Power Torque Warning

A friend on an email list we subscribe to had the following mix of praise and warning regarding Campagnolo's Power Torque system:

"I am a tinkerer and have installed several cranksets on the frame. My recent experience is worth noting. I bought a new Campy Athena crankset. The quality of this crankset is as good as it gets. The bearings are flawless and there were no creaks.

Well, I decided to remove and replace the crankset. I could not get the left crankarm off. I took my bike to a super bike shop in Sacramento and they removed the crank, only after breaking a Park tool.

Bottom line, the quality of Campy's Athena group is very high, but the crankset is not an easy item to work with."

Word to the wise ... if at all possible, use Ultra Torque, which uses a different system for fastening the crankarms to the bottom bracket.

Have you had good or bad experiences with Power Torque? Let us know in the comments.

Today's Bike: Campy-Equipped Vitus 992

Back in the day, Vitus' glued-together aluminum frames were all the rage. A little to flexible for anyone much over 125 pounds, but very light and durable enough.

Reader Paul P rides this very clean Vitus 992 around Kansas City, MO. It features modern components, including an Athena 11S gruppo.

Raleigh's Campy-Equipped Team Issue Anniversary Edition

Fans of classic bikes will love Raleigh's 125th Anniversary edition bicycle, a steel-framed, Campy-equipped homage to the famous Raleigh bikes that were ridden to so many victories in the 80s and 90s. The Anniversary bike, built with Reynolds 525, is equipped with a mix of Record, Chorus, and Athena components.

Act fast--only 125 of these will be made! More info here.

 

Here's the Athena 11S EPS Video from Eurobike

From www.BikeRadar.com 

Review of New Athena 11-Speed EPS Electronic

The folks at BikeRadar.com took a video camera to Eurobike to get an interview with a Campagnolo official about the new, budget-priced Athena version of their electronic gruppo. Read their review (with video) here.

Campagnolo's spokesman says the system's battery will go 2,000 Km before needing a recharge, potentially opening electronic shifting to the randonneuring crowd. Let's see how many riders show up at Paris-Brest-Paris in 2015 with battery-powered shifters ...

More photos after the break.

Missing Athena Story?

Our news feed said we could find a story on the launch of Athena EPA 11-speed here, but the link comes back broken. Has anybody been able to read the story? Let us know in the comments.

Posted with Blogsy

Athena EPS Coming to Europe in June?

When can we expect to see Athena EPS available for sale? One online retailer says June.

P.S. The price on this Danish web site translates to $2,730 for gruppo.

Coming Soon: Athena EPS

Thanks to one of our readers for spotting this on the web.

 

 

2013 Rumors

We're hearing that the 2013 lineup will include the return of triple cranksets ... and the introduction of EPS at the Athena level. The latter is a move that will help Campagnolo introduce electronic shifting to the masses ... and perhaps take market share away from ShimaNO despite the fact that Campagnolo was later to the game.

Got a rumor? Email us: enorris [at] campyonly [dot] com.