1x Campagnolo Ekar drivetrain

[octav]

I am a long time Campy User since my first road bike 16 yrs ago passing through Record 9 speed, 10 speed Chorus/Centaur/Record; 11sp SR; 12 sp SR + Record and was thinking o building a new gravel to replace my 2x12 Record gravel.
Is everyone fully satisfied with Ekar? My mechanic being a Campa fan also, said that he is not fully satisfied with Ekar(rear derailleur, ergopower) and advised me to get a cranket like 46-30 and keep using my 2x12 setup So it put me a little bit in the doubt if EKAR is ok .

[de lars cuevas]

Hiya,
I'm riding a full Ekar grouppo since April, on a Canyon Grizl. It's my first Campa group, I'm normally a Shimano guy. 46y old, quite long and slim. Not a bike packer (yet), so riding light. Also ride Enduro and road.

- Shifting is good, as long as your hanger is dead straight and you have your b-tension set correctly.
- Wear is good so far, I guess.
- 40t ring with 10-44t cassette hasn't held me back yet, not even in the Alps.
- Braking is awesome. The front caliper is leaking though, and has contaminated the pads. It's being replaced under warranty as we speak.
- Rotors remain true.
- Clutch works superbly, no dropped chains. Chain tension is quite high though.
- The feature that holds the derailleur rotated backwards on the main pivot for wheel removal is not very helpfull when new (it still pushes the cassette forward), and is failing allready. The A-knuckle is held backwards by a little cam that comes out of the left side of it. There's a burr forming on the end of it though, so it does not retract by itself anymore.
- The bike developped a terrible creak in the rear within a few weeks, which I could not get rid of. Might be in the cassette. Canyon fixed it, still don't know what they did exactly.

Wishes
- Direct mount rear derailleur option like the upcoming Sram eagle.
- Somewhat less clutch tension.
- Cage lock Sram style.
- Left side hood option with dropper lever (not for me personally).
- Oval ring options.
- 180 mm crank option.

Hope this helps. Cheers, Lars

[octav]

Thanks Lars, doesn't sound that bad as all has ups and downs. I would wish mecahnical for the gravel/cx bike so that I can do much easier bike touring on it.
40t with 10-44t seems ideal for crossing the pyrenees or the Alps
Super Record 12 I can guarantee it's really really nice and I have also Etap; Dura-ace mechanical ; ultegra di2 and it;s really nice if you like to have some feedback from the levers .

[de lars cuevas]

You're welcome!

[Vespasianus]

- The bike developped a terrible creak in the rear within a few weeks, which I could not get rid of. Might be in the cassette. Canyon fixed it, still don't know what they did exactly.

That occurs between the two cassette pieces, all you need to do is put a very thin layer of grease between the two and crank the bolt to spec, it goes away. Many shops don’t actually tighten the cassette locking according to Campag specifications.

[DrimeOser]

Yeah, or simply a little oil to go in the gap between the two parts of the cassette. Like one or tow drops. And see if it needs a retorque.

[MauriceBrocco]

I am a long time Campy User since my first road bike 16 yrs ago passing through Record 9 speed, 10 speed Chorus/Centaur/Record; 11sp SR; 12 sp SR + Record and was thinking o building a new gravel to replace my 2x12 Record gravel.
Is everyone fully satisfied with Ekar? My mechanic being a Campa fan also, said that he is not fully satisfied with Ekar(rear derailleur, ergopower) and advised me to get a cranket like 46-30 and keep using my 2x12 setup So it put me a little bit in the doubt if EKAR is ok .

I'm a long time Campy user myself. I think the biggest thing to consider about Ekar when coming from groupsets like Super Record is that it is not an Ultra Shift groupset, but instead it has the Power Shift shift logic. That means that shifting is definitely slower than on Ultra Shift groups. And particularly, if you want to shift multiple gears down the cassette, it will take much longer. To me that's not an issue.
Also, coming from Campy 11sp groups (and I'm using Campy 9sp on my commuter) I do find Ekar more sensitive to set up and occasionally, I might have to trim it during a ride. My cables are fully sealed and my custom steel frame has downtube cable tension adjusters, so I can give it a quarter of a turn during a ride. I don't mind. But it might put other people off.
I got this groupset used and paired it with Magura calipers so I got it quite cheap. But I think even at the discounted prices that you can grab it for at online retailers every now and then it's still good value for money. I can recommend it. But I suggest you try it before you buy because the experience is definitely different than Campy's road groupsets.

[gorkypl]

I am a long time Campy User since my first road bike 16 yrs ago passing through Record 9 speed, 10 speed Chorus/Centaur/Record; 11sp SR; 12 sp SR + Record and was thinking o building a new gravel to replace my 2x12 Record gravel.
Is everyone fully satisfied with Ekar? My mechanic being a Campa fan also, said that he is not fully satisfied with Ekar(rear derailleur, ergopower) and advised me to get a cranket like 46-30 and keep using my 2x12 setup So it put me a little bit in the doubt if EKAR is ok .

