New Campagnolo Ekar coming on February 20th?

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by 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?

I think so. I wonder if the 36T and 10-48 are retro with old Ekar?

[EB]

This looks to me like an attempt at getting OEM spec. That did not work out for them with Potenza, but Ekar has (or had) a lot of goodwill and is made entirely in Europe - and unlike in the years when Potenza came out, there's renewed interest in shorter supply chains. So maybe it will work out for them.

I can see hitting a $2000 price point on an alloy (or even cheap carbon) frame with this group, provided you can find a source for cheaper N3W-compatible wheels - the Zonda GTs are probably too much for a price point build.

[nalax]

Originally Posted by 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?

You could also run a Ratio Technology 13 speed chainring on a 110BCD crank that's compatible with your frame.

[capt_velo]

Originally Posted by coffeecherrypie

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

They're still on the website

https://www.campagnolo.com/us-en/zonda/WWRZONDA.html

[rain dogs]

Originally Posted by 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)

Huh? It's a wider gear range, less costly, "GT" (ie Grand Tour) vs gravel racing groupset. It answers to all the desires/requests of the 'bikepacking'/non-race gravel crowd. Also, likely more appealing to OEM, which all the internet critics are always saying Campagnolo desperately needs to do. In fact, I predicted on page #1... they would do exactly this.

What's difficult to understand? Pretty simple really.

[Likes2ridefar]

Seems like a step in the right direction with ekar!

[Upcountry]

Originally Posted by rain dogs

Huh? It's a wider gear range, less costly, "GT" (ie Grand Tour) vs gravel racing groupset. It answers to all the desires/requests of the 'bikepacking'/non-race gravel crowd. Also, likely more appealing to OEM, which all the internet critics are always saying Campagnolo desperately needs to do. In fact, I predicted on page #1... they would do exactly this.

What's difficult to understand? Pretty simple really.

-It's 15% cheaper than the original Ekar(~$200)... insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Especially when there are several cheaper 1x12 and 1x13 offerings.
-Still uses a proprietary freehub body, and starts with a 10t cog.
-Prorietary chain that you're unlikely to find in any shop.
-An 8% increase in gear range(which surely could've been achieved on the existing derailleur).

This just doesn't move the needle in my opinion. With my notes above, I don't see what it offers that the bikepacking crowd was asking for.

I don't understand why they wouldn't just release a new cassette with that "improved" range, and a smaller chainring or two. Surely the tooling costs to manufacture this new groupset will take far longer to recoup than had they done that, and simply lowered the price of the original Ekar...

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by EB

This looks to me like an attempt at getting OEM spec. That did not work out for them with Potenza, but Ekar has (or had) a lot of goodwill and is made entirely in Europe - and unlike in the years when Potenza came out, there's renewed interest in shorter supply chains. So maybe it will work out for them.

Ekar shifters/brakes are made in Taiwan.

[EB]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Ekar shifters/brakes are made in Taiwan.

TIL. The reporting I saw back when Ekar came out was that it was an entirely European affair.

[fignon's barber]

Not bad. At an MSRP of $749 for the Zondas (in a few months you can probably find for sub $500 online), definitely fills a gap. The new cheaper version of Ekar will probably offer a less expensive cassette (Ekar cassettes sell in the Super Record stratosphere).

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by EB

TIL. The reporting I saw back when Ekar came out was that it was an entirely European affair.

And this has been a problem with getting Campagnolo groups on low-cost bikes. The rest of these bikes are made in Asia, so does it make sense to ship components from Europe to Asia, and then after assembling the bike, shipping it back to Europe (or other markets)? Some European brands have moved some frame production back to Europe (and usually just high end frames), but that's probably just a fraction of what Campagnolo needs to break back into the OEM world.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

I think so. I wonder if the 36T and 10-48 are retro with old Ekar?

I don't think the Ekar derailleur works with the 10-48 as the cage is short. Seems like I read this while skimming somewhere earlier today but confirm elsewhere as I'm not the guru on Ekar as you can probably gather.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by 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)

While I disagree with your comment about the 13th cog --on such a wide spread cassette, it makes a much bigger difference than on, say, an 11 or 12 speed 11-30/32 cassette-- I ditto the rest of your post. This is an 'update', not a revolution or an evolution. Typical Boy Who Cried Wolf marketing; talk is cheap.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by madsciencenow

I don't think the Ekar derailleur works with the 10-48 as the cage is short. Seems like I read this while skimming somewhere earlier today but confirm elsewhere as I'm not the guru on Ekar as you can probably gather.

I have a 38T chainring and 10-44 cassette on another wheel set that I use when I go "big". Not sure if I would ever need a 36T with a 10-48 option, but it is always nice to have options!

[morrisond]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

I have a 38T chainring and 10-44 cassette on another wheel set that I use when I go "big". Not sure if I would ever need a 36T with a 10-48 option, but it is always nice to have options!

Another interesting point is that the new Crank is 104 BCD according to Bikepacking.com

You would need skinny enough teeth to work with 13SP chain - but Wolftooth makes 30T 104BCD rings - just saying.

All you need is Flatbar shifters with EKAR internals and Campy has an 30 - 10-48 MTB group good to go.