Climbing the walls with Campy--34 x 32 with Potenza/2016 Record

[Tim Porter]

At 64, I'm facing reality, a little. I've been a Campy guy since 1973 when I raced as a college dropout for a couple years. On trips to Mallorca, Italy and California, I've been pretty happy with a Campy compact setup of 34/50 and a 12-29 cassette, but have experimented with 34 x 32 on a DuraAce bike and it's the bomb for really long, really steep climbs.

So when Potenza came out I thought I'd be my own guinea pig again and see if the new 11-32 cassette and a Potenza RD would work with the 2016 Record on my new Hampsten carbon bike. The chain is a new Chorus chain, btw. Peter (Old Potato) and Justin from Signature both thought I'd be okay if the levers are the newest Campy generation (and they appear to be absolutely correct). I think I read that Campy may come out with Chorus and Record mid-cage RDs to go with their gruppos. Would be nice, but the key would be to see if they'd work with the older levers.

Cliff's Notes: Works perfectly on the repair stand:

[IMG][/IMG]

Sure, it's a bit fugly, and perhaps some snarky bike dudes will think it's demeaning, but I'm psyched to try it on the road, which will most likely be Sunday.

Some folks on here were curious. I'll report back when the field testing has begun. This looks like it could be the bike I take to Mallorca and Italy this year!

HTH, Tim