There is no easy answer. In my (short) experience, comparing to Record 12 which I have ridden a lot:
- Ekar is definitely more sensitive to imperfections - I thought initially it will be as usual for Campy, but it's next level here - hanger absolutely straight within +/- 1mm, B screw set up with 1/4 of a turn accuracy etc.
- Shifting is somehow less refined, lacking some finesse in the low gear range (biggest cogs in the rear) - but still shifting very fine each time.
- Overall drivetrain friction is slightly higher in the lowest and highest gears.
- You cannot upshift more than one gear at time
- As mentioned above, the small button for holding RD up when taking the wheel off is totally useless, for me it's easier to remove the wheel without using it.

On the other hand you don't need to think of FD that can break or gets clogged with mud. You have better chain retention. And a tad lower gear vs 46/30 with 11-34.

A rule of thumb that works surprisingly often is - if using knobby tires go with 1x. If slicks - 2x.
If your gravel is more towards road end of spectrum, I would use 2x12 with 46/30. I have ridden through Europe with such gearing and never lacked anything.
If there is more than occasional mud involved, you often ride on rough stuff where chain slaps like crazy or in remote locations where breaking FD cannot be easily solved - 1x has its benefits.

[Miller]

I have just rebuilt a bike with Ekar. This is a Tantan GR039 frame, notionally a gravel frame but last year I did over 6000km of road riding with it, intending more of the same this year. I wanted to try Ekar so took a slight risk to see how it would fare as a predominantly road group. After 200km I'm feeling reassured. Ekar is perfectly valid as a road group. You'd need to be pretty picky to complain about gappiness in a 13sp cassette although of course there will be plenty such people on this forum. Gearing here is 40 front by 9-42 rear. Initial impressions:
- fast and accurate shifting
- surprised to find just one downshift at a time altho I am fine with that
- well modulated and so far silent brakes.
I'm loving it so far.

[Vespasianus]

I have just rebuilt a bike with Ekar. This is a Tantan GR039 frame, notionally a gravel frame but last year I did over 6000km of road riding with it, intending more of the same this year. I wanted to try Ekar so took a slight risk to see how it would fare as a predominantly road group. After 200km I'm feeling reassured. Ekar is perfectly valid as a road group. You'd need to be pretty picky to complain about gappiness in a 13sp cassette although of course there will be plenty such people on this forum. Gearing here is 40 front by 9-42 rear. Initial impressions:
- fast and accurate shifting
- surprised to find just one downshift at a time altho I am fine with that
- well modulated and so far silent brakes.
I'm loving it so far.

Very nice. I also find EKAR to be perfectly fine for road use. I have a 40T chainring and a 9-42 cassette as well. The shifting is what is amazing to me. Maybe I have a better setup, I don't know, but it is the best shifting bike I have ever ridden - this includes other Campag and Shimano di2 systems. Just so accurate and precise.

[Miller]

Very nice. I also find EKAR to be perfectly fine for road use. I have a 40T chainring and a 9-42 cassette as well. The shifting is what is amazing to me. Maybe I have a better setup, I don't know, but it is the best shifting bike I have ever ridden - this includes other Campag and Shimano di2 systems. Just so accurate and precise.

I'm very pleased with mine. Initially the shifting was a bit reluctant to go onto the biggest sprocket under load - fine on the stand - but I adjusted B tension to get the upper jockey wheel as close as possible without interfering with the cassette and today it was perfect. I had a concern that full internal routing for a mechanical gear would affect the shift but that's turned out to be a non-issue.

So yes, Ekar is excellent!

[robertbb]

Interesting reports guys. I've heard from multiple sources that shifting is very unreliable and easily gets out of whack requiring constant attention.

That was enough to put me off (as much as I love the idea of 1x13).

[DrimeOser]

Interesting reports guys. I've heard from multiple sources that shifting is very unreliable and easily gets out of whack requiring constant attention.

That was enough to put me off (as much as I love the idea of 1x13).

Running Ekar for a year, I cannot testify to the need to adjusting the derailleur over and over again. Yes, it takes a while to get it shifting perfectly in the beginning with more tinkering involved than for Sram/Shimano. Once set, it stays that way.

[Vespasianus]

Interesting reports guys. I've heard from multiple sources that shifting is very unreliable and easily gets out of whack requiring constant attention.

That was enough to put me off (as much as I love the idea of 1x13).

I am close to a year in, with about 3000 miles, and I have not had any issue with shifting. My bike was purchased assembled (Tommasini X-Fire) from a shop, and they set up Ekar. I have not touched it except to do one thing - to add a little grease between the two cassette pieces to get ride of a creak.

This is not an Ekar thing, but with my mountain bike I found 9 speed to be more sensitive to dirt and grime than 8 speed, and the same with 10,11, and 12 speed. The key is not only to keep the chain clean but also don't over lube.

[de lars cuevas]

- The bike developped a terrible creak in the rear within a few weeks, which I could not get rid of. Might be in the cassette. Canyon fixed it, still don't know what they did exactly.

That occurs between the two cassette pieces, all you need to do is put a very thin layer of grease between the two and crank the bolt to spec, it goes away. Many shops don’t actually tighten the cassette locking according to Campag specifications.

Hiya,

thanks, heard of and tried that fix allready myself, but it did not work for me. Still don't know what Canyon did, but they must have done something right.