New Campagnolo Ekar coming on February 20th?

[jambee]

Just came online…

[AngryScientist]

Interesting!

I wonder what they might change about it?

Are there any leading complaints with current ekar that they might be addressing?

[GreenJersey]

Shamal in 23mm and Ekar wireless?

[jambee]

Could be wireless Ekar.

Alternatively a revamped hood with a thumb lever that drops 3 gears at a time.

[rooney]

"Double dose" would seem to imply 2x, no?

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by rooney

"Double dose" would seem to imply 2x, no?

Good point! Maybe.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Interesting!

I wonder what they might change about it?

Are there any leading complaints with current ekar that they might be addressing?

Move the thumb to where normal hands' thumbs are..

Compatibility with xdr and/or microspline freehubs.

A chain that's compatible with 12 speed chainrings.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by jambee

Could be wireless Ekar.

Maybe. In which case the lever is based on the EPS design (paddle + thumb button) rather than the WRL design (two paddles). At 3 sec. in the video you can see something that looks like the "droopy" button on an EPS lever. On the other hand, it looks to me like the paddle movement is more than you'd expect for an electronic group. But maybe you want a bigger movement for a gravel group to prevent inadvertent accidental shifts?

[/QUOTE]Alternatively a revamped hood with a thumb lever that drops 3 gears at a time.[/QUOTE]

The droopy button seen at 3 sec. doesn't look like it would be easy to move far enough for multiple shifts. But the images are blurry, so who knows?

Originally Posted by rooney

"Double dose" would seem to imply 2x, no?

At 14 seconds in the video the crankset shown is clearly a 1x.



I'll throw out this wild thought (which has a 90+% chance of being wrong): Campagnolo is introducing a lower price point gravel group, with levers using the PowerShift mechanism, in order to better compete with Shimano/SRAM in the gravel bike space. I've heard that Ekar is something like 40% of Campagnolo's sales, so with 4 different road groups (8, if you count rim and disc groups separately), it makes sense to have more than one gravel group.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

At 14 seconds in the video the crankset shown is clearly a 1x.

.

However "double dose" may imply that they've refreshed the group to have an option to go 2x as well as 1x.

Guess we'll have to wait to find out!

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

However "double dose" may imply that they've refreshed the group to have an option to go 2x as well as 1x.

Maybe. But between 3 and 4 seconds we get a glimpse of the left lever, and there is no left shifting paddle in sight.

But they are obviously being coy with what images they are showing, obviously to keep us guessing - which appears to be working, because here were are guessing.

[cmbicycles]

If that just came online, how come some guy named Angry scientist has already commented on the picture? Must be old news.

[nalax]

Originally Posted by cmbicycles

If that just came online, how come some guy named Angry scientist has already commented on the picture? Must be old news.

Doppelganger?

The hoods look different from my Ekar, possibly WRL? And they show wheels towards the end. Hoping that Old Potato will be able to convert old Ekar to WRL!

[rain dogs]

my guess would be "double dose" means two levels of Ekar... whether that be one mechanical and one wireless or two mechanical.

My money is on a lower priced 1x Ekar groupset.... although Ekar is already quite affordable.

I think what people likely want is wireless.

[Ryun]

Im guessing a 2x front crank.
I am hoping for a electric but still think for that big of a change they would drag the marketing campaign out for weeks with a few strategic leaks

Ryun

[rain dogs]

Keep in mind, if Campag introduces a 2x crank, they're more or less designing/producing a very new groupset.

They would need a new LH Shifter. They would need a FD. They would need a totally new RD. They would need a new crank. 2x13... That would be something.

I would love a Ekar 2x Rear Derailleur.