Road bike groupsets – Do top end groupsets make a difference?
Road bike groupsets from Campagnolo
Road bike groupsets are made up of components that make you stop and go — that is, the drivetrain, shifters and the brakes. Many companies build bike components, however the market is dominated by three large manufacturers: Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM and . Let’s look at each of them…
Campagnolo – the full component hierarchies are explored in detail.
Inspite of the differences between the brands for all road bike groupsets, all the components all do the same job, even if there are some subtle variations in how they approach their specific tasks. Let’s start by explaining the different groupsets available, then a detailed explanation of the individual components, and the differences between the brands. I’ll wrap-up by explaining the benefits of the more expensive groupsets, with emphasis on some compatibility issues.
Road bike groupsets ranges from Campagnolo
Campagnolo
Campagnolo road bike groupsets has some of the most dedicated followers in the world, especially since Campy’s components have remained largely unchanged through the years. However, Campy’s road components also come with a hefty price tag.
Compared to all the others, I found them more intuitive and positive.
Italy’s Campagnolo arrived in 1933, after founder Tullio Campagnolo’s frustrated attempts to remove a rear wheel during a race inspired him to design the quick-release lever. It is perhaps the most storied of cycling brands thanks to its association with so many of the sport’s greats — Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain… As such, Campagnolo is often the choice of dyed-in-the-wool aficionados and bike collectors.
Campagnolo products aren’t specced as original equipment on bikes as widely as components from either Shimano or SRAM because it caters only to the mid and high levels of the market.
Campagnolo offers six groupsets ranging from Veloce at the entry level right up to Super Record. The top three groupsets – Super Record, Record and Chorus – come in both mechanical and electronic versions. Campagnolo calls its electronic systems EPS: Electronic Power Shift. Super-Record EPS is used by UCI WorldTeams Astana, Movistar and Lotto-Soudal.
There are currently no disc brakes available from Campagnolo. We know that the company is working on hydraulic disc brakes but we don’t know when they’ll be released. Disc brakes have been trialled in the 2016 pro season with controversial results, but it their adoption outside pro circles continues to grow, and Campagnolo will not ignore that forever.
Entry level Campagnolo groupsets
Campagnolo groupsets start higher up the overall hierarchy than the competition, so you’re unlikely to find the Italian brand on bikes that cost less than £800 / $1,000 / AU$1,400.
The Athena and Veloce (see below) groupsets have a shift lever design that owes a lot to Campagnolo’s electronic EPS shifters’ design.
Campagnolo Veloce
RRP $529.75
The Campagnolo Veloce groupset is made from lightweight alloys. Veloce is Campagnolo’s entry-level groupset and it’s the only 10-speed option in the campagnolo line and is the same level as Shimano Tiagra or 105, or SRAM Rival.
There’s no carbon-fibre on show here, virtually everything is aluminium. Most items are a little heavier than their Athena counterparts, as you’d expect. The lightest Veloce chainset, for example, is 753g while the lightest aluminium Athena option is 736g, so they’re pretty close.
Veloce shares much of Athena’s technology, including the Power-Shift system (see below) and the Power-Torque chainset/bottom bracket design.
Veloce is offered in both black and silver finishes.
Buy if: You’re after value and you don’t mind missing out on carbon-fibre and an 11-speed drivetrain.
Campagnolo Athena
RRP $760.35 (aluminium), $983.47 (carbon)
Campagnolo has traditionally had one lever coming out of the inner face of the shifter body pointing just below horizontal in all its road bike groupsets. However, when it introduced EPS electronic shifting (see below), Campag pointed the switch much further downwards so that it is more easily accessible and simple to operate from the handlebar drops. Campag’s Athena and Veloce mechanical ErgoPower shifters are similar.
Athena is a direct rival for Shimano Ultegra and SRAM Force. It includes carbon composite components and the technical advances of Campagnolo’s top-end groupsets, and comes in either 2×11 or 3×11.
Athena is available in carbon, anodized black aluminium and silver aluminium versions. The carbon option has carbon-fibre brake levers and a carbon chainset that’s a claimed 92g lighter than an aluminium one (644g against 736g).
Unlike the higher level groupsets that use Campagnolo’s Ultra-Torque bottom bracket system (see below), Athena and Veloce use Power-Torque with a single-piece axle fixed to the driveside crank.
