Campagnolo is back, with the Groupset they should have launched in 2023

Campagnolo appear to have come back to their senses with the news today that they’ve added a 13th sprocket to their cassette – a first in road cycling – in an extensive overhaul of their range-topping Super Record groupset.

Boy did they need to. And not just because of a lack of sprockets at the back.

When Super Record Wireless launched in May 2023 they were already late to the wireless groupset gang. Sram had launched their largely unchanged Red AXS groupset way back in 2019, while Shimano Di2 had been in the market for years, sticking with the wired solution, albeit with a semi-wireless update in 2021.

Whilst it is true to say that Campagnolo EPS was very popular among Campy fans, arguably known as a more exotic choice than Di2, Campagnolo’s own EPS electronic system, in its V4 iteration by now, was still more complex to install and live with than Di2. Both were miles behind Sram in terms of ease of install and overall simplicity.

The Italian solution to this problem appeared in 2023 with their SR Wireless system. Headlines focused on the absence of Campagnolo’s popular thumb shifter, loved by fans of the brand, but polarising for those used to Sram and Shimano shifting.

Sure, they’d caught up in one way. They now had a groupset with batteries on the mechs, doing away with the fickle electronic spaghetti. However, the sheer size and bulk of both front and rear mech, coupled with a pricing strategy that made its new groupset more expensive than anything else in the market at £4,499, must have made sales hard-going.

To make matters worse, Campag followed up with a power meter that looked like something from a previous decade – with an eye-watering price tag - almost £2k more.

The full menu, if you wanted to stick with the Italian company for your groupset and best wheels, was just shy of £10k. Then you needed a frame to hang it off.

Affordable, maybe not. Competitive? Absolutely.

Today’s launch sets right those wrongs. It’s no longer the most expensive, it’s mid table in fact, for possibly the first time – a smart move for a company that has always seemed to feel the need to be just a tad more expensive than the rest. This is welcome. And weights are now bang-on par with the competition.

It also hits the right aesthetic notes for a well-considered high-end offering. Just look at it. It’s a pretty impressive set of parts, featuring a smart button for seamless integration with your other systems, more improvements to already excellent ergonomics and their typically excellent brakes. The technically excellent power meter is still in there too, with subtle revisions to design and a much more realistic ticket price.

Do we need 13-speed and will it come with fiddlier set up? Of course, we don’t need it, and yes, perhaps it’s going to have some vagaries and a fickle set up, like many other Campagnolo products, but will the market take to it? Of course it will. Will users appreciate the extra ratio? I’m sure that extra sprocket will be a luxury they come to love too, and never want to go back to ‘just’ twelve.

And what of us mortals on normal incomes? For those who dream of Super Record or those who use a less-expensive groupset by choice, the step-up to 13-speed should still pique their interest, as the technology will likely trickle down to more affordable options, such as Record and Chorus. There are hints, but no details at launch. We could also, I suspect, see a gravel version soon too.

There will always be a Campagnolo customer, in the same way that there will always be someone who goes Leica when the common-sense option is Canon. Now, with common sense pricing, the decision is less outlandish for sure.