Campagnolo 2011-Interbike

[oldpotatoe]

Well, gotta admit, after only 3 days at Interbike(yawn, unless Asian carbon is your thing), no place like home. Place still stinks but......

Campagnolo Athena 11s levers(also Centaur and Veloce) are Xenon based guts and one higher gear aside have a very light feel. A characteristic that isn't even favored by the guys from Campagnolo NA I talked to. All aluminum is nice, PT crank is very well made but the shifters 'feel' vague. I guess the only up side is that they are a pretty good deal(all aluminum as well).
Dave was correct...btw-

SR thru Chorus are 'clickier', feel really good, on par with older, 2008 and older levers-Forza! Except for the ti SR spindle, all carbon rear derailleur and some dual pivot rear brake options, nothing new. Cross cranks are interesting but just road PT cranks with better CR options.

No BB30 crank altho Campagnolo does now have adapter cups for pressfit BB30, already had adapters for BB30..no dedicated crank tho nor did shimano. No electronic Campagnolo altho in development and use since 1998. Won a bottle of scotch from a shimano guy for that one(he said yes, I said it wouldn't be at te show).

The show was awash with Asian carbon with Moots and Waterford the only 2 metal bike makers of note. They were both very busy. There was even a Ford Truck booth, great big one, 3 cars/trucks, LOTS of Ford branding, a few bikes....but looked like a car show display(some sarcasm intended). Right next to Moots.

shimano for 2011 is very nice as well. XTR and 7900/6700/5700 is so refined, both in looks and function. I know they are responding to sram on the MTB side but the stuff looks like it has been in development for much longer.

Nothing new for sram, lots of noise and yelling..carnival atmosphere but not a lot of substance.

Saw Frankie Andreau, he says it's gonna get real interesting in the coming months. He has been contacted. Met Bobby Julich, he seemed angry..almost immediately said he was leaving SaxoBank, now a minor director..Riis losing more people. Also Jens Voigt..these guys look so big on TV, little guys..riding with teeny guys. Bob Roll also, he looks very fit.

Eddy was there as well, best of show. Gita has a really big coffee table book of nothing but Eddy photos..gotta get one but I think they said 300 Euro or free with the high end Merckx. No asian Merckx's for me but will buy the book.

All in all, pretty under whelming. Already got my 'Anaheim sucks, move Interbike to Denver' sticker.

[Ahneida Ride]

The show was awash with Asian carbon with Moots and Waterford the only 2 metal bike makers of note. They were both very busy.



NAHBS rules ....

Big enuf to peruse ...small enuf to digest.

[bobswire]

Well, gotta admit, after only 3 days at Interbike(yawn, unless Asian carbon is your thing), no place like home. Place still stinks but......

Campagnolo Athena 11s levers(also Centaur and Veloce) are Xenon based guts and one higher gear aside have a very light feel. A characteristic that isn't even favored by the guys from Campagnolo NA I talked to. All aluminum is nice, PT crank is very well made but the shifters 'feel' vague. I guess the only up side is that they are a pretty good deal(all aluminum as well).
Dave was correct...btw-

SR thru Chorus are 'clickier', feel really good, on par with older, 2008 and older levers-Forza! Except for the ti SR spindle, all carbon rear derailleur and some dual pivot rear brake options, nothing new. Cross cranks are interesting but just road PT cranks with better CR options.

No BB30 crank altho Campagnolo does now have adapter cups for pressfit BB30, already had adapters for BB30..no dedicated crank tho nor did shimano. No electronic Campagnolo altho in development and use since 1998. Won a bottle of scotch from a shimano guy for that one(he said yes, I said it wouldn't be at te show).

The show was awash with Asian carbon with Moots and Waterford the only 2 metal bike makers of note. They were both very busy. There was even a Ford Truck booth, great big one, 3 cars/trucks, LOTS of Ford branding, a few bikes....but looked like a car show display(some sarcasm intended). Right next to Moots.

shimano for 2011 is very nice as well. XTR and 7900/6700/5700 is so refined, both in looks and function. I know they are responding to sram on the MTB side but the stuff looks like it has been in development for much longer.

Nothing new for sram, lots of noise and yelling..carnival atmosphere but not a lot of substance.

Saw Frankie Andreau, he says it's gonna get real interesting in the coming months. He has been contacted. Met Bobby Julich, he seemed angry..almost immediately said he was leaving SaxoBank, now a minor director..Riis losing more people. Also Jens Voigt..these guys look so big on TV, little guys..riding with teeny guys. Bob Roll also, he looks very fit.

