As I have mentioned in an earlier post, the Campagnolo Nuovo and Super Record derailleurs are among the most iconic components in cycling. They and their imitators all but monopolized the world's elite pelotons for about two decades, and dedicated (or wealthy) cyclists aspired to having a bicycle outfitted with one of those derailleurs, and other Campagnolo components.
To be fair, those derailleurs offered, possibly, the best balance between weight and durability available at the time. Also, Campagnolo offered spare parts, down to the springs on the adjustment screws. It was therefore possible, at least in theory, to rebuild a "Campy" derailleur forever.
The Nuovo and Super Record, however had--shall we say--some interesting characteristics. For derailleurs designed for racing, they were often balky on shifts between the smallest rear cogs--the highest gears. This "quirk"—which seemed essentially noticeable when 13 tooth replaced 14 tooth cogs as the standard—for which some riders compensated by shifting a split-second earlier than they might have. Others, though, complained that they lost time--or races altogether--because they couldn't get into their highest gears for a downhill stretch or sprint.
It's bad enough to lose seconds, minutes, meters or races because of shift missed due to mechanical flaws. But imagine your chance at a stage win or wearing a leader's jersey going up in smoke because someone else shifted, or prevented you from shifting, your gears.
According to a team of computer scientists (at least one of whom is an avid cyclist) from the University of California-San Diego and Northeastern University, such a scenario is entirely possible, even in elite stages like the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.
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| Earlance Fernandes, one of the study's lead authors and a computer scientist at University of California-San Diego |
The fact that computer scientists are making such a claim tells you that the problem is in electronic shifting systems. "Security vulnerabilities" in such systems, the researchers write, "can affect safety and performance, particularly in professional bike races." In other words, hackers--possibly employed by rivals of the cyclist who's attacked--can exploit electronic an shifting system's weaknesses to manipulate gear shifts or jamming the system altogether.
From my brief (and I admit, not terribly successful) racing career, I know that a missed shift can not only slow you down. It can also throw off your timing and equilibrium and lead to a crash and injuries. The researchers said as much in their report.
The Union Cycliste Internationale has seemed unable (some say unwilling) to stop cheating of the pharmaceutical type. One wonders whether they can or will do anything about the cyber variety.
