The 'Un-Official' Campagnolo Ekar thread

[gpl916]

Originally Posted by Applesauce

Please. Grab any shifter you have in your garage. Push both buttons at once - nothing happens!

Alternatively, I’ll try this: everyone with faulty Campy shifters, please remove them from your bikes, clean them up, and send them to me; please include the connected brakes and derailleurs, just to be safe. Then you can buy new ones. Everybody wins!

Yeah, for what it's worth, that's not the cause. I went out to the garage and shifted through the gears with the bike in the stand and applied pressure to the finger shifter- a lot more than I would "accidentally" on a ride- and it did not cause the problem.

I think you are speaking to a lot of experienced Campy users here and I would think we don't really ride around with pressure on both shifters.

YMMV!

[gpl916]

Originally Posted by lavi

I mean wow. That 2nd shot of the filtered light through the furs....lovely. Also, the last shot, we have the same light. That thing is a weapon of a light!

The bike and build are great! Shamal Carbons (presumably mainly for the N3W fh)!!!

Thanks! Yes, Shamals were all that were available.

I love Campy wheels but I was originally going with Enve. Coincidently just after I ordered the bike, Campy announced the Ekar group. I called Merlin right away and told them I wanted to be the first one with the group on a Merlin.

I think I will splurge on a set of G23's (when they become available) for the hard core gravel and run Bon Jon Pass' on the Shamals for street/ light use.

I got the couplers as I am hoping to do some rides like the Italy Divide or Tuscany Trail.

G

[gpl916]

Originally Posted by lavi

Also, not stoked to hear this being the owner of 3.5/5 of an Ekar build. I too have used Campagnolo for a very long time. While I have experienced this crap shifting phenomenon before with the groups, I'm not excited to hear you are experiencing with Ekar.

I'm hoping they wear in and work just fine. I think the group will be great after some use. I fiddled around some more with cable tension and the double shifting seemed a little better.
g

[fignon's barber]

Originally Posted by gpl916

I got the couplers as I am hoping to do some rides like the Italy Divide or Tuscany Trail.

G

Nice! Livin' the dream. I like your style!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by gpl916

So, I received my Merlin Sandstone with Ekar a couple of weeks ago and have put about 200 miles on it. It has been a little hit and miss so far....

When it functions correctly it's pretty sweet. Frequently though, it has an issue where I want to use the thumb button to shift to a smaller ring and it won't shift. I have to move the finger lever to move the internals a little, and then I can go back to the thumb and it shifts.

I have played around with it to make sure I am fully engaging the finger lever when shifting to a larger ring and that I am not sort of half shifting on the way up the cassette and causing the problem.

The shifting in general needs a little work in that it is hard not to shift two gears at once when you are trying for one. I have to really pay attention and then get two gears frequently anyway. And while I am trying to shift just one cog, I end up with a miss shift that just causes the DR to be out of alignment for whatever gear it is in. It skips gears on the way down the cassette as well.

I have made minor adjustments to the cable tension but haven't found the sweet spot yet I guess.

I am hoping that as the group wears in, these issues will go away. I guess these are the kinds of problems you have when you buy the first version of a product.

I would be curious to know if others have these same issues?

I'm guessing smaller cog, not smaller 'ring' as EKAR is 1by.

If the shift lever blade is moved at all, the thumb button won't pull the shift disc down. Conversely, if the thumb button(which is on a little pivot), is engaged into the teeth of the shift disc, the shift lever blade won't move.

You are saying that the RH thumb button won't move down to shift the rear der to a smaller cog(higher gear)..then the shift lever blade is not fully un-engaged with the shift disc. Not fully 'centered'.

As for 'mis shift's or 'half shifts'..the design of the system doesn't really allow for that. If just shifting around causes the rear der to go out of adjustment, there is something else up. The RH shifter is VERY simple, with wee ball bearings moving in very deep 'notches'..so a 1/2 shift type thing isn't really possible. But ya never know. The group is a derivative of 11s and 12 ERGO, essentially same innards with 12 notches(13s) vs 11 or 10....I'd be surprised if something is wrong with the RH lever, but...

Who built/assembled the bike?

[Applesauce]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Who built/assembled the bike?

And did s/he make sure the derailleur hanger is straight? Most of them aren’t. (And just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s straight.)

[boywander]

You might want to check the tension after you prestress the cable/housings seats into the ferrules. Make sure the first shifts from smallest cog is dialed in.
I concurred with Oldpotatoe in that there's no in between etc. It a foolproof design really.

Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk

[R3awak3n]

if its the same that I had was a faulty shifter. The thumb button wiggled and would lock (normally the thumb button doesnt wiggle), if you touched it slightly it would not let you shift the paddle, you had to wiggle it back. It was really weird. Like I said, never had this before and when I replaced the shifter (I actually liked with that for a while because I learned to live with it and was fine) it was back to how it is suppose to be.

[Applesauce]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

if its the same that I had was a faulty shifter. The thumb button wiggled and would lock (normally the thumb button doesnt wiggle), if you touched it slightly it would not let you shift the paddle, you had to wiggle it back.

There’s a little spring in the thumb-switch assembly that causes the pawl that engages the release mechanism to disengage when the thumb switch is in the null position. I’ve seen them break, though it was a lotta years ago, and it was always from wear, never when new... The result is, this pawl doesn’t fully disengage when the shifter returns. Could be the cause.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Applesauce

There’s a little spring in the thumb-switch assembly that causes the pawl that engages the release mechanism to disengage when the thumb switch is in the null position. I’ve seen them break, though it was a lotta years ago, and it was always from wear, never when new... The result is, this pawl doesn’t fully disengage when the shifter returns. Could be the cause.

Seen a few thumb buttons get broken off and more than a few that rusted so bad they wouldn't pivot. Never saw a 'sloppy' one in the hinge but like above, might be it.

R3awak3N..was that an Ekar shifter?

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Seen a few thumb buttons get broken off and more than a few that rusted so bad they wouldn't pivot. Never saw a 'sloppy' one in the hinge but like above, might be it.

R3awak3N..was that an Ekar shifter?

It was not, chorus 2015+ shifter. I assumed Ekar is a similar system and could be a similar problem to mine. It was a very strange problem, new shifter too so not something with tons of miles, only reason I never sent it back is because I bought it from the uk. But this has been 1 shifter in more than 10, maybe even 20

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

It was not, chorus 2015+ shifter. I assumed Ekar is a similar system and could be a similar problem to mine. It was a very strange problem, new shifter too so not something with tons of miles, only reason I never sent it back is because I bought it from the uk. But this has been 1 shifter in more than 10, maybe even 20

I have thumb buttons for that lever....I have them in stock...

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I have thumb buttons for that lever....I have them in stock...

thank you OP. I actually crashed that bike a while ago and it was right on the shifter and the shifter body broke so I bought a new one and ported the lever to it.

[morrisond]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I have thumb buttons for that lever....I have them in stock...

Will the 2015+ button work on EKAR? Have you had the chance to look yet?

[biciklanto]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

It doesn't fit well. It's too narrow. It rides high on the 12s rings.

This is what I'll be keeping an eye out for: narrow-wide rings for Ekar.I have an Ekar-equipped 3t Exploro Race coming and I'm looking forward to it.

That being said, I have a 5-arm Quarq DUB power meter that I'd love to use on the bike, so it just comes down to when there are 110bcd chainrings that are compatible with Ekar.

Has anyone heard any word on that?