The new era has left me bewildered, but it’s a characteristic of extensive trends. With the launch of a new groupset from Campagnolo priced at €1,500, it makes me wonder again where the brand is heading. Campagnolo’s general direction has been erratic in recent years.
With no presence in the World Tour anymore, which was once the pinnacle platform for component brands, this new era (which is debatable in its feasibility) adds to the list of releases from Italian component brands outside of Campagnolo that have been high-end.
According to founder Tullio Campagnolo’s words, it aims to be a ‘sports luxury’ brand, which sounds good as a business model, but to me, it feels too commercial, where you can buy cycling apparel items such as belts and handbags alongside bike components.
The new era leaves me puzzled
If you’re in the market for a new groupset, why would you spend €1,500 on this new version of Ekar when you could spend €200 less and get the SRAM Apex XPLR? For €200 less, you get wireless shifting and a power meter. What’s the sacrifice? Ekar comes with a broader range of gearing options for sure, but SRAM offers a wider gear range with its cassette, albeit only 12sp instead of 13.
Taking into account both large and small chainring possibilities, Ekar could offer you 24-105 gear inches, which is certainly a robust range.
Apex XPLR could only offer 25-100, but you save money and can swap out the rear end for an eagle setup and potentially go even lower, around 21. There’s a slightly lower top-end possibility, but for climbing, spinning capability, SRAM takes the cake.
Sure, having 13 sprockets gives you more options with a single setup, but if you want more options, then Shimano is flying the flag there, and it’s doing it strongly. In my opinion, the 2x GRX is still the gold standard for a new groupset.
In comparison to its competitors, it’s a tough sell, but incredibly, contrary to the previous carbon iteration of Ekar, it’s also difficult to justify. The selling price isn’t representative, but you can get a carbon Ekar groupset for under £900 currently, so why opt for the heavier setup?
Are we here for a new carbon Ekar because…
Originally, Ekar wasn’t electronic, though the lack of electrification wasn’t remarkable at the time. Now, however, the absence of an electric shift makes it feel outdated.
The price of the new Ekar seems reasonable compared to the current offerings, making me doubt whether there’s a new Ekar EPS in the pipeline at some point, likely priced somewhere higher than the current carbon setup.
With what we have now in terms of carbon and alloy Ekar groupsets, it’s become more robust as a theory due to the lack of distinction between them. The only major difference is the material, aside from some chaining and cassette alternatives, so a major selling point in the environment is needed.
Luxury and WorldTour presence
Campagnolo’s name was synonymous with race bike components. Slowly but surely, its presence at the top level of racing has diminished. Last year, only one team, AG2R-Citroen, was riding Italian components, and there’s none for 2024.
Campagnolo has itself expressed a desire to be a ‘sports luxury’ brand. A luxury brand, working on a clear model of producing lavish items like a super record EPS, which encourages customers to buy into the brand at a lower price. The point item; a Gucci belt, Prada sunglasses, Armani jeans.
The problem is, cycling isn’t high fashion, and I’ve seen top-end bikes currently, Campagnolo isn’t the trend.
As an example of a statement, Colnago has recently started new colorways for their ‘Made in Italy’ C68 collection and opted for a complete dura-ace build for media shoots. Do customers want a ‘luxury’ groupset, or would they prefer a brand that has a proven record at the top level of racing?
The truth is, the brand hasn’t made any concerted efforts to update its mid- and lower-tier offerings (like a lower-tier Campagnolo groupset has always been available), just as competitors like SRAM and Potenza have evolved. It doesn’t resonate with customers as it’s not keeping up with modern trends.
Here’s the English translation of the provided text:
“It could be a £4.5k price tag for a groupset that makes me think the Campagnolo plot has lost its way somewhat, though it seems unnecessarily inappropriate. I already feel somewhat resentful when bike components are extravagantly packaged (can you imagine a timing belt package for your engine like an iPhone?), and so it seems that it was only Campagnolo for me, but it was.
There’s no mid-range update
Athene has gone, leaving only the Campagnolo groupset that I own. At the time, Campagnolo was so desired that I managed to sell the entire groupset wholesale in less than a week before switching to Ultegra. Due to the need for cost-effective equipment, I had become disillusioned. It wasn’t new, but I was new out of university, mechanically inept, and had broken.
Gone, too, are the days of Potenza. It was billed as an OEM competitor to Ultegra, but it never gained the necessary traction and was sent back to the big mechanics in the sky.
According to the Campagnolo website, what we have left is a mouth-watering Super Record EPS wireless, a still-very-expensive Super Record EPS, and cable-actuated versions of Record, Chorus, and Centaur.
