Have Vicenza taken leave of their senses? - Campagnolo 13-sp groupset !

[pliptrot]

https://bikerumor.com/2020/09/24/all-ne ... -13-speed/

Campagnolo appear to have swallowed their pride and are offering a "gravel" groupset - whatever that may be. It includes a thinner chain than ever before, a 13 speed cassette including a 9 tooth sprocket, a single chain ring and the -entirely unsuited to dirty conditions- ultratorque crank design. Oh, but they have put a sleeve inside the bottom bracket to protect the external bearings internally. You could not make it up.

[Brucey]

without having read your post, my answer would have been 'probably, yes'. I don't think I would have been far out.

TBH I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I was planning Campag's future; with the big Shimano beast coming at them from one direction, as well as the SRAM monster from another....

Anyway leaving my personal views aside for the moment, if it sells, it is 'the future'. If it doesn't, at least they 'had a go'.

cheers

[Valbrona]

It is called ... following the market.

[thelawnet]

I saw this nonsense a few days ago.

Gerard Vroomen thinks it's wonderful

https://blog.3t.bike/2020/09/15437/camp ... -groupset/

Some of the faint praise with which he damns this:

And personally I think a little bit of reliable old-school thrown into this revolutionary drivetrain is rather neat.

[in the context of not being electric]

Q: "Do you have any info btw how the 9 and 10T perform? SRAMs 10T was quite a fail in this regards, which is why it’s disabled by WT teams."

The blog you mention refers to standard engineering principles for industrial setups, which is somewhat comparable to a track bike (i.e. an hour record). On a derailleur system there is already a ton of chain movement while at the same time in road and gravel applications, the propulsion is nowhere near constant (engineering school will also teach you that a motor with just 2 pistons is far from ideal, but that’s what evolution gave us). And BTW,a much bigger effect than losing a couple of teeth on the cog.

The cassettes:

9-10-11-12-13-14-16-18 + -21-25-30-36-42 weighs 390g
+ 20-23-27-31-36 weighs 340g
10-11-12-13-14-15-17-19-22-26-32-39-44 weighs 415g

There is less range than a modern 12-speed (10-50, 10-51, or 10-52). But perhaps slightly more than a typical 'gravel setup', such as Shimano's 11-46t 1x setup.

[fastpedaller]

9 tooth sprocket
That's ridiculous, and even too small to be a jockey wheel!

[bgnukem]

Shimano would be proud! Engineering a groupset to wear out so quickly!!

[foxyrider]

Prediction - the SS duo will join the bakers dozen club by next spring. Specialised already have a bike out wearing the Italian gravel suit and the likes of Pinarello have prototypes at the very least (i've seen pictures via Campags FB feed & e-news).

Personally i can only see disadvantage in any 1x set up irrelevant to the number and size of the sprockets, but what do i know, my 'gravel' bike has rim brakes, 25c tyres and an old school 52/42x 12-28 7speed d/t shifter set up. pretty sure it sees more 'gravel' than 99% of those sold for the job - 60km of 100 'off road' yesterday for example. (i couldn't run bigger tyres even if i wanted to due to frame/brake clearance )

However, given the Campag set is mechanical it does bring (potentially) some new possibilities to Campaphiles who like to play the gear range/size game. Compact double up front with a suitable LH shifter and you've the makings of an excellent Alpine set up without losing the top end or needing to compromise on performance as triples invariably do.

Success or otherwise of this new gruppo lies with the bike manufacturers - if they spec it job done, if not, well the SS will continue to strangle the marketplace.

[MikeF]

I've just put 9 speed on a bike. I think I'll take a time to catch up.
Is the wheel spoking a fad or does it have an advantage?

[mikeymo]

I think I better get on with stocking up on 9 speed triple gear.

[foxyrider]

I've just put 9 speed on a bike. I think I'll take a time to catch up.
Is the wheel spoking a fad or does it have an advantage?

wheel spoking? is that something for Hallowe'en?

[Brucey]

thirteen...... unlucky for some....?

cheers

[Jamesh]

without having read your post, my answer would have been 'probably, yes'. I don't think I would have been far out.

TBH I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I was planning Campag's future; with the big Shimano beast coming at them from one direction, as well as the SRAM monster from another....

Anyway leaving my personal views aside for the moment, if it sells, it is 'the future'. If it doesn't, at least they 'had a go'.

cheers

Go on Brucey have stab at where campy should go...

I think they should concentrate in classic high end groupsets as compared to mass market stuff of Shimano and SRAM. ( Relatively speaking)

A bit like Swiss watches or Italian sports cars....

The older alloy record, Athena, chorus stuff ust looked so nice... Once they went carbon it lost the style..

Cheers James

[rogerzilla]

You used to buy Campag because it was pretty (even if shifting was poor) but it lost that selling point years ago. Ultratorque is moronic and it's laughably overpriced.

[Brucey]

I agree they are presently falling between stools and that they are missing out in that there are plenty of well-heeled riders who don't necessarily want or need 'the latest thing' and would like to buy Campagnolo because of the heritage of the brand more than anything else (i.e. what it was is perhaps just as important as what it is). Many of these riders would even prefer the older kit, eg on aesthetic grounds. Therefore I think they should start a sub-brand called 'Campagnolo Classico' or something and within that brand they make available their 'greatest hits' from times past, suitably updated where appropriate (eg to more easily support lower gear ratios, better seals on bearings etc).

If this is done in the right way it shouldn't deflect from their more contemporary efforts, in that it ought to expand their customer base and sales accordingly. The administrative overhead involved in reissuing older designs ought to be relatively small, and furthermore these items wouldn't then be subject to endless annual changes, so the brand ought to be 'cheap to run'. The potential is there alright; for every ten bike enthusiasts that might want to use classic campag kit, I reckon maybe there is maybe only one who can be bothered to trawl ebay endlessly until they have rounded up the bits they need. It would be so much simpler if they were available new!

That is just my thought on the subject anyway.

cheers

[MikeF]

I've just put 9 speed on a bike. I think I'll take a time to catch up.
Is the wheel spoking a fad or does it have an advantage?

wheel spoking? is that something for Hallowe'en?

You could be right looking at it!