Bikes & Gear

Reviews

Bike Features

Workshops

Buyers Guides

Gear Browser

Campagnolo Super Record EPS electronic transmission – First ride review

Change Currency What's this?
The Super Record EPS groupset offers laser-accurate shifting with rewarding lever feedback and trademark Campagnolo flair

BikeRadar verdict

"More tactilely rewarding and arguably prettier to look at than Shimano Di2, but the verdict's out on MultiShift"

11 comments
Wed 9 Nov 2011, 10:15 am GMTBy

Shopping partners

Riders who are interested in electronic shifting but aren't smitten by Shimano Dura-Ace Di2's ultralight touch may find Campagnolo's distinctly more feedback-laden Record EPS and Super Record EPS transmissions to be just the thing they've been waiting for.

Launched yesterday after years in development, the EPS system is a technical marvel with impressive performance credentials, plus it's lighter and arguably prettier than Osaka's take. But just like with Di2, our first ride revealed a few chinks in its otherwise hardy carbon-clad armor.

It's all about the shifting

Shifting precision is just as spot-on as with Di2 – hit the button and you're rewarded with an uncannily faultless shift in either direction, regardless of whether you're pedaling lazily along or attacking a short rise out of the saddle to close a gap. Lever effort and feel don't change with different shifting conditions, either – just push the button and let the system do the rest.

Front shifts are especially impressive, with the same sort of overshift functionality built into Di2. When moving to the big ring, the EPS front derailleur pushes further than would be typical for a mechanical setup to insure the chain makes the jump – sort of like it's yelling at the chain to move rather than politely asking it to oblige. A split-second later, the cage magically trims itself to the correct position. Speaking of trim, the EPS 'brain' automatically trims the chain depending on the rear cog position, so once you've selected a chainring, there's nothing else to do up front.

Lever feedback is heaps better than Di2 – Campagnolo have done an excellent job of convincing your fingers that you're actually doing something when you press a lever. Lever throws are very short but significantly longer than Di2 and you can feel the click through your fingers when you've hit the switch – a good thing since the audible click is pretty easily drowned out by wind and road noise.

Moreover, the two levers are distinctly separated, just like with mechanical Ergopower, so while our brief 50km test ride was done mostly in warm and dry conditions, we expect EPS to be much easier to operate confidently when wearing full-finger gloves or in the wet. The higher spring tensions and relatively high button force thresholds also do a great job of warding off accidental shifts.

One button, one action, multiple gear changes

Campagnolo have achieved something Shimano either couldn't or wouldn't with Di2: the ability to request multiple shifts without having to repeatedly stab at the buttons. The Italians' solution is to simply hold down the button and for the most part, it works as advertised and reasonably quickly, too. There's no indicator as to how many gears you're selecting so there's a bit of a learning curve to figure out the timing but we had it down within a couple of hours so longer-term users should have few issues.

That being said, our initial opinion on Multi-Shift is still a little mixed. There's a bit of a lag while holding down the button before the 'brain' realizes you're asking for multiple gear changes, and while you can move across the entire cluster in just a second-and-a-half according to Campagnolo (and roughly verified by us during our test ride), that's still distinctly slower than what we can do with the company's mechanical drivetrains – albeit not quite as smoothly.

We found that we could hit the button 10 times in rapid-fire fashion in less than 1.5 seconds but that didn't yield any improvement in shift speed. Campagnolo electrical engineer Flavio Cracco told us that the EPS brain requires a short lag between button pushes – about 100ms or so, though he wasn't sure of the exact figure – and faster pushes aren't always recognized. According to Cracco, Campagnolo believe the Multi-Shift technique is better than multiple stabs but even so, we'd prefer that the company provide the option and he agreed to look into it moving forward.

More worrisome was the handful of times we felt the rear upshift button click but got no gear change in return. Campagnolo say that 'click' comes from their Multi-Dome concept – multiple contact-lens-shaped metal discs stacked on top of each other to achieve the desired amount of resistance – and according to Cracco, it's impossible to click those discs without also making electrical contact. Talks with other journalists at the event seemed to confirm that we were the only ones with the issue but this is something we're going to keep our eyes on, for sure.

Where to go from here

We have to reserve final judgment until after our long-term test group arrives sometime next month but our initial impressions have us very intrigued. Campagnolo's new EPS design improves on Di2 in many ways while also adding the company's own design philosophy and ergonomics for a final product that's more tactilely rewarding and arguably prettier to look at.

Time will tell if our mis-shift issue was a fluke and more testing time might sway our opinion on Multi-Shift, too, but either way, if you're a Campagnolo fan and have been waiting for Vicenza to offer their own take on electronic, your day is finally here. Now where's that Chorus EPS group, we wonder? There's no word yet on pricing for the Super Record EPS groupset.

What's the score with BikeRadar reviews? You can find a full explanation of our ratings here.

You might also like...

