Battery-Powered Shifting: A True Story

Campy Only sponsor Larry Theobald of CycleItalia sent in this report (originally titled "A biased and atypical but TRUE story") after a recent ride with a group that included someone using ShimaNO's new D12 electronic gruppo. 

Read on after this report for a few more thoughts from Campy Only and Larry ...

"Yours truly went for a ride today with the guys who show up at a local bar at 2 pm most days. After the usual 'Tuesday Afternoon World Championships' got started I found myself left with two guys, Giuseppe riding a carbon Daccordi with pre-UltraTorque carbon Campagnolo gruppo and Martino, aboard a new-looking BMC machine equipped with Shimano Dura Ace DI2. We were soon joined by Luigi riding a Pinarello Dogma with a recent Record carbon groupset. These fellows were uninterested in making a race of it and were happy just to enjoy the ride, letting me tag along aboard one of our steel rental Torelli bikes equipped with the last version of 9-speed Mirage components. 

We rolled along for a couple of hours with me trying to understand snippets of the Sicilian dialect with little luck, while observing my first Shimano electronic groupset in action. Eventually we reached the town of Canicattini, our highest elevation and turned for home, almost totally downhill. As we gained a bit of speed I noticed Martino going slowly but pedaling quite fast. As I rolled up behind it seemed his ultra-expensive, ultra-sophisticated front derailleur would not obey his command to move the chain up onto the big ring. The other bikes never missed a beat though perhaps their riders did once or twice, but we had to wait for Martino who could only whirl away on his small chainring and tiny cog in back. 

Ironic how the most expensive and sophisticated components among our small group were the ones that failed, especially the very first time I'd seen one of these groups in action."

Campy Only's take is that this story highlights not only the reliability of Campagnolo's components (which CycleItalia uses exclusively), but the folly of relying on batteries to shift your chain. Even if nothing was wrong with Martino's ShimaNO system, a dead or dying battery would have had the same effect ... and this will affect bikes with Campagnolo's EPS system as well.  Welcome to the age of charging up your cell phone, your iPod ... and your bike ... every night.

We asked Larry about this, and he agreed, and pointed to an opinion he wrote on another blog last year (scroll down to September 2) that highlights yet another issue with electronic shifting.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

 

Riding EPS Electronic: Nice, and It Works Manually, Too

England's Road.cc online magazine published a story describing their first road test of the new EPS system, and their review is generally positive. They report good shifting, including a nifty feature that aligns the front derailleur when you shift gears on the cassette. Cons include high cost and a slight weight penalty.

They didn't mention the fact that electronic shifting relies on batteries, which run down. However, the article notes,

"... if the worst happens and you do manage to break it out on the road, you can manually put it into the gear you want and it’ll stay put."

Manual shifting. What a concept. And of course, if your dead battery forces you into manual mode, you'll need to stop and get off the bike every time you want to shift (back to the 1920s) or stay in the same gear (back to the 19th Century).

Still, Campy Only stands by our long-held belief that Campagnolo will sell every single EPS gruppo they make, regardless of cost or drawbacks. Let us know in the Comments whether you plan to buy it.

Cycling Week Looks at EPS (But Can't Touch It ... Yet)

The folks over at www.cyclingweekly.co.uk have weighed in on the new electronic EPS gruppos (figuratively and literally), and based on what they see, they like it.  They haven't been able to ride it yet, so for now,

"We'll wait and try a production set for ourselves before we go along with Campagnolo's statement but it certainly looks as though electronic is here to stay."

Electronic Shifting on the Web

Campagnolo has launched a web site just for the new EPS electronic shifting gruppo. Check it out at http://eps.campagnolo.com/en

Bike Europe Tests Electronic Shifting

The folks at bike Europe went to Italy to try out the new EPS electronic gruppos. Here's what they learned.

Lots of Words About Electronic Power Shifting (EPS)

As would be expected, Campagnolo's impending official release of their long-awaited electronic shifting system has sparked a flurry of articles online. Here's one from Bike Europe. We'll post links to others as well in the coming days.

Electronic Gruppos(!) Are Here--Is the World Ready?

Well, it's November 7, the day on which Campagnolo was scheduled to officially unveil their electronic gruppo. And that they have done, but in a Steve Jobs-like moment, they basically said, "But wait, there's one more thing ..." That one more thing was a second electronic gruppo--yes, there will be Super Record EPS and Record EPS versions, which Campagnolo says are slightly lighter than ShimaNO's electronic ensembles.

VeloNews reports on the official launch here.

Click below for excerts from the VeloNews online story:

Electronic Shifting is Coming on November 7

This just in from the web--Campagnolo's long-delayed electronic shifting system will be officially released in a press event on November 7. Pro teams will get the gruppos two weeks later ... still no word on when the public can get their hands on it, but it's likely to be in spring 2012. Read about it here and here.

Campagnolo: Waiting to Release Electronic Gruppo

Some interesting notes from this year's Interbike show in Las Vegas from www.examiner.com:

Campagnolo has jumped into the aero clincher wheel wars with a double-twisting back flip and landed on both feet. The new Bullet clincher series combines the best attributes of aluminum and carbon, with options in rim depths (50 and 80mm in the standard Bullet, plus 105mm in the Bullet Ultra) and bearings. Bullet and Bullet Ultra wheesets are built in standard and tubeless compatible 2-Way Fit configurations. Availability? Mid-2012. Whither Electronic Campy? According to Campagnolo North America, “We’re waiting for an announcement from Italy.”

Read the entire article here.

More Electronic News ...

... from www.BikeRadar.com: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/eurobike-2011-campagnolos-electronic-drivetrain-nearing-launch-31538