Unlike Shimano and SRAM, Campagnolo is reluctant to transition its wireless to lower tiers. It makes me wonder who these lower tiers are for. There’s no silver alternative for neo-retro rebuild gangs (although you can still get them if you know where to look) which is embarrassing, but not a deal-breaker.
I’m now left with only one reason to choose a low-tier Campagnolo groupset, which is that you want Italian components. It’s a decision of the heart, not the head, a stubbornly nostalgic use of cliché.
Another issue is compatibility. In my time at CyclingNews, the only bikes I ever tested that retained Campagnolo features were Italian bikes, and the best ones at that. Colnago C68, Basso Diamante, and the like.
High-end bikes aren’t shipped with cassettes, and if you’re buying a high-end frameset these days, it’s likely only compatible with electronic groupsets, so you won’t be able to build a bike yourself. Centaur is still rim brake only, which cancels it out for most new bikes and only fulfills the ‘I’ve bought a retro steel frame from eBay’ void.
It’s been eight years since the last update, which makes me doubt that there will be another, meaning the parts will become even harder to obtain.
There’s no horizon
Where it once led, Campagnolo was the first among the 10, 11, 12, and 13-speed groupsets, but as the years have gone by, demand for more sprockets seems to be diminishing.
I’m sure there was a time when having more than five sprockets was pointless, but the transition from 12 to 13 seems inevitably gratuitous and one-upmanship; innovation for innovation’s sake, and it doesn’t seem to be something Campagnolo or Shimano or SRAM are following.
Ekar, on the other hand, was always a good performing alternative, and the use of a 9T sprocket necessarily expands the gear range of a cassette with a huge dinner plate, but the absence of electronics is already felt.
At the time of its launch, Shimano and SRAM were already deep into electronic transitions, and the brand’s other major releases seemed more window dressing than ground-breaking some more than others. Other releases like the €2,000 gold corkscrews seem more like parodies than anything else.
The new Bora WTO Ultra DT wheels the brand previously offered a 23mm internal width now offer a wider internal rim for a 60mm deep wheel, without claiming any specific aero advantage. In addition, the 35mm WTO Ultra model has become somewhat heavier and more cramped compared to the same-priced Zipp 353 NSW, which was launched almost three years ago in April 2021.”
I still get excited seeing a shiny Campagnolo set of gears, but in the past, I wasn’t particularly fond of Campagnolo groupsets solely because of their flashiness, but also because of the subtle nuances in their performance on the racing circuit. Now, with advancements like Super Record Wireless, they believe they’re evolving into a luxury item meant only for display.
While the other aspects of craftsmanship lean towards discarding every last watt, not making claims to a brand’s specific performance is innovative, and I feel the brand is sidelining decades of racing heritage to astonish riders unbelievably. Deep pockets.
I think I’m critiquing now because I’m actually a Campagnolo enthusiast. Last year, I toured the Campagnolo factory and was mesmerized at the Loft-Cam Museum, and seeing countless Italian classics adorned with Campagnolo groupsets genuinely thrilled me. Delta brakes, front derailleurs of brass, even the golden touch of a chromed steel bottle cage delighted me.
My own Campagnolo experience was tough, even at the start of my cycling career, I felt like I was playing with tradition. With more premium offerings moving away, where there’s no more racing brain, it means the experience is less embraced by less affluent riders, and attainable luxury and a certain je ne sais quoi (yes, I know it’s French) gauche, brash, and ostentatious.
As a metaphor for using a boat, in my mind, Campagnolo is used as the Riviera Aquarama; polished cedar and mahogany in a beautiful harmony, propelled by two V8 engines, adequately large to carry two individuals with enough space for a flowing headscarf.
You can see it and still imagine yourself. It’s marvelous, it’s somewhat subtle, it’s iconic. Now, beautifully, Campagnolo is becoming like modern offerings that Riviera delivers; fiberglass that pleases the eye better than the guard rails of the Dubai International Boat Show.
I think ending on a note of caution is important. We all see Campagnolo as part of the component landscape; it’s always been there, and it always will be. However, historic component brands of the past have fallen by the wayside and it could happen with Campagnolo too.
If you’ve ever owned an old road bike, you’ll have seen Simplex and SunTour components, but you won’t find them on any new bikes. SunTour was the premier Japanese component brand of the 70s before being overtaken by Shimano. Am I worried about fitting Campagnolo to my own bike? Certainly, but for the brand’s existence to cease, I’d be even more unsettled.
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