Campagnolo & OPEN launching Super Record X
Campagnolo dives deeper into gravel
OPEN was a launch partner for Campagnolo with its first foray into gravel, the Ekar groupset. Its 13-speed cassette was a breakthrough for 1x, eliminating the feeling of missing "that one gear" for many gravel and even road riders (in fact it's what I ride on the road still today). If customers still had anything left on their wishlist, their feedback showed it would be:
- Electronic shifting instead of mechanical
- More toughness in some gravel settings
- For the real Campagnolo afficionados: a more traditional thumb shifter, smaller and more elegant like on SuperRecord
The platform
Few words are overused as much as "platform" in today's (cycling) industry, but in this case, Campagnolo has some good reasons to use it. Where SuperRecord used to be a very narrowly defined road racing focused groupset, they have now broadened it considerably across many cycling disciplines.
To be honest, I had some trouble myself trying to understand the information Campagnolo provided to us, so let me try to boil it down to its essence:
- Campagnolo will offer 1x and 2x versions of Super Record for road, all road, gravel and TT/Tri use
- They offer 3 Super Record rear derailleurs: the first is for 2x road (launched already in June), the second for 1x gravel and a third rear derailleur for both 1x road and 2x gravel. The 1x gravel and the 1x road+2x gravel rear derailleurs have a nano-clutch and thus can be used off-road.
- The 2x road and the 1x road+2x gravel rear derailleurs max out at a 36T cog. For 2x, that's enough for all riders on all road and gravel terrain because the 2x cranksets start with 45x29 chainrings and go up to 55x39. So that's a huge range of options.
- The 1x road group is "officially" only for strong riders as the 1x road cranks come with 44-52T chainrings. Combined with a max 36T cog, that requires some muscle. However, you can also pair the 1x road group with the 1x gravel cranks (same crank) with chainrings as small as 38T. You may give up some top-end gearing but can climb any mountain with that.
- The 1x gravel group uses a rear derailleur that maxes out at a 48T cog. The 9-42 and 10-48 cassettes have really nice spacing, just like was the case for Ekar, making this 1x13 setup is not only interesting for gravel but also for all-road and even pure road. Especially since here you can use the road crank instead of the gravel crank to increase your chainring size.
- Important to note is that the 1xroad+2xgravel rear derailleur comes in two versions: standard and UDH. The UDH version (RD02-SR13DHWRLC) uses a direct mount assembly but can logically only be assembled onto UDH-compatible frames. Otherwise, use the standard version (RD02-SR13WRLC).
The OPEN custom launch frame
To celebrate the launch of this groupset, Campagnolo asked us to be a launch partner and collaborate again on a special model. So we asked Campagnolo if Matteo D'Amanzo, the product manager responsible for the Super Record 13 graphics, could create a paint scheme for our U.P.PER. 2.0.
Armed with that design, we asked our friend Tony Spray to work his magic. You can see the result in the outdoor photos in the below gallery (the studio shots in the gallery are with our standard U.P.PER. 2.0).
We are happy to announce that we will make a limited edition of 20 units with this design. So if you want to be one of twenty lucky riders worldwide, contact Andy asap to reserve yours. Of course a Super Record 13 set-up with the standard U.P.PER. 2.0 is also possible.
As for pricing, as you can imagine Super Record is never inexpensive, and it varies based on whether you pick 1x or 2x and if you add a powermeter. Based on these factors, prices vary from €3,375 / 3,899 USD to €5,537 / 6,390 USD. Also shown in the gallery are the new Bora X wheels, a gravel specific version with 27mm internal width and a hooked design. That will set you back €2,290 / 2,599 USD.
If you have any questions, feel free to email Andy or enter them in the comments below.
I see a blue-ish bike and a white/gray-ish one in the outdoor shots. Which is the right one?
Hi Richard, that's all the same bike! It's the setting sun creating those blueish colors.
Sexy beast!
It's funny, the first sketch wasn't super appealing to Andy or me, but with these artistic projects, we never interfere and trust it will turn out nice in the end. And this one certainly didn't disappoint!
Best bike
Thanks Christophe! Keep on rolling!
Thanks Gerard, great to see Campagnolo back in OPEN’s game. I was sad to see drivetrain compatibility for the UPPER 2.0 limited to Shimano and SRAM. The gearing combinations are definitely a big plus given the range and small steps. If the real-world shifting experience matches expectations, this will be hard to beat. Congrats on the collaboration!
Yep, the SRAM & Shimano only was just a temporary situation, we are not comfortable recommending a groupset without clutch/damper for gravel but knew this was coming. So order has been restored in the cycling universe!
The frame and the groupset look amazing. I'd love to see a video of the frame being built up with the new groupset.
Good idea, maybe with the next one we build up. Could be yours :-)