New Campagnolo shifters photographed

[Powerful Pete]

Ran across this on weightweenies. Here are the first pics of the 'regular' new Campagnolo shifters.

More pics of carbon goodness available on this Dutch site...

And from comments on other forums, apparently there will be two different sized hoods for different sized hands, and the Shimano-esque look is not actually as similar in real life. All hearsay on my part for the time being...

Please discuss.

 

[JTE83]

They're Ugly!

 

[kdelong]

They're Ugly!

I think they look great, at least better than some things that I have seen in this forum!

 

[BikingBrian]

Those pics finally prove what we've suspected:
The Italians are in cahoots with the Japanese. You see, when the Japanese were catching Minke whales for "research", they were actually using the blubber as the gel compound in their hood grips. They apparently secretly sold the technology to Campy, who is now using it in the new "improved" hoods!

 

[Powerful Pete]

LOL. Actually, I wonder how much talk there is between the Shimano bike boys and the ragazzi in Vicenza...

I must admit that I am underwhelmed by the looks, but will wait to see them in the flesh... or carbon and plastic, before making a definitive judgement.

Remember, when the original ergopowers came out everyone moaned about how ugly they were, and that did not appear to stop sales and everyone got used to them pretty quickly...

 

[alienator]

According to Pez, in the flesh, the shifters look significantly different than they appear in the photos. At any rate, any conclusions drawn from the photos shown so far will be premature at best. Besides, I thought comfort and function is what brifters are all about. I could care less what they look like.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

To me, the big news is the 'shift' to 11-speed for the top the groups. Now I can finally slip that 18 cog into the stack without losing anything.

I've got no beef with the ergonomics of the current hoods, but I would venture a pure guess that the new stuff will be an improvement for most folks.

 

[Biker Joe]

Personally, I could care less about looks as long as the gruppo shifts cleanly, smoothy and quickly.

I have yet to find anything better than my 10 Speed DA Gruppo.

11 gears? Eh, not excited.

 

[kdelong]

Personally, I could care less about looks as long as the gruppo shifts cleanly, smoothy and quickly.

I have yet to find anything better than my 10 Speed DA Gruppo.

11 gears? Eh, not excited.

Yeah, wake me up when they introduce a 20 speed. I remember when a high performance bike had a 5 gear freewheel and a double chainring. How many speeds do we need and how many riders would actually be able to use all of them?

 

[alienator]

Yeah, wake me up when they introduce a 20 speed. I remember when a high performance bike had a 5 gear freewheel and a double chainring. How many speeds do we need and how many riders would actually be able to use all of them?

Why a 5 gear freewheel? We only need one.

Bike and bike kit evolution is very limited, right now, in where and how far it can go. As far as performance goes, there's been very little performance increase with all of the bike evolution/revolution in the last 50 years. So given that, the last 50 years of bike development were at least not needed and at most irrelevant, right?

Of course, that perspective completely misses the fact that very few companies in competitive markets can continue to exist without product evolution, change, or just refreshening. And since the gruppo market, in the last two years suddenly became 50% more crowded, and since that new entrant was nearly instantly competitive and has taken a significant chunk of the OEM market, it's even more important for the companies to make changes, if for no other reasons than to differentiate themselves in the market and to avoid looking stagnate or as if they're just resting on their laurels.

As far as I can tell, neither Campy nor any government has mandated that cyclists will have to buy 11 spd Campy. Also, it does seem from all the forums and the cyclists I see around my town, you really can get by with just one gear.

Remember: cycling is about riding, not whining.

 

[Powerful Pete]

All this may be true, but I assure you that if Campagnolo goes to 11 speed, within a year or so Shimano and SRAM will also, and 90% of those on this forum will be riding 11 speed groups soon after that.

We all said the same in the moves from 8, to 9 and 10 speeds. We all adapted to changing market conditions rather quickly...

 

[artemidorus]

We all said the same in the moves from 8, to 9 and 10 speeds. We all adapted to changing market conditions rather quickly...

Not all of us! I think I'll be waiting a while for my 9spd DA brifters to die.

 

[Powerful Pete]

Not all of us! I think I'll be waiting a while for my 9spd DA brifters to die.

Fair enough. But more than enough to convince Campagnolo/Shimano/SRAM to continue upping the ante almost yearly...

 

[Peter@vecchios]

All this may be true, but I assure you that if Campagnolo goes to 11 speed, within a year or so Shimano and SRAM will also, and 90% of those on this forum will be riding 11 speed groups soon after that.

We all said the same in the moves from 8, to 9 and 10 speeds. We all adapted to changing market conditions rather quickly...

Cyclingnews rumor mill reports that shimano and FSA are testing 11s now in the professional peloton.

 

[Powerful Pete]

Cyclingnews rumor mill reports that shimano and FSA are testing 11s now in the professional peloton.

Touche'. And in about a year, we will only be discussing 11 speeds...

 

[BikingBrian]

The only real problem with going to 11 is that it forces us to do the same if we want to be able to use wheels that are compatible with neutral support in a race. That's the reason I went to 10 speed

 

[Russ Reynolds]

I love it when they introduce new stuff like 11 speed. That means the price of 10 speed starts it's downhill slide. Like 'artemidorus' I'm still runn'n 9 speed DA groupset and at the time I bought it, it was old model, never used, in a dusty box up the back of the shop, and was the same price as the shiny new 10 speed Ultegra. I still reckon it was a pretty good buy.

 

[sogood]

I love it when they introduce new stuff like 11 speed. That means the price of 10 speed starts it's downhill slide. Like 'artemidorus' I'm still runn'n 9 speed DA groupset and at the time I bought it, it was old model, never used, in a dusty box up the back of the shop, and was the same price as the shiny new 10 speed Ultegra. I still reckon it was a pretty good buy.

Or they'll raise the price of 10 speed Record and drive more people towards 11 speed.

 

[Powerful Pete]

OK, as self-appointed inform all of you guys about new Campagnolo bits and pieces, here are the pics of the new 'Super Record 11' ergos, rear mech and cassette along with a brief article. The rear derailleur is a thing of beauty, in my humble opinion.

I like the carbon...

 

[BikingBrian]

Ooooh...I guess I will eat my previous words, that is pretty cool
The levers look much better from those photos. Altho I'm wondering if dirt and grime might not find their way into the whale grooves on the hoods?
All in all, tho, looks sorta Star-Trek/Mektronic...might start to grow on me