Difference between Athena and Veloce chainsets?

AndrewDeKerf

Hi all.

I'm puzzled!

Ribble are selling Athena chainsets for £120 and Veloce 10 speed for £100... fair enough, Athena is the superior groupset.

But what is the technical difference between these two chainsets except that one is 11 speed and one is 10 speed? The Athena one is almost 100g HEAVIER than the Veloce.. so why is it higher up in the groupset order? Is it just the shifting technology? I'm puzzled as to why anyone should spend the extra. My setup in 9 speed so not worried whether I go for the 11s or 10s in that regard.

Someone un-confuse me please!

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/pp/road-track-bike/Campagnolo-chainsets-Road/campchar

Ber Nard

Having owned both I'd say the only difference you would notice between the two is that Athena is very shiny, mostly due to having polished chainrings (assuming you go for the polished finish). It really does look nice.

The chainrings on Athena do look of a better quality but I can't honestly say if they made any difference. I didn't put enough miles on either to comment on wear.

The only problem you may have is that 11 speed Campag chains are very narrow and I think Campag closed the gap between chainrings ever so slightly on 11sp chainsets. I could be wrong though.

Are the weight comparisons like for like? Not standard vs. compact?

Rob

g00se

I think the gap between the chainrings on the 11 speed chainsets are the same as the 10 speed. If you want to confirm it, the measurements will be on the Campag website - tech docs.

2alexcoo

Some of the weights quoted on Ribble are probably wrong. The Campag website shows Athena as being about 15g lighter than Veloce. I suspect they're identical apart from the chainrings.

I'm using an 11 speed crank with a 10 speed setup (KMC X10 chain) without problems; don't know if you'd run into problems with 9 speed though.