The 'Un-Official' Campagnolo Ekar thread

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by sleepyfelix

So, other than the Shamals and Fulcrum options, has any other company mentioned a N3W wheel available out of the box yet? I saw Hunt Wheels are listing their gravel wheels with an N3W option but not available until Jan 21 (in the UK at least)

I heard that DT and Roval have complete wheels with N3W freehub bodies on them. Mainly for OEM/Complete bike sales. I'm not sure of who else has them.

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by madsciencenow

I emailed white a couple weeks ago and they just responded and indicated next month or two. They are waiting for Campy to approve their spec.


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WI responded to my email today and said that they are aiming for January 1.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by CNY rider

WI responded to my email today and said that they are aiming for January 1.

Thx for the update. Hopefully, this doesn’t get pushed. This confirms my decision to go grx for now.


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[CNY rider]

I just had some time to play with a gear calculator and compare my current setup with the possibilities on Ekar.
Ekar is pretty impressive.
My current gravel setup is a 10 speed Record group with TA triple 26-38-48 with a 12-30 cassette.
We ride quite a lot of steep stuff around here so I need the bottom end gearing.

I compared my current setup with Ekar, 38 tooth ring and 10-44 cassette.
It's essentially keeping my current middle ring and adding range with the cassette.
The results:
The low end gearing stays the same.
There are a few slightly larger gaps in the low/middle of the cassette but the change is not that great.
And I lose a little off the top end which doesn't matter much at all.

If they could cram a 21T and maybe a 30T onto that cassette it would truly be perfect. Maybe some day.
But it's pretty solid gearing as is.

[morrisond]

Yes it is pretty good when you start looking at how many gears you have between 18-33 Km/h - about the same number of steps as 2x12, a little more on the bottom a bit less on top - and of course just pick a different EKAR combo to get what you want.

18-33 is probably where 95% of us spend 99% of the time.

[Velocipede]

I think the main reason people have accepted it so happily is the gearing options and it's pretty darn perfect for 90+% of the people. And it's easy to swap out the chainring if you want.

[morrisond]

BTW - I'm emailing with WI as well and they have yet to to try the EKAR chain on their TSR 12sp rings so they don't know if it will work yet.

Over on Velocipede they are reporting that EKAR chain won't work on 12sp Narrow/Wide rings - but I don't know which one(s).

The issue is, is that EKAR's narrow 145.5 Q factor make it difficult to go much beyond 45-46mm tires on Steel Bikes (non-dropped stays) without really long stays.

WI makes nice options in R30 (157.2mm Q) and G30 (171mm Q) that get around that issue.

[slowpoke]

Universal has listed DT Swiss freehub for Ekar, but it's not in stock yet: https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=99572

Supposedly the DT Swiss model number is HWYABL00S2992S.

[Velocipede]

Since some asked about it recently, here's a list.

Freehub body/Wheel availability update:
-- Campagnolo: complete wheels, now. Spare parts, end of the year.
-- Fulcrum: complete wheels, now. Spare parts, end of the year.
-- DT Swiss: complete wheels- OEM, now. Hubs, now. Spare parts, now. (They listed October 5th as the release date but can't find any right now.)
-- White Industries: hubs, first week of January. Spare parts, first week of January.
-- Hunt: complete wheels, January 10th thru 24th. Spare parts, January 10 thru 24th.
-- Roval: complete wheels, now. Spare parts, TBA
-- Aivee: hubs, Thanksgiving. Spare parts, Thanksgiving.
-- 3T: complete wheels, end of the year. Spare parts, end of the year.
-- Chris King: TBA. They haven't even agreed to make them.
-- Reynolds: complete wheels, TBA. Spare parts, TBA
-- ENVE: complete wheels(DT hubs), November. Spare parts(DT hubs), November.
-- Zipp: complete wheels, TBA. Spare parts, TBA
-- Mavic: TBA.

This info is based on the latest I was told. Of course things may change.

[sw3759]

thank you Velocipede for all the Ekar updates and info much appreciated sir!

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by morrisond

Yes it is pretty good when you start looking at how many gears you have between 18-33 Km/h - about the same number of steps as 2x12...

It looks to me like you get 8 gears in that range with a 2x12 setup (48/32t, 11-34), but only 5 gears with Ekar (40t, 9-42).

[morrisond]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

It looks to me like you get 8 gears in that range with a 2x12 setup (48/32t, 11-34), but only 5 gears with Ekar (40t, 9-42).

Unless you are swapping between your small and little Chainrings on Chorus you won't get 8 and many are very close to what you get on the Big ring with bigger in the back. With 2 cogs left in the back on the Big Ring in Chorus (where many of us would probably shift) you are at 20.1Km/h.

Go with EKAR 38 9-42 and you get almost the same on top @80 RPM 38mm Tire 44.2Km/h vs Chorus 48/11 = 45.7, and 9.5km/h on the bottom ratio vs 9.8 for Chorus.

EKAR has Six steps from 38/12 - 38/21 33.1 km/h - 18.9 km/h, Chorus 6 as well from 48/15 - 48/25 33.5Km/h - 20.1km/h. Slightly off but EKAR only .8km/h wider over 6 steps.

If you don't need big top end EKAR 38 10-44 gives you 7 steps from 33.1 - 18.1 Km/h as it has that 15tooth Gear.

You still get 39.8 Km/h at 80RPM ( a lot on Gavel) - almost 50Km/h at 100 rpm.

How often do you get those conditions other than descending when you can just sit and enjoy the ride anyways?

The only time I really wanted more than 46/11 on my gravel bike is when I was on Maui on this long 5-6km very mild downhill (asphalt) grade with an 30+km/h tradewind pushing me along.

Other than that give me more gears in the middle.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by morrisond

Unless you are swapping between your small and little Chainrings on Chorus you won't get 8 and many are very close to what you get on the Big ring with bigger in the back.

Well, that's kind of the point of a 2x setup – you have (and use) two chain rings in order to have smaller steps.[/QUOTE]

[dddd]

Originally Posted by morrisond

...The issue is, is that EKAR's narrow 145.5 Q factor make it difficult to go much beyond 45-46mm tires on Steel Bikes (non-dropped stays) without really long stays.

WI makes nice options in R30 (157.2mm Q) and G30 (171mm Q) that get around that issue.

Until a sensible way of adjusting the Q and chainline becomes incorporated into modern, higher-end cranksets, making one with the right Q and chainline means first deciding how big of a tire that the chain must clear.

I sure wouldn't want a very wide Q and chainline unless my own choice or tire width absolutely required it.

Can't satisfy everybody with any fixed bb spindle width!

[morrisond]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Well, that's kind of the point of a 2x setup – you have (and use) two chain rings in order to have smaller steps.

[/QUOTE]

Okay - so name the ratios you get between those two speeds then with Chorus, in Km/H, Gain Ratios or whatever. How do you get 8 unique steps that aren't duplicating others on the big ring?