Campagnolo specs dual pivot front brakes across the board with a choice of either dual pivot or single pivot at the rear in each groupset. The rationale behind speccing a less powerful single pivot brake is to stop the rear wheel from swerving as a result of the back end of the bike lightening up. It also saves a few grams.
Buy to get: Campagnolo’s most affordable 11-speed groupset.
Athena Triple
Campagnolo has always been a frontrunner in terms of innovation of advanced cycling componentry and the triple crankset is yet another “first” developed in Vicenza.
In 1961 the first triple crankset was developed by Campagnolo and is available even now in the modern athenatm triple groupset; the perfect transmission for those who want to tackle the teepest climbs with the added security of 33 speeds.
Performance Campagnolo groupsets
In price terms, at least going with RRP, Potenza wins over both Shimano and SRAM’s second-tier Force. (Potenza is fourth in Campy’s line, behind Super Record, Record and Chorus.) The problem will be limited spec on complete bikes. In short, Potenza is at least on a par with Ultegra.
Potenza
RRP: $916.17
Campagnolo Potenza , Campagnolo’s mid-market group, was introduced by in 2016 as another rival for Ultegra in addition to the existing rival Athena, was intended to compete directly with Shimano’s popular Ultegra collection. It’s a mechanical group that sits between the high-end Chorus, Record and Super Record sets and the cheaper Athena and Veloce groups, and blends features from the two line-ups. It has higher-end features like a four-arm crankset with the dropped inner shift lever similar to the Veloce and the Athena groupsets, which is easier to reach from the drops but limits you to one downshift at a time unlike its bigger brothers that can downshift three cogs at a time . It comes in 11-speed gearing.
The chainset is available in 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34-tooth combinations, and gets a welcome feature inexplicably omitted from previous Power-Torque cranks: a built-in extractor.
Campagnolo’s 11-speed Chorus is just below the range-topping Campagnolo Record family. It uses light alloys, carbon fibre and titanium in its construction, and sits between Shimano Ultegra and Dura-Ace, or SRAM Force and SRAM Red.
Campagnolo updated its Super Record, Record and Chorus mechanical groupsets last year, one of the biggest changes being a shift to a 4-arm spider with a single bolt circle diameter (BCD) that can accommodate all chainring options: 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34. Campagnolo says that it has increased stiffness by bolting the chainrings directly to the new larger spider.
The rear derailleur was updated as well with a design that is stiffer, smoother and better performing than its predecessor thanks to a reshaping of the parallelogram mechanism and a change in the angle at which it moves relative to the cassette.
If you’re a fan of carbon-fibre, Chorus has enough; not as much as in Campagnolo’s higher level groupsets, but the brake levers, cranks and parts of the rear derailleur are all carbon.
Buy to get: A dependable performer with a dash of carbon-fibre.
Campagnolo Chorus EPS
RRP $2453.77
Campagnolo fans see Chorus as roughly equal to Shimano’s top-level Dura-Ace groupset with Record and Super-Record of a quality that’s way above everything else out there, although Shimano aficionados might not agree.
At the launch of Chorus EPS in 2014, Campagnolo said, “The Campagnolo Chorus EPS groupset takes a great deal of its DNA from its mechanical counterpart as it represents a more accessible version of Campagnolo performance, quality and attention to detail but delivers it in the laser-like precision package of an EPS drivetrain.”
Chorus EPS operates like Super Record EPS and Record EPS, and Campagnolo says that the shifting performance is identical.
“Its extremely powerful motors are capable of producing levels of torque without rival in electronic shifting which guarantee precise and effective shifting no matter the conditions or circumstances,” says Campagnolo.
Chorus EPS uses cheaper and slightly heavier materials than Record EPS in certain areas but the differences aren’t massive and everything functions in the same way.
Buy to get: Campagnolo’s most affordable electronic groupset.
Pro-level Campagnolo groupsets
Campagnolo Record
RRP $1971.26
The differences between Super Record EPS and Record EPS are small, and the same is true of the differences between the mechanical versions of the groupsets.
The differences between the rear derailleurs, is so minor for one example, the Super Record version uses ceramic ball bearings in the lower pulley while the Record version uses simple bushings, and the Super Record’s outer link has three holes in it to reduce weight while the Record’s has two.
There’s less carbon-fibre in the Record groupset, less titanium, and a little more steel, but they are fairly minor differences.
The chainset has hollow carbon-fibre cranks using Campagnolo’s Ultra-Torque system with an axle that is divided into two halves that connect into one another in the middle of the bottom bracket using a hirth joint coupling that have teeth that mesh together. It is a very lightweight and stiff design.
