1x Campagnolo Ekar drivetrain

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robertbb
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by robertbb

RyanH wrote:
Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:44 pm
I just got a bike in with Campy Chorus 2015+ that I'll be able to better compare but won't have time to ride that until later this weekend.
Very interested in your thoughts on Chorus 2015+ in the context of what is being discussed here.

RyanH
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by RyanH

I'll need to order a DT 240 campy freehub. I forgot how awful Campy shifting is with SRAM XG cassettes.

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RyanH
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by RyanH

Do the Ekar levers have the short/long throw adjustment like the road groupsets do? I couldn't find that in the manual.

bmCube
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by bmCube

no, they haven't

henryz4
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by henryz4

RyanH wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:02 pm
Do the Ekar levers have the short/long throw adjustment like the road groupsets do? I couldn't find that in the manual.
Just the lever distance

RyanH
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by RyanH

Does anyone else find the braking on the Ekar slightly underwhelming? I remember H11, particulary when set to the more powerful option, a notch above good rim brakes. These seem to require a meaningful amount of pressure from the hoods for a high speed stop (or just coming to a stop at the end of my 15% grade street). Force is roughly the same as my eTap/eeBrakes/Bontrager XXX combo but I almost want to say in a panic stop the rim brakes are better (they're certainly better with the Hed Ardennes turbine track).

I don't think it's a bleed issue as braking occurs mid lever and is very very firm there. I'd prefer more lever travel to modulate better through the power curve and better be able to clamp down from the hoods. Campy braking historically has been biased towards being optimized for braking from the hoods (very long throw in the drops).

henryz4
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by henryz4

RyanH wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 8:03 pm
Does anyone else find the braking on the Ekar slightly underwhelming? I remember H11, particulary when set to the more powerful option, a notch above good rim brakes. These seem to require a meaningful amount of pressure from the hoods for a high speed stop (or just coming to a stop at the end of my 15% grade street). Force is roughly the same as my eTap/eeBrakes/Bontrager XXX combo but I almost want to say in a panic stop the rim brakes are better (they're certainly better with the Hed Ardennes turbine track).

I don't think it's a bleed issue as braking occurs mid lever and is very very firm there. I'd prefer more lever travel to modulate better through the power curve and better be able to clamp down from the hoods. Campy braking historically has been biased towards being optimized for braking from the hoods (very long throw in the drops).
which disks and pads?

RyanH
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by RyanH

Stock AFS steel rotors and pads. Underwhelming is probably a bit harsh. The braking isn't bad. It's just not as good as I remember H11 being.

1llum4
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by 1llum4

There is only one model of brake pads for all Campy groupset so the difference might between the cheaper AFS Spider rotor and the original AFS rotor. IIRC there is a diffrence between the steel used for each model.

RyanH
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by RyanH

I'm thinking it has more to do with the hydraulics. My understanding is that they updated the master cylinder and hydraulics in Ekar. Ekar also is not adjustable for the pull force whereas H11 is.

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bobrayner
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by bobrayner

I'm very happy with Ekar braking; it has just the right travel and modulation for me (but that's very subjective). I've had a couple of glitches with gear indexing, but the brakes are fine.
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robertbb
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by robertbb

robertbb wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 11:32 pm
RyanH wrote:
Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:44 pm
I just got a bike in with Campy Chorus 2015+ that I'll be able to better compare but won't have time to ride that until later this weekend.
Very interested in your thoughts on Chorus 2015+ in the context of what is being discussed here.
Have you had a chance to ride that bike?

RyanH
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by RyanH

@robertbb yeah, I did and I think I was due for new cables and housing or something because I was less impressed with Chorus than I was with Ekar shifting. I have SR 12s mechanical coming so I'll once again report back but I was having issues with the sweep up the cassette and it temporarily going to the next largest cog and back down. I have this issue on both Ekar and Chorus. On the Chorus group I didn't have a Campy chain so that may definitely be a factor.

I love the thumb shifter on Ekar and I'll miss that going to SR. I missed the ability to dump multiple cogs down the cassette, that was something I probably over fixate on when I get on that bike as it takes a fraction of a second longer to shift each cog down than any other groupset (long throw and must let it reset).

Other than that, I think the single shift up on Ekar felt more precise and defined whereas Chorus felt vague.

RyanH
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by RyanH

I've had SR 12 on my other bike for a week now and SR12 feels much more defined in its shifting and clicks. It's just a little more tactile and precise feeling.

ogcsmith
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by ogcsmith

I'm doing a 3T strada build Ekar build. I'm not going to buy the recommended ut-cn400 campy chain tool (way too expensive). Anyone had any luck using a park 4.3 tool? Supposed to be compatible according to park tools

by Weenie


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