New Campagnolo Ekar coming on February 20th?

[robertbb]

Originally Posted by capt_velo

I think it will be a wireless Ekar.

If so, the electronics and buttons will be a huge departure from what we saw with Super Record Wireless.

Freeze-framed, you see the shift paddle behind the lever loops around and connects underside the hood just as Campy's mechanical shifters have for decades. Their wireless paddle design on Super Record Wireless looks nothing like that, nor do the paddles themselves.

[vespasianus]

All I know is that whatever Campagnolo introduces today, the people on paceline will continue to whine about Campagnolo, be disappointed and wonder how they are still in business.

[bicimechanic]

On the website with no other info so far…

[Zackus]

just released:

https://www.campagnolo.com/us-en/liv...ollection.html

as predicted in my last post compiled from everyone's various tips. New groupset and low end gravel wheelset.

compared to the Bora released, I'd say they pivoted, and comparatively underpromised and overdelivered.

I am pleased, especially so since it doesn't invalidate the regular Ekar group and Shamal wheelset I bought in the last week.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by bicimechanic

On the website with no other info so far…

Well that's not wireless. While I would like wireless with wider as an option, I'd be a bit surprised to see campy go this direction given that Shim who arguably sells much more in the gravel market opted not to do di2 w/ their 12 speed GRX release and if memory serves they mentioned the rational behind this was that most (75:25 split or somthing like this) of their GRX sales are mech.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by Zackus

just released:

https://www.campagnolo.com/us-en/liv...ollection.html

as predicted in my last post compiled from everyone's various tips. New groupset and low end gravel wheelset.

compared to the Bora released, I'd say they pivoted, and comparatively underpromised and overdelivered.

I am pleased, especially so since it doesn't invalidate the regular Ekar group and Shamal wheelset I bought in the last week.

I'm also happy with the release. Looks like this might fit my gravel bike. Now I need to decide if I stick with mech or move to SRAM AXS. Decisions!

[charliedid]

I wonder if they are looking to get Ekar on a pile of bikes as OEM group sets? Someone from Italy who manages North America was in our shop a month ago but I was off that day. The convo may have been pointing that way if not explicitly.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I'll throw out this wild thought (which has a 90+% chance of being wrong): Campagnolo is introducing a lower price point gravel group, with levers using the PowerShift mechanism, in order to better compete with Shimano/SRAM in the gravel bike space. I've heard that Ekar is something like 40% of Campagnolo's sales, so with 4 different road groups (8, if you count rim and disc groups separately), it makes sense to have more than one gravel group.

Originally Posted by Mark McM

The new aluminum crank would make sense. The current Ekar crank is essentially the same as the Chorus sub-comact crank (carbon, same shape, same BCD), which only made half-sense: The smaller BCD of the Chorus crank was appropriate for a 1x drivetrain; but Campagnolo's road cranks have a narrow width (low Q factor) which doesn't leave much room for the fat tire clearance on most gravel bikes. A new aluminum crank would be both less expensive, and opens the door for a new crankarm shape with a wider Q and more tire clearance. Now the question - what BCD? The same as current Ekar? The new BCD from SR WRL? Or a whole new BCD? Either the current Ekar or SR WRL BCDs would work fine, but since Campagnolo has a history of making up new BCDs at the drop of a hat, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a whole new BCD.

Looks like I nailed it - lower price gravel group, mechanical shifters (yet to confirm if they are PowerShift, but no evidence yet that they aren't), and new aluminum crank with a wider Q-factor and new BCD.

[nighthawk]

Some of the changes for Ekar GT that I’ve been able to
glean from various online sources: cranks are now aluminum with 36T option, new 10-48 cassette, redesigned hood covers for better grip, and redesigned rear derailleur. Couldn’t find much detail on changes to RD, but looks to be a little heavier and has a larger pulley. Supposed to be easier to set-up and maintain.

[Baron Blubba]

I don't think a 15% price decrease is much to get excited about, but I like the 44T x 10-48 combo.
I'm currently running 48 x 10-44 on a Melee, which is 99% road use at the moment, and it's *superb*.
Inverting that for a gravel bike and adding a 13th cog makes perfect sense for a fast gravel rig.
And it's nice to have nice wheels available in the sub $1000 range.

[Dave]

Seems reasonable since GRX mechanical is working for Shimano. They left out the sprocket progression for the 10-48. The 10-44 is very similar to SRAM's 10-44, but has the 12 since there's 13 sprockets.

I didn't expect a 2x version because it requires a very long RD cage and a 2x crankset. I've ridden my 2x 46/30 Shimano GRX 12 speed crank with SRAM 10-44 several times now. It's shifts the AXS chain just fine. This setup requires SRAM's sequential mode to avoid the big/big, or an extended range RD cage that costs $210.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/campa..._-NCPgHRQlIxyY

[coffeecherrypie]

Do rim brake Zondas still live or are these disc Zonda GTs the end?

[EB]

(Delete)

[madsciencenow]

so am I thinking about this right that I could buy an ekar group and swap out the crankset with the wider Q factor Al option and I'm good to go?

[Upcountry]

I simply don't understand how the bosses at Campagnolo are making some of these decisions... And how the marketing department is okay with trying to spin every product release as something revolutionary... The pricing wasn't the issue people had with Ekar. At launch it was head to head with GRX Di2, arguably high, but that resolved it self in the years since its release, as evident by the availability at about half of MSRP.
In my summation, they're about three years behind the rest of the industry, and three years in bike terms is a whole generation.
(yes I know they have a whopping one extra gear over other brands, but lets be frank, this is a talking point rather than a feature or benefit)