Anyone fitted Campag Record EPS Yet?

Velonutter

Well over the summer I have been collecting bargains off fleabay and elsewhere so that I can convert one of my Colnago's to Campag EPS.

My C59 will remain manual as it will only be ridden probably 20 times a year, so it makes sense to keep it manual.

As Cervelo don't make a frame for EPS yet that ruled out my R5, so I figured that my Colnago CX-1 would be perfect as I ride that a good few times when the weather is dry (it has that matt paint that is a B@stard to clean), the CX-1 will take both manual and Electronic gears.

So I have been lucky and for probably less than £800 I've acquired everything to convert it as I already had Record Brakes and Chainset.

On top of that I have had to purchase a Charger, Magnetic Wire threading tool and the tool for removing the plugs from the battery pack.

I've watched the videos on YouTube and downloaded the manuals so it is time to start getting it converted.

Is there anything I should watch out for? Do I leave the Magnetic Plug in switch in place until I'm ready to go, do I charge the battery with it in or not? When I leave the bike do I fit the magnetic switch to save draining the battery?

Although the CX-1 comes with blanking plates for the electrics, there appeared to be no grommets to seal the holes when the wires are fitted, quick look around and it seems that sellers on USA eBay sell the grommets but it would appear no one in the UK does, any ideas? I've ordered some from the USA but that will take weeks to arrive, so until they do it will mean I complete the finishing touches.

Any advice or help welcome thanks.

Velonutter

In answer to Markyone in General I thought it best to reply here

All the parts came off fleabay, CRC, Pro-Bike and my LBS, they are all brand spanking new Campag record EPS, breakdown as follows: -

Shifters £179.99 (Fleabay)
Rear Mech £199.99 (Fleabay)
Battery Missing bottle cage mount and Magnet switch £175.00 (Fleabay)
Bottle Cage Mounts £13.59 (CRC)
Magnet Switch (£18.00 had to pay for the courier costs which were £15.00 from my LBS)
Control Module £59.99 (Fleabay)
Front Mech £204.00 (Fleabay)
Battery Charger £84.99 (CRC)
Internal Magnetic Cable guide (£32.99 Pro-Bike)
Connector tool (£37.76 Pro-Bike)

Total including the tools £1006.30

I already had a spare set of Record Skeleton Brakes and 2012 Record UT Cranks, so I took all my Athena 11s off and can now deploy elsewhere or sell.

Doing it this way I learnt a lot and can highly recommend the Campagnolo videos on YouTube

Even though the Colnago CX-1 frame is drilled for Electronic, it would appear that it would only take Shimano, and we need a 14mm x 7mm hole to take all the battery leads.

Knowing that Colnago really do make their frames very thick walled, we very carefully drilled the frame, the hole well in from the edges, blimey Colnago really do make them thick, probably 4-5mm thick, once drilled it looked a very professional job. It probably took 2-3 hours to feed all the cables through and refit everything. You really do need the Magnetic Cable threader and connector tool.

When emptying all the boxes, I noticed that there was indeed 3 grommets for sealing the cables into the frame, so no need to wait for the ones from the USA to arrive.

We had to remove the forks so that we could thread the cable up from the downtube into the top tube and to thread the cable from the control module mounted under the stem into the top tube.

I can see why Campag bang on about the integrity and waterproofness of their system, not one connector is left outside of the frame, everything has to fit inside.

By the time my mate and I had finished we had run out of time to start setting the parameters up, so will re-watch the videos tonight and do that then, but after he left I did just remove the magnetic switch and checked that all the connections were working, after some whirring noises, everything worked, the rear mech needs hardly any adjustments, the front doesn't shift onto the big ring, but I can understand why as the power of the motors could cause damage if it was set up wrongly when switching on, so better to adjust it separately.

I'll let you know how things go when we have set it up tonight.

