Campagnolo has released a more affordable version of its Super Record Wireless groupset, priced to compete with Shimano Dura-Ace and with a matt black finish in place of the original’s gloss coating. The brand says that changes in materials used in the Super Record S groupset add around 150g to its weight over the premium version, which will still be available.
Campagnolo has also added three new chainsets, with standard gearing of 52/36t, 53/39t and 54/39t and an 11-32t cassette, adding to the lower tooth-count chainsets and cassettes that were available with Super Record Wireless at launch.
The new Super Record S Wireless groupset is priced at £3,525.90 / $4,299 / €3,990.
There’s also a new black-on-black edition of the Bora Ultra WTO and Boro WTO wheelsets, priced at £3,300 / $4,149 / €3,800 and £2,400 / $2,949 / €2,700 respectively, and a matching matt black HPPM power meter, although the price for this isn’t yet available.
The groupset looks very pretty. I like that the smallest officially supported crank is 45/29, a breath of fresh air that allows more mere mortals to enjoy climbing. The UI looks very simple, too, a nice combination of ideas from Shimano and SRAM: if I understand the diagram in the product photo of the app correctly, with the right you shift to a harder gear or chainring (mimicking the movement of the derailleurs), with the left to a lighter gear. The Top buttons are for the front derailleur, the larger bottom buttons for the rear derailleur. Smart.
I have not checked prices, but I am sure I don’t even need to bother. Too rich for my blood. Plus, I’m a 1x guy.
This sounds awesome for a gravel gearset if it could be paired with say a 10-36 or something like that. I still think that Campy is hurting in the wireless market and this is still priced high.
In an age where cyclists have been calling for better value bikes and components, this is a breath of fresh air, a veritable people’s groupset, basically what 105 Di2 was trying to be. This will fly off the shelves, mark my words.
I guess it is cheaper than Super Record non-S wireless … so it has that going for it. Now your average dentist can afford the S version and can compete with his rich dentist buddy who bought the non-S version.
If I had the money and wanted 2x, I’d still prefer the cheaper S version, it looks nicer and the button layout would likely work better for me.
OK, so obviously my quip about the people’s wireless groupset was a joke.
This is a fine groupset, but looking at it logically, it isn’t better than Dura Ace or Red. Campy once deserved a price premium, arguably. But you had to go buy Campy spares, and not many bike shops stocked the spares or worked with Campy regularly. These days, even fewer shops do the latter. Campy isn’t lighter. It definitely doesn’t perform better. There’s no objective reason to recommend it.
And the chainring situation is interesting. They were supposed to have gone to SRAM style gearing. Except the pros objected. That’s fine, there’s no WorldTour teams riding it. If they wanted to make the switch, they should have stuck with it. Now they’re offering 6 total chainring combos. Per crankarm length. I assume this means that they’re not offering 165mm cranks with this new group, but that’s probably fine because the sort of people who would seek out shorter cranks don’t overlap much with Campy users.
I guess I was anticipating something priced at the Ultegra Di2 or Force AXS level. Ekar was a good move, Ekar GT was also a good move, but we were waiting for some sort of electronic Ekar. Given their market position, I think Campy needs a bunch more outright good moves, and this is not one of them. They’re already a heritage brand. People who are into their heritage are aging out. They are not generating new heritage. This is a problem.
And by the way, I’ve used Campy since the 2000s. I’m not a super-fan, but I am a fan. Or maybe I was a fan, I dunno.
I’m surprised that Campagnolo is still in business. It’s rare to see Campy on stock bikes in the US. I can’t remember the last time I saw them on bike.
And they’re not in the Tour, which is still weird for me to think of a TdF without Campy.
How long can they stay in business if 95-98%% of all bikes don’t ship with Campy?
Campag has not been spec’d on stock bikes for a very long time…even in their heyday, it was rare since they still produce their components in the EU. Since bike production largely happens in Asia, the logistics of soec’ing Campag make it unrealistic.
You can still find bikes in Europe with it soec’d however.
Campag has largely accepted and welcomed their role in the industry…as long as they size their company correctly based on that, they should be fine.