User Reviews

There are 11 reviews on this post

Showing 1 - 11 of 11 comments

  • "Campagnolo have done an excellent job of convincing your fingers that you're actually doing something when you press a lever"...

    Hmmm i'm not a fan or a sceptic, but i do have a burning question. What is the actual point in having this or Di2 if all you're doing is trying to convince your brain that you're still changing gear rather than pressing a button?! That and both systems are obviously heavier and more expensive... this isn't intended as a 'dig' - what people do with their bikes is up to them, but my personal opinion is it's another way of making money out of old 'carbon' rope!

  • I think the advantage with these systems is that the ‘brain’ of the system will ensure a quicker shift, compared to mechanical (whether this is noticeable I don’t know) and also ensure that you are firmly in the gear you have chosen (it will completely eliminate chain rub – so I’ve read). With Di2 as the presses needed to change gear are so minimal, when you are knackered going up some steep hill, very little energy is needed to change gear. I understand it also allows for smooth shifting when aggressively riding , say when sprinting.

    The fanciest groupset I’ve ever is ultegra-105 combo which worked flawlessly but did suffer from chain rub. If I had the cash I would go for Campag Super record (it’s beautiful). Simply don’t have the ability to take advantage of what this technology offers and I like the ‘traditional’ aspect that is mechanical shifting. My feeling is that the advantage electronic shifting offers will only be best utilised by the pros but then that couldbe said about an upgrade from ultegra to dura ace (or campag equivalent) but there will be people out there that would like to have the nicest/ fanciest equipment and my feeling is that will cater for them well.

  • Cllr Hodgen:

    No worries at all - your question is a pretty common one.

    The main advantages of electronic transmissions are their consistency over time and through all weather conditions. Barring some sort of physical change like a bent hanger, pushing the shift button comes with a gear change that's smoother and more precise than your fingers can do reliably.

    The reason for replicating the feedback is that while electronic systems offer precision and accuracy, there's an inherent physical disconnect that's often unnerving to people used to conventional mechanical systems. We see the same sort of things in cars, too, such as in motor-assisted steering rather than hydraulically assisted steering and the same challenges that industry faces in reproducing that physical connection and communication with what's going on.

    Ultimately I hope that the costs of all of these systems come down significantly and we're already starting to see that in Ultegra Di2. The development costs need to be recouped for sure but as the volume grows and the costs are amortized over a greater period of time, I think it won't be long before electronic transmissions will be much more common.

  • Everything seems to be black now-a-days so, for me, aesthetics went out years ago. As we live in a techno world the Shimano design appeals to me more...A mouse with a brake lever. Perfect!

  • I wonder if Shimano and Campag will agree on a single battery/cell format to allow manufacturers to provide standard fixings on future frames ? I guess a couple of drillings below the bottle cage will do. Maybe this is already happening ?

  • I can see that there could be a 'marginal gain' to be had under some circumstances with a system like this but I reckon it's being driven by the desire to sell more parts, not to deliver a genuine improvement. Just seems a strange mismatch to apply all this technology to try and improve what is fundamentally a very crude mechanism rather than build a better transmission from scratch.

  • Can this be retro-fitted to any frame, or do you need specific cable bosses etc?

  • @ajb72: I can't see why you can't retro fit it to frames, but it'd be clumpy as there are no cable stops really from my understanding as top end frames are being produced as Di2 specific, i have two of the SL3's both of which are Di2 (optional rather than specific) with rubber plugs for mounting the battery pack on the seat tube / down tube under where the bottle cages would normally mount - a very good hiding place when not in use! I suppose you could zip-tie it on some how!!! Step forward Heath Robinson!!! Haha!!!

    @Angryasian: Yes, i agree with your comments, and since posting my view and then subsequently reading your comments i can also see benefit in terms of cable longevity. There won't be any slackening of tension and thus giving the overall usability of the product a better life expectancy, mind you a cable overhaul @ £40 in going to take some time to pay back >£1K+!!!! ;o)

    Good review all the same mate!

  • james, i don't think your arguments regarding electronic shifting in general really warrants a $1000-3000 price mark-up. is simply adjusting your barrel screws to tighten cables really worth that much?................all i see electronic shifting doing is "fix" simple flaws in mechanical systems, fixes (or adjustments) that are routineley done with mechanicals..................if electronic shifting is to be made a true advancement in bicycle technology, i'd like to see electronic shifting that's done by gear ratios. all you need to shift are two buttons: one to upshift, the other to downshift. if this can be done efficiently, considering that front shifting will have to be done simultaneously with the rear, then i will be a convert.

  • I like Bikesnob's 'review'.

    http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/11/must-haves-bents-and-button-shifting.html

  • once again campy trails behind shimano, lol

Submit Your Review:

You need to login or register to post comments.

Specification

Name:
Super Record EPS Electronic Groupset (12)
Built by:
Campagnolo
Price:
n/a

Description:
2098g

Related articles

Related links

BikeRadar is not responsible for the content of external websites

Also on BikeRadar