I had no qualms about drilling the CX-1 as I knew that the frames were overbuilt, I would not however do it on my Cervelo R5 as even Cervelo haven't managed to produce a frame that take Campag EPS internally yet (AFAIK).

I won't do it to my C59 as I want to keep that manual until such time as the manufacturers bring out a wireless version.

It looks very tidy, just now left with redundant downtube shifter cable mounts and the rear mech cable mounts. as they are only riveted on I may drill them out and plug as they can always be re-riveted at a later date.

Not sure how many other people have tried to fit Campag EPS to their bikes, but it's not rocket science and just needs a methodical bit of thinking. 8)

pinarellokid

great read that chaps. il be very interested to hear how you get on as i am currently running 11spd Athena and want to hear the differences in the finished ride.

keep us all posted..

cheers

markyone

Thanks john great stuff,can you put some pics up when possible
would love to see what you have done.

Velonutter

markyone wrote:

Thanks john great stuff,can you put some pics up when possible
would love to see what you have done.

Yep will do Mark when I get a chance.

Velonutter

Well the final bit took all of about 2 minutes, watched the video, quick read of the set-up instructions to follow the sequence and job done.

Blimey how clever does a bike have to be, no more trimming the front mech, it does it all for you as you change each gear, no more rubbing chains, it just knows what you want to do.

And if you really want to astound your mates then show them it changing all the way from the top to the bottom cassette in about a second and back up again :-)

Velonutter

Right for those interested here's the finished pics.

I still want to tidy up the cables around the battery and especially under the stem, so will pop into Maplins when I get a chance to get some tidy wrap instead of using cable ties.

I thought it best to put the top cable with the rear brake outer as there is less chance of it getting caught and snapping.










If I get a chance today then I will knock out an hour on the turbo just to see if it works nicely.

markyone

Looks good john,
Was it easy to set up?whats it feel like?

Velonutter

markyone wrote:

Looks good john,
Was it easy to set up?whats it feel like?

As I mentioned Mark, the set-up took a total of 2 minutes!

I bunged a turbo wheel onto the bike and used my Tacx Fortius riding the first part of the Milan San Remo yesterday (1hour 33 minutes later and I was bloody knackered after it :shock: ).

Just a few small tweaks whilst I was riding which was so easy, just love the way the front mech continually trims itself 8) .

Here's the big thing though, once the novelty started to wear off it became no more different to ride that a well set up manual system, the only difference being that you don't have the auto trimming and conversely ensuring that you keep on top of the charging.

So would I buy a bike with it on, well it depends on: -

1. Was I going to ride the bike regularly enough to keep on top of the charging?
2. Was I likely to be doing a whole week of riding (over 1500Km's) without access to a mains outlet? (Although you can charge it via a 12v dc output)
3. Did I have the budget?
4. I would think twice about buying a frame that was solely electric, the CX-1 was dual, albeit not able to accommodate the Campag.
5. I'm happy that my C59 is manual as the amount of use would not justify the EPS system.
6. My R5 won't accommodate the EPS, so there wasn't a choice of that and to be truthful I would never have bought that frame if it had been electronic only as I doubt I will keep it more than a couple of years and the ease of selling it as a manual will outweigh it being electronic, that and the fact that Cervelo have enough warranty issues in the past so I'd like to see a few seasons of them manufacturing additional frames without any claims.

So if you just want to wow your mates, then great, if you want a beautiful system that works effortlessly then go for it, if you can justify the extra grand for EPS then fine, but for me the above criteria will apply with regards to my current riding.

I may think differently riding it regularly on the road especially with only the one test, lets see how things go after a couple of thousand miles of riding though.

Hope this helps?

markyone

How is the eps john?
Have you been out on the bike yet?

Velonutter

markyone wrote:

How is the eps john?
Have you been out on the bike yet?

Hi Mark,

Weathers been too bad to take this out for now, stuck on my winter bike, so haven't ridden since I posted above..

I doubt it will get ridden on the road for a few months now and will just stick on the turbo.