The 'Un-Official' Campagnolo Ekar thread

[hollowgram5]

Originally Posted by Bambam85

I found them through the friends at hifi wheels, you can check his insta to see the quality of his work. https://instagram.com/oglewatchco?igshid=16d7vx1b2hiht

Super glad to have found a solution, hoping it helps others

Steve

Originally Posted by phishrabbi

If he can make a 38,40,& 42t Ekar compatible rings for a DM Praxis crank, I'm *very* interested.

Originally Posted by mistermo

I'm interested, but need LOTS more info.

Originally Posted by Wattvagen

hard pass. chainrings, especially thin ones as ekar needs need to be pretty well designed, heat treated, etc. i dont want to be grinding up a hill to have my chainring fold over because some guy with a metal shop didnt fully understand the forces on a chainring. i'll stick to rings by proven players.

IMO, of course.

As the initial link is now broken because he changed his IG handle, here's an article about the guy Bambam85 was talking to about chainrings.

He's also made shimano 4 bolt spiders for eeWings, lots of ti parts for Firefly, and an oversized and pricey derailleur cage...

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/04/the-...to-redemption/

I would imagine he would make a super high quality chainring.

[Wangsanegara]

I have been using Oval Chainring for more than 8 years and I really like it very much. However, there is no option at the moment for Ekar so that I have to be creative.

Another issue is that my terrain has many climbs greater than 15% which is quite challenging to use 38T Chainring. I prefer 36T or even 34T Chain in which the option is not yet available from Campy.

So what I did is purchase a Rotor 36T Direct Mount Q-Ring and did some modification by thinning the gear section using CNC Milling Machine. The initial result is quite good as there is no dropped chain at all and it shifts perfectly.

Some pictures are attached, enjoy...

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by Wangsanegara

I have been using Oval Chainring for more than 8 years and I really like it very much. However, there is no option at the moment for Ekar so that I have to be creative.

Another issue is that my terrain has many climbs greater than 15% which is quite challenging to use 38T Chainring. I prefer 36T or even 34T Chain in which the option is not yet available from Campy.

So what I did is purchase a Rotor 36T Direct Mount Q-Ring and did some modification by thinning the gear section using CNC Milling Machine. The initial result is quite good as there is no dropped chain at all and it shifts perfectly.

Some pictures are attached, enjoy...

You are my hero. This is EXACTLY what I want-Rotor Ekar oval rings, but perhaps in a 42 or 44.

Has anyone other than EKAR begun offering a ring that will work?

[Wangsanegara]

Originally Posted by mistermo

You are my hero. This is EXACTLY what I want-Rotor Ekar oval rings, but perhaps in a 42 or 44.

Has anyone other than EKAR begun offering a ring that will work?

I did the machining at my own shop and takes less than 30 min of work. I don't know how much the Machine Cost/hour in the US, but I think it's really worthit.

Since no brand that I know is offering ovals for Ekar, and the limitation of 38T (PCD Limitation) I have to use a different brand of the crank.

A.W

[sparky33]

Ekar, I am a fan.

I swapped my Stigmata over to Ekar and got a chance to ride a bunch. Install was uneventful - mechanical 1x and threaded bb is good times.

Likes: best in class brakes, tactile shifting, smart 1x ratio intervals for dirt and pavement, comfortable hoods

Dislikes: lever throw on the shift is not idiot-proof....that's about it.

I've been on AXS, Di2 GRX and now Ekar. Di2 GRX is my least favorite because somanywires... but hood/lever ergonomics are superior. AXS shifts perfect every time and runs whisper quiet...would be my favorite if there was something between 10-50 and 10-36 and if the brakes where a touch better. Ekar is exactly what I wanted Force mechanical 1x to be, if that makes any sense.

[raygunner]

Looks great!

[RyanP]

My biggest dislike with ekar is that you have to click that thumb lever (a fair amount of pressure required) one cog at a time to get back up to higher gear. I could see it being an issue over a long ride for anybody prone to stiffness or pain in the thumb joint. Not having multi-shift ability for the thumb lever is a big oversight, imo.