Eddy was there as well, best of show. Gita has a really big coffee table book of nothing but Eddy photos..gotta get one but I think they said 300 Euro or free with the high end Merckx. No asian Merckx's for me but will buy the book.

All in all, pretty under whelming. Already got my 'Anaheim sucks, move Interbike to Denver' sticker.


Cool, thanks for the review.

[Jason E]

Got any goof pics from the show?

See Serotta there?

[oldpotatoe]

Got any goof pics from the show?

See Serotta there?

No pix, sorry...did I mention the Ford display??

[Lewym]

Campagnolo Athena 11s levers(also Centaur and Veloce) are Xenon based guts and one higher gear aside have a very light feel. A characteristic that isn't even favored by the guys from Campagnolo NA I talked to. All aluminum is nice, PT crank is very well made but the shifters 'feel' vague. I guess the only up side is that they are a pretty good deal(all aluminum as well).
Dave was correct...btw-



Thanks for the report, oldpotatoe. What about the new 10-speed? Same "vague" feel as the new Athena? :mad:

[oldpotatoe]

Thanks for the report, oldpotatoe. What about the new 10-speed? Same "vague" feel as the new Athena? :mad:

Yes, same shift innards, Athena is just 11s. I didn't ask if Athena and below are triple compatible like the old QS/Escape/Xenon were..lots of clicks in the LH lever, bet they are. Course if ya ask Campagnolo, they will say the Comp crank/FD/RD is '10s only', not for Athena but that is bullocks.

[weaponsgrade]

thanks for the report. you see anything about the 650b scene?

[guyintense]

No pix, sorry...did I mention the Ford display??

Well you did mention the Ford display but you didn't mention that there were 4 very cool Serottas displayed. Funny, I didn't notice the Fords.

[oldpotatoe]

thanks for the report. you see anything about the 650b scene?

Nope but didn't really look either, for 650b..

[oldpotatoe]

Well you did mention the Ford display but you didn't mention that there were 4 very cool Serottas displayed. Funny, I didn't notice the Fords.

I think it would have been nice to at least have Serotta on the huge sign hanging over the whole thing(FORD TRUCK). A casual observer would assume it was a Ford display with some bikes...like seeing a bicycle at the Thule display, mostly Thule.

[AngryScientist]

good wrap-up, thanks.

[palincss]

NAHBS rules ....

Big enuf to peruse ...small enuf to digest.

Yes, but not much Asian carbon, if that's your thing.

[Lionel]

Do we know if the old SR can be retrofitted with the new internal for a firmer feel?

[soulspinner]

Thanks for the report. Im a Campy fan and appreciate the time for this post. Keep the rubba down, :beer:

[brownm68]

Thanks for the info :)

[oldpotatoe]

Do we know if the old SR can be retrofitted with the new internal for a firmer feel?

Hard to say but probably but the differences are small, not worth the $ IMO.

[blschaefer1]

Interesting - thanks very much for the review.

So, if I understand you correctly, the 2011 Chorus through SR has a more 'clicky', notchy feel than the 2009-2010 stuff?

[oliver1850]

.

[retrofit]

Good synopsis. Thanks. Apart from the Campy info I found Julich's remarks to be of interest. Appears a lot more is going on behind the scenes at Saxo than meets the eye if Julich is unhappy with working for Riis.

[Lionel]

Hard to say but probably but the differences are small, not worth the $ IMO.
This piece is going to be quite cheap.

[terrytnt]

So what's the word on 11 Revolution.... thinking of purchasing the new Campy Revolution 11?

[Ralph]

RE the new Campy stuff.....I'm in a minority I guess.....but I don't care about dumping 3-5 cogs at a shift, or upshifting several at one time, etc, I never ride that way. I do care about the quality of manufacturing, how it looks, how it shifts, how long will it last, and is it repairable....although I've never really used any one piece long enough to wear it out.

[oldpotatoe]

RE the new Campy stuff.....I'm in a minority I guess.....but I don't care about dumping 3-5 cogs at a shift, or upshifting several at one time, etc, I never ride that way. I do care about the quality of manufacturing, how it looks, how it shifts, how long will it last, and is it repairable....although I've never really used any one piece long enough to wear it out.

Gotta agree. I have set up many bikes with the Escape/Xenon based stuff and it works really well, is reliable, nicely made, great price points. Another post talks about what is to be 'avoided' and what is 'not recommended', thinks that's out of place considering what it IS and what it is compared to, other group wise. All aluminum 11s group about at the price of 5700 or sram rival?...think I'll put that on my stainless Waterford....not any shimano/sram, thanks.