Oddball Campagnolo 11speed 165mm Cranks

[rolandtiangco]

I was looking for some 165mm cranks and bought an entire used Record groupset just for these:


Looking closely, I noticed that they aren’t marked “Record” like my current cranks, which have the word “Record” printed behind the “11” like so:


Looked through the 2014 Campy catalog (previous owner says the 165mm cranks are from 2014) and found this under Chorus and Record sections:


Which made me wonder what the story was here. Anyone know? I’ve read that Campy was hesitant to go shorter than 170mm. Is that why they didn’t officially incorporate the length into the Record and SR lines? Looks like the 165’s aren’t hollow. Interesting that they didn’t even refer to these as standard or CT, even though the catalog shows that both exist in the 165mm length via the chainring sizes.

I’m going to try these out either way, and I’m not too bothered by the specs or marketing graphics. Mostly just curious if anyone has any insight on these and why Campy chose to produce and market them this way.

[ntb1001]

Are they Ultra Torque or Power Torque????


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[Mark McM]

I had been looking for these a while ago, but was unable to find them, so instead I got some 12sp cranks (which are now made in 165mm). It seems that crank lengths are like hem lengths, and length preferences change over time. Back in the 1990s, people were tending to use longer cranks then they were in the previous decades, then in the 2000s crank lengths came back to more traditional lengths, and in the 2010s crank lengths starting swinging toward shorter than traditional. I don't know what took Campagnolo so long to get on board with the current fashion.

[rolandtiangco]

Originally Posted by ntb1001

Are they Ultra Torque or Power Torque????


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Both are UT

[Columbus SLX]

Originally Posted by rolandtiangco

Mostly just curious if anyone has any insight on these and why Campy chose to produce and market them this way.

So they can be bundled with any groupset and look the part, I imagine.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by Columbus SLX

So they can be bundled with any groupset and look the part, I imagine.

What he said above. They do this with certain pieces to save on SKU's. That's all it is.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

What he said above. They do this with certain pieces to save on SKU's. That's all it is.

So, the implication is that these are considered "special purpose" items with low production/sales volumes?

[teleguy57]

I would so love a set of these in 165!

[weiwentg]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I had been looking for these a while ago, but was unable to find them, so instead I got some 12sp cranks (which are now made in 165mm). It seems that crank lengths are like hem lengths, and length preferences change over time. Back in the 1990s, people were tending to use longer cranks then they were in the previous decades, then in the 2000s crank lengths came back to more traditional lengths, and in the 2010s crank lengths starting swinging toward shorter than traditional. I don't know what took Campagnolo so long to get on board with the current fashion.

Campy is smaller volume, so I can sort of understand. Are 165mm cranks even that popular among roadies right now? Like we discussed on another thread of yours, Shimano does technically offer 165mm in many models, but not all (e.g. GRX 800 doesn't have them), and they're not that easy to find aftermarket anyway.

Meanwhile, on Slowtwitch.com, I not infrequently hear people asking about 150-155mm cranks. I realize their positions are a bit different from ours, though.

[rolandtiangco]

I figured that’s all it was (Re: streamlining sku’s). Logical explanation. I thought someone might have some more interesting insider info.

I guess all it’s reflective of is their resistance to producing shorter crank arms. Wish they made the hollow and Ti versions of these, but it makes sense that they wouldn’t so they’d span a wider portion of their range.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

So, the implication is that these are considered "special purpose" items with low production/sales volumes?

Yep. It's just like the Speed/TT cranks. 1 version for the whole range. Make it just close enough to the middle of all them and market it for all of the range. They did it quite often. Shimano did too. It just saves on SKU's, molds, costs. Everything.

[Jef58]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I had been looking for these a while ago, but was unable to find them, so instead I got some 12sp cranks (which are now made in 165mm). It seems that crank lengths are like hem lengths, and length preferences change over time. Back in the 1990s, people were tending to use longer cranks then they were in the previous decades, then in the 2000s crank lengths came back to more traditional lengths, and in the 2010s crank lengths starting swinging toward shorter than traditional. I don't know what took Campagnolo so long to get on board with the current fashion.

I ride 165 cranks and Campy. I was able to source a Record 12 in 165 but not in a bundled group. I would love to get a UT Campy 10 or 11 crank with 165 arms and occasionally keep my eye out for either.

[gfk_velo]

Originally Posted by Jef58

I ride 165 cranks and Campy. I was able to source a Record 12 in 165 but not in a bundled group. I would love to get a UT Campy 10 or 11 crank with 165 arms and occasionally keep my eye out for either.

This is a retailer function.

Campagnolo at the factory level don't sell "groupsets" as such, although they originated the whole concept - any distributor / wholeslaer orders each of the groupset components as separate items.

How retailers then go on to buy those components and then "package" them for resale is entirely up to the retailer. Retailers operating on the crazy-thin margins that many of the web vendors are now, are simply uanble to support offering a full range of componets in their bundled packages.

On the wider question of unranged components, Campagnolo have a long history of producing items that are not part of the normal range - the Bora and Bullet TT cranksest, the Comp One and Comp Ultra OverTorque cranksets, the "Campagnolo" 11s chain and brakesets are good examples of that.

The whole H11 DB groupset ran common crankset, BB, brake calipers and shift levers across the CH, RE and SR ranges, with the only differntitaion being in the derailleurs.

Normally Campagnolo do this if they anticipate either relatively low volumes (165mm 11s cranks), if they anticipate a relatively short run (H11 launched with 12s just around the corner) or a market position that is more restricted (Bullet and Bora TT cranksets, OverTorque cranksets) or lastly, so that the item can easily be used across multiple groups (the "Campagnolo 11" chain).

Historically, although Campagnolo have made a range of non-series products, they have often been misunderstood in the market and even those that had the potential to generate larger sales have sometimes struggled for acceptance, as people sought to draw comparisons to the series components. Hence the H11 cranks are sometimes described as a Record-level product (since R and L cranks are hollow lay-up carbon). However, the BB axle is stainless (not used in any other range at the time), bearings were standard steel-on-steel (where Record used ceramic-on-steel USB at the time) and the chainrings, as with CH, RE and SR, were made to the same standard as "normal" SR ... hence not "true" Record characteristics.

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by gfk_velo

Campagnolo at the factory level don't sell "groupsets" as such, although they originated the whole concept - any distributor / wholeslaer orders each of the groupset components as separate items.

Ekar is available as a group isn’t it? Or do wholesalers buy the wood box and package it for their customer?

[corky]

What GFK SAID........when I bought my hydro mechanical 12 speed I just requested 165mm cranks.

Having said that I think Campagnolo have made 165 more available with the advent of 12 speed and they are much easier to source.