On the plus side, the braking is fantastic (much better than the force axs brakes on my other bike). Hoods feel great. Shifting is crisp. It's a really solid 1x groupset, overall.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by RyanP

My biggest dislike with ekar is that you have to click that thumb lever (a fair amount of pressure required) one cog at a time to get back up to higher gear. I could see it being an issue over a long ride for anybody prone to stiffness or pain in the thumb joint. Not having multi-shift ability for the thumb lever is a big oversight.

Agreed. Would love to dump multiple gears on the thumb shift. Is that how the old Record levers used to work? I can’t remember.

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by RyanP

My biggest dislike with ekar is that you have to click that thumb lever (a fair amount of pressure required) one cog at a time to get back up to higher gear. I could see it being an issue over a long ride for anybody prone to stiffness or pain in the thumb joint. Not having multi-shift ability for the thumb lever is a big oversight, imo.

On the plus side, the braking is fantastic (much better than the force axs brakes on my other bike). Hoods feel great. Shifting is crisp. It's a really solid 1x groupset, overall.

we already had a big argument about that, maybe in the first 10 pages of this thread, a bunch of people seem to think this isn't a problem, so I guess you are wrong

[herb5998]

Steve, thanks for the feedback on your experience so far with Ekar. I find the possible ratio combinations are really good for a wide range of terrain and use, and lots of the group seem very well thought out. Excited to see some more builds using it.

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by RyanP

Not having multi-shift ability for the thumb lever is a big oversight, imo.

I am a multishift fan and can relate, but stating it was an oversight is incorrect. Ekar reportedly uses the same basic shift mechanism design as the 12 speed road levers but they added a bar in the lever to lock out the lever throw preventing multiple shifts. I am not suggesting this is better, just clarifying it was a strategic decision that cost them money, not an oversight. I would love to hear feedback from someone that removes the bar.

[RyanP]

Originally Posted by thirdgenbird

I am a multishift fan and can relate, but stating it was an oversight is incorrect. Ekar reportedly uses the same basic shift mechanism design as the 12 speed road levers but they added a bar in the lever to lock out the lever throw preventing multiple shifts. I am not suggesting this is better, just clarifying it was a strategic decision that cost them money, not an oversight. I would love to hear feedback from someone that removes the bar.

I hear what you’re saying, but IMO it can be a strategic decision to prevent over shifting and still be an oversight to not recognize that it’s more important for riders spending hours or even days on the rough terrain it’s designed for to have the option to engage that shifting mech as few times as possible. I think, for me, it would be less of an issue if it wasn’t the thumb, but I think the nature of that lever is likely to put too much stress on the joint. With that said, I’m not experiencing discomfort myself, I more so just find it slightly annoying.

[thirdgenbird]

Oversight implies that it was inadvertent is all that I am saying. It wasn't inadvertent. It was intentionally engineered out for a specific reason. Maybe it was a bad decision, but not an oversight.

[biciklanto]

Originally Posted by toby

Is there any crank-based PM option yet? I read through this whole thread and think somewhere someone said it was the same BCD as others, but that doesn't match what I've seen officially and every aftermarket chainring maker has disclaimed any intent of making one that would fit on a Quarq or otherwise, and P2M says they have no intent to make a crank that would take the Campy rings.

The issue is that EKAR chainrings have a BCD of 123mm. If they had 110mm or 130mm five-arm BCD, then it would be as simple as buying EKAR chainrings and putting them on a different power meter.

As it stands, however, that's not possible. I would guess that the easiest solution WILL turn out to be that one of the "aftermarket" outfits like Praxis / absoluteBlack / Wolf Tooth / e*thirteen / Garbaruk / StrongLight / othersI'mforgetting will be the first to offer an EKAR-compatible chainring in a normal BCD size, and that will be what makes our existing power meters compatible.

I had written some of them a few months ago and it sounded like several could be working on it or were considering it (AB, Wolf Tooth), but I haven't seen any updates since then.

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by sparky33

AXS shifts perfect every time and runs whisper quiet...would be my favorite if there was something between 10-50 and 10-36 and if the brakes where a touch better.

There is. I'm running the XTR 12s 10-45 cassette with AXS. Works perfectly.