riding a Specialized A1 Diverge I bought about 2-3 years ago but rarely rode. It's a low end sort of road bike with disc brakes and 30mm tires (I rode 19-22 back in the day). I'm liking it, and if my bathroom scale ever stops displaying frightening numbers I may treat myself to a vintage Cinelli Supercorsa. Steel. No electronics. Most likely rim brakes. I do like the shifters in the hoods, though.

[edward12]

Yes.

[C40_guy]

Welcome aboard.

You won't find any strongly held opinions here, other than it has to be Italian, and everything after C-Record was crap.

[Blue Jays]

I love the aesthetics of Campagnolo components from all eras. Each from a different time with a different look!

Welcome to the Paceline Forums.

[72gmc]

Welcome!

Current gruppos require the rest of the bike to provide beauty, if there's going to be a high beauty index. A custom stem takes the focus away from xenomorphic shift levers.

[bicycletricycle]

Groups are ugly these days. It isn't that they are black and carbon. I like both of those things. They just have way too much styling for my taste. I prefer more minimally styled components.

I think Suntour Superbe, XTR 950, campy 10 and Dura Ace 7700 mark the end of good looking components although plenty of nice parts have been made since then.

I think SRAM probably makes the best looking groups these days

[CDollarsign]

Yes.

[azrider]

GET OFF MY LAWN

Jus jokin

Welcome.

I prefer function over form so I can't add much to convo...........

[benb]

I think the current groups look somewhat ugly on a metal frame.. maybe not so much on a carbon frame.

The big chunky shapes of stuff like the current Shimano cranks seem to blend in with the giant shaped tubes & bottom bracket areas of modern carbon frames.

Stuff like bulbous brifters housing hydraulic master cylinders are pretty ugly though.. just based on proportions. If they made them with elegant proportions they'd probably be too big for some people to grip.

I don't worry about any of it though. I have relatively current big/chunky 105 cranks on my skinny tube steel frame and I never really think about it.. I don't stare at the cranks or bike that much.

[Germany_chris]

Yes they’re ugly

[FlashUNC]

And what is the deal with airline food...

[AngryScientist]

it's not the components fault.

the real problem is that most bikes are ugly these days. look at this red hot mess below. what a visual steaming pile of garbage.

unfortunately the component manufacturers were forced to abandon beautiful, subtly designed components to match the ugliness of the bikes being made today.

and, welcome to the forum

[vincenz]

Both silver and black groups can look good. Depending on the frame and the rest of the build, one may look better than the other. I don’t think silver looks best on everything and vice versa. Like the bike above. Ugly frame I agree, but the bike would look even worse with silver components.

If you want to go for a blanket statement, silver tends to look more elegant and black tends to look more sporty. Both can be beautiful.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Well, ya know. . . Most Things Haven't Worked Out.

[old_fat_and_slow]

"Are current gruppos ugly?"

Yer dang straight they are. Campy 12 is pretty fugly IMHO, especially the cranks.

Campy C-Record was the epitome of elegance. That Chorus group you posted is pretty sweet too. I think 10-speed Chorus was the last really pretty group. Some of the 11-speed alloy Athena and Potenza groups are tolerable.

Four-arm crankarms are just fugly, sorry.