Buy to get: Similar performance to Super-Record without the price tag.
Campagnolo Record EPS
RRP $3422.53
Record EPS works in the same way as Super Record EPS and boasts the same technologies. Record components are slightly heavier, but minor. According to Campagnolo’s own figures, the Record rear mech is 5g heavier than the Super Record version, the front mech is 6g heavier, and the levers are 4g heavier. Added together, that’s still not much, so if you want higher value, go with Record.
For a triathlon/time trial bike, Campagnolo has available Record EPS bar end controls that allow you to shift from the ends of the aero extensions, with brake levers for the base bar that have more shifter buttons, allowing you to change gear easily, regardless of your hand position.
Buy to get: Cash savings for a few extra grams over Super Record.
Campagnolo Super Record
RRP $2528.79
Super Record is offered with mechanical shifting and along with the EPS components, there’s carbon-fibre and titanium throughout the road bike groupsets. The crankarms and spider of the chainset are hollow carbon-fibre, while the axle is made of titanium.
The Ergopower controls use Campagnolo’s Ultra-Shift technology that allows you to shift up (to a larger gear) a maximum of five sprockets with a single push of the lever, and down a maximum of three sprockets at a time.
Differing from the EPS system, Super Record mechanical’s thumb shifter comes out at a right angle to the side of the Ergopower control body.
Campagnolo’s recent changes to both derailleurs, allow the user to move the chain right across the cassette without it rubbing on the front derailleur cage. There’s no need to trim the front mech’s position when you move sprockets. The same is true with most of SRAM’s groupsets.
The chainset is available in 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34-tooth combinations, and it’s easy to swap between different chainring sizes because the fitting system is standard across all sizes now.
Cassettes come in a range of sizes from 11-23-tooth to 11-29-tooth. SRAM and Shimano offer groupsets with larger sprocket sizes, but nearly all performance-minded roadies will be able to get the ratios they want here.
Campagnolo has joined Shimano in offering direct mount brake calipers for 2016. These are available from Super Record down to Chorus level.
Buy if: You’d like a lightweight, super-high end groupset with mechanical shifting.
Campagnolo Super Record EPS
RRP $4,136.29
Campagnolo’s three electronic groupsets – Super Record, Record and Chorus – are powered by a rechargeable unit that’s positioned within the seatpost or the bike frame.
They all work in the same way, the EPS Ergopower controls (the shifters) featuring a lever behind the brake lever that moves the chain in one direction, and a small thumb lever on the side of the shifter body that moves the chain the opposite way. This configuration is the same as Campagnolo uses for its mechanical shifters with the exception of the shape being longer for the small thumb lever on the EPS groups. Both levers are easy to access whether you’re riding with your hands on the hoods or on the drops.
With EPS, when you want to shift more than one gear you can just keep your finger or thumb on the relevant lever. You don’t need to hit it more than once, you just hold the position. You can do the same with both Shimano Di2 and SRAM’s new eTap electronic system.Once the EPS system is set up correctly, no matter which sprocket you are in you never need to trim the position of the front mech to prevent chain rub because it adjusts automatically. Again, this is something that Di2 does as well, while no trim is necessary, automatic or manual, with SRAM eTap.
When changing gear with EPS, the front derailleur acts slightly differently depending on the sprocket you’re in at the time. If there’s a high chain crossover, the front mech performs an extra stroke compared to normal to make the shift easier. So, if you’re in a large sprocket and you want to change into the big chainring, the front mech will move further than normal to help the shift. After a moment, once the shift is complete, the front mech moves to its correct position.
Super Record EPS components are largely made from carbon-fibre and titanium to keep the weight down. The rear derailleur has a carbon-fibre front plate and cage made, the upper and lower bodies made from what Campagnolo calls “monolithic carbon powder techno polymer”, with titanium hardware.
Campagnolo insists the 2016 version of Super Record EPS is better than before due to a smaller power unit and a revamped interface unit. This allows a wireless connection between the Super Record and Record EPS groupsets and devices equipped with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and ANT+ technology.
The ‘MyCampy App’ works with this and allows you to configure exactly how the EPS functions, including the way the multi-shifting system works, when you press and hold a lever in to shift more than one sprocket.
Like all of Campagnolo’s groupsets except Veloce, Super Record EPS is 11-speed.
Buy to get: A professional-level groupset with electronic shifting but be prepared to pay a premium price.
