Campagnolo 11 Speed Groupsets

Campagnolo are launching this years 2009 groupsets. One new development likely to catch the eye, is their 11 speed groupset for the Chorus and Record groupsets. This will give a standard road bike 22 gears and gives Campag bragging rights over Shimano.

Campag claim that the new cassettes will still fit existing wheels and take up the same space as a 10 sprocket. They have managed to get an extra sprocket on by reducing the width of the chain from 5.9mm to 5.5 mm.

For someone who is still happy to ride 9 speed Groupset (mostly Shimano Ultegra 9 speed), I’m not sure how important / beneficial 11 speeds actually are. What it does mean is that if you choose a 12-23 cassette then every gear ratio would only change by 1; if your keen to retain a very constant cadence then the 11 speed will certainly help.

Campag Super Record

Campag, have also announced a new top of the range groupset Campag Super Record. It is based on the record groupset but makes extensive use of titanium to reduce weight. Industry sources suggest that the Titanium based super record groupset could push the price upto £1,600 – making it one of the most expensive groupsets on the market. Maybe Campag just want to have the kudos of having the most ‘expensive’ and therefore ‘best’ groupset on the market. This is currently held by SRAM ‘Red’

Different Types of Gear Mechanisms

9 and 10 Speed Cassettes