The 'Un-Official' Campagnolo Ekar thread

[wernerherzogsid]

The critical components of a bicycle should carry the names of lesser known mountains and hills more often than is currently used by the manufacturers of these parts. I applaud the use of this name.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by jpw

What's the max gearing range % for Ekar?

Depends on how you define range.

9-46 cassette gives either 466% (42/9) via ratios of largest gear divided by smallest gear, or 366% for total gear ratio span.

Helpful article on the second method:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/percentage.html

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by weiwentg

…lever adjustment…

This is excellent. Here, I have to say that Campy has been relatively late at catching up with SRAM, then Shimano at lever adjustability. After going from Campy 10 to current Ultegra, I would not consider a groupset whose levers weren't adjustable at all. It's a relatively small thing, but when the other two manufacturers offer it, and there are a lot of small female riders who really need this, it was always a major negative in my mind.

Slight drift, but I've been disappointed with the reality of this implementation on my Chorus 12 setup. When I've used the shorter reach setting, sometimes the RD shift lever hangs up on the brake lever on its return after a shift, not returning fully and thus preventing a subsequent shift until I manually move the lever fully outboard. I don't think this is an installation failure on my part, but of course it's possible; could also be a manufacturing defect of this particular right ergo.

[rain dogs]

What is the BCD on these cranks? 135mm? That can't be.... Will it be possible to fit a smaller diameter aftermarket chainring on them? 110bcd has been in Campagnolo's wheelhouse for decades with compact. THey even have down to 32 teeth in road, no?

Sure, they don't make a narrow/wide chainring at the moment, but if the BCD isn't from the 1990's in theory we may see Wolftooth or others make a Ekar BCD smaller ring, no?

34? 32?

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by rain dogs

What is the BCD on these cranks? 135mm? That can't be.... Will it be possible to fit a smaller diameter aftermarket chainring on them? 110bcd has been in Campagnolo's wheelhouse for decades with compact. THey even have down to 32 teeth in road, no?

Sure, they don't make a narrow/wide chainring at the moment, but if the BCD isn't from the 1990's in theory we may see Wolftooth or others make a Ekar BCD smaller ring, no?

34? 32?

but why would someone want such a small ring? I think 38 is a great small ring when you have a 44T in the back.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by rain dogs

What is the BCD on these cranks? 135mm? That can't be.... Will it be possible to fit a smaller diameter aftermarket chainring on them? 110bcd has been in Campagnolo's wheelhouse for decades with compact. THey even have down to 32 teeth in road, no?

Sure, they don't make a narrow/wide chainring at the moment, but if the BCD isn't from the 1990's in theory we may see Wolftooth or others make a Ekar BCD smaller ring, no?

34? 32?

As velocipede stated earlier:
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...87&postcount=3

Originally Posted by Velocipede

The BCD, it's the same as the Chorus.

So 96 BCD which is well small enough for tiny rings.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

As velocipede stated earlier:
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...87&postcount=3


So 96 BCD which is well small enough for tiny rings.

The smallest chainring that will fit on a 96mm BCD should be about 30 teeth, although the smallest Campagnolo makes is 32. If I recall correctly, the outer BCD is 123mm, for which the minimum chainring size would be about 37 teeth.

It's interesting that both Chorus 12spd and Ekar should use what appears to be the same crank, and also that this crank seems to have a neither-here-nor-there spec. The crank has only one set of bolt holes (that are at too large a BCD for an inner ring), so when used as a double road crank, they have to bolt the inner ring onto the outer ring. When used as 1x gravel crank, it has a very narrow Q factor, which would seem to put a limit on tire width.

[jpw]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

As velocipede stated earlier:
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...87&postcount=3


So 96 BCD which is well small enough for tiny rings.

What's the Chorus BCD?

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by wernerherzogsid

The critical components of a bicycle should carry the names of lesser known mountains and hills more often than is currently used by the manufacturers of these parts. I applaud the use of this name.

That's what duct tape and a Sharpie are for.

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by jpw

What's the Chorus BCD?

The same. See my prior post, I am nearly sure it’s the same crank. The chorus crank has a small ring that bolts to the large ring.

[jtbadge]

BikeRadar says 123mm BCD.

Also there's a new bottom bracket standard and I think I saw mention of a redesigned hirth joint. Haven't seen word if the BB is backwards compatible, either, so kinda doubt it's the same crank.

[FriarQuade]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

And for us mechanics out there, the C13 chain will work on the 11 speed chain tool just as the 12 speed does!

I've heard otherwise. The chain doesn't fit in the 11/12spd tool from Campagnolo. However it fits in ours (Abbey) and a couple others. I was told yesterday by a factory tech they are going to revise the chain tool to work with at least 12 and 13spd.

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by jtbadge

BikeRadar says 123mm BCD.

Also there's a new bottom bracket standard and I think I saw mention of a redesigned hirth joint. Haven't seen word if the BB is backwards compatible, either, so kinda doubt it's the same crank.

It could be the exact same crank arm attached to a different spindle.

Based on the drawings in the review I linked, it appears to be exactly the same arms and spindle. The change looks like a new outer seal that covers part of the bearing which necessitates new cups.

My money says you could pull the bearings and seals off a chorus (or any UT) crank and update it to Ekar spec.

They basically went from a flat outer seal to a labyrinth seal.


They appear to be from the exact same carbon mold, it explains why they made a double chainring with a BCD larger than the small ring, and both share the same q factor. They certainly could be different, but I’m skeptical. The existence of Ekar explains the oddity of the chorus design and the existence of Chorus explains the native offset Ekar chainring.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Slight drift, but I've been disappointed with the reality of this implementation on my Chorus 12 setup. When I've used the shorter reach setting, sometimes the RD shift lever hangs up on the brake lever on its return after a shift, not returning fully and thus preventing a subsequent shift until I manually move the lever fully outboard. I don't think this is an installation failure on my part, but of course it's possible; could also be a manufacturing defect of this particular right ergo.

I used two chorus 12 groups for over a year with the short reach set and had no such problem.

[fignon's barber]

Originally Posted by sokyroadie

What is the "Ass Saver"

It's a fake $300 receipt that comes in the groupset box. You show this document to your spouse.