Campy Athena-11

[Jeff N.]

Been taking a look at this group for one of my projects, as it's (nearly) all silver/aluminum construction would look good. But how does it work? Anyone have any first-hand experience or hear anything good or bad? Thanks, Jeff N.

[Dave]

It should work absolutely identical to any of the other Campy 11 groups, which is great, IMO. Athena uses a Chorus cassette and chain. The only other differences are aluminum used instead of carbon in several places. That will increase the weight, but not affect performance.

I think they goofed by covering the aluminum brake lever with faux carbon, but otherwise they did a good job.

I have found another error in the Campy spare parts info. They show all models of shifters as having ball bearings on the main pivot shaft, but this is not the case. I suspect that Chorus and lower shifters all have the same plastic bushing that I found on my Centaur shifters. I converted mine to 11 speed and can't tell any difference between them and my Record 11 shifters.

All ultrashift levers are sensitive to cable friction. I recommend that the right shift cable be routed around the back of the bars to minimize friction. Some bars may produce a bend that is too sharp when routed to the front. Using Campy ultra low friction housing is a must. I've also had good luck with Shimano housing and a Campy cable.

[Kines]

FWIW, I have had '09 centaur (10 speed) on one bike all season, and just built a bike with '09 Super Record. The diffirence in ease of shifting is quite noticable. Keep in mind, however, the Centaur is 10, but then again I'm told that the eleventh click can easily be added. That leads me to believe it wouldn't change the feel.

When I first got it, although it worked great, it seemed mushy. No distinct feel of snapping into gear. My fav mechanic suggested switching a part (IIRC, a Record return spring) for a few bucks, and it dramatically changed, but now is a little harsh. But still works great.

Then, I get on my new SR group and it was a OMG moment, especially since I never gave any thought to anticipating any difference between the two.

Just my 2c

KN

[Dave]

Kines...

I assume that the return spring change was done on your Centaur 10 RD? If so, was the RD a 2009 model? The 2007-2008 Centaur/Veloce models that were used with escape shifters have a weak spring that will cause problems with the 2009 shifters.

I've got one bike with the cheapest converison to 11 speed. The 2009 Centaur shifters were converted to 11 speed (with salvaged parts) and of course I have an 11 speed cassette and chain, but the RD is an older Chorus medium cage with a small modification to the cable clamp bolt to increase the actuation ratio so it shifts correctly.

The problem with converting 10 speed ultrashift levers is Campy quit selling the front rachet and index disc as separate parts (that cost $15 for both). Now they sell a major assembly for about $100 that includes everything except the brake lever, bar clamp and brake hood.

[dana_e]

Athena is tempting. Park has/will be offering an 11 speed chain tool. Plus an Ultra Torque bearing puller, which is up my alley since I have bearings that are gritty.

Anyway, 11 is the future. I sure got lots of 10 cogs left. I went from 8 Campy Ergo to Ten, since 10 was lighter/

Get the carbon crank, why not!!!!

[roguedog]

Where ya thinking of getting the group from? It seems to be a hard to find group. Or maybe it's just me.

I only see it at lickbike or on probikekit. I do see it on smaller sites or sites that I'm not as familiar with and so am less inclined to buy with.

[Jeff N.]

Where ya thinking of getting the group from? It seems to be a hard to find group. Or maybe it's just me.

I only see it at lickbike or on probikekit. I do see it on smaller sites or sites that I'm not as familiar with and so am less inclined to buy with.E-Bay. $1090 shipped for entire group. Such a deal!

[Dave]

Athena aluminum crank group is $680 (425 GBP) at Ribble.

[Jeff N.]

WOW! Thanks for the tip!

[vjp]

Athena aluminum crank group is $680 (425 GBP) at Ribble.

Is that WITH cables? That price is $200 below wholesale price here in Canada. Why would a dealer bother?

vjp

[jonjones13]

Here in the UK, the $:£ ratio makes stuff coming your way nice and cheap - and the opposite of course in kit coming this way (have to curtail my addiction for high end US bike parts for a while!)

[Dave]

The groups from Ribble should include cables, that always come with the shifters. I'd look at Shiny Bikes too.

[fatallightning]

my ribble veloce group came with campy ultra low friction cables. some parts were bagged instead of full retail packaging. no problems though.

[Dave]

Parts from the UK will sometimes come in bags, just to reduce the bulk of the package and perhaps reduce the seller's shipping cost. Ribble still charges the same 20GBP, regardless.

[thinpin]

Use Paypal with Ribble. I'm not sure if this has been resolved but there was a lot of issues with fraudulent CC stuff involving, but not the fault of, Ribble, Wiggle and one or two others. I now use the paypal option always. They have always been great to buy from and everything has been accurate and efficient.

[dannyg1]

How do you guy's get the 'groupset' page script to load? I've tried probably 100 times and nothing ever comes up, just a constant 'loading. Please wait...' message.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/Groupsets.asp

[Dave]

Maybe the Ribble site was having problems. It works for me, at this moment.

I'm using Vista.

[dannyg1]

I've tried in four different browsers now, over a period of months and from two computers. Damn thing's never loaded once including just now. I'm on a WinXP P4.

[woolly]

I've tried in four different browsers now, over a period of months and from two computers. Damn thing's never loaded once including just now. I'm on a WinXP P4.

I've had problems with Firefox, but almost always got it to load with Internet Explorer.

I bought my Chorus group from lickbike.com earlier this year, when they were meeting & often beating the UK prices. But now it seems the pendulum is swinging back the other way.

[Jeff N.]

I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on the Athena-11 group (Alu crankset) to put on my 'Nago Master Moltini. I'll give a review and pics when it all comes together. Jeff N.