Campagnolo EPS v3

shamrock134

Didn't find much using search so I thought I'd ask for people's experiences of Campag EPS.

I have Chorus mechanical and would like to go electronic on my next bike but there's the niggling doubt in my mind as to whether Record EPS is worth it over say Record mechanical. On the one hand, getting rid of cables and adjusting tension seems like bliss but what is EPS like to live with?

From what I've read, the charging can be a pain since they use a proprietary connector instead of USB which is very delicate and damaging the pins means replacing the whole power unit! :shock:

Thanks.

Please, no posts to tell me I should get eTap or Di2. :twisted:

shortfall

[quote="shamrock134" On the one hand, getting rid of cables and adjusting tension seems like bliss. :twisted:[/quote]

Really? Twiddling a barrel adjuster a few times a year and swapping cables every few years (mileage dependent) is really that much of a hassle?

thegreatdivide

I've got bikes with mechanical Athena, Record, Super Record and the newer Chorus. I've also got a bike that's loaded with Record EPS - originally V1 but now up gunned to V3. The mechanical groups are all IMO faultless and have never given me any issues. I was out on the 2011 SR bike this morning to hammer some hills and apart from replacing chains, cassettes and chain rings it's performed brilliantly over tens of thousands of miles and I reckon it'll keep on going for many, many more years.

So why would I need EPS if the other groups are great? Because I wanted it and I can afford to buy it. I've been using it since the start of 2014 and while the shifts on the mech groups are nice and crisp, EPS is even snappier. Installing it was a breeze (there are a multitude of vids online) and once it's set up you hardly need to touch it bar a few micro adjustments via the right shifter on the rear mech when you put different wheels on. I charge it twice a year. If you're someone that takes care of their kit and not a cack handed buffoon you won't have problem with the charge port. Campagnolo engineered the mechs and shifters so well that they've never had to release any new versions (unlike Shimano). They've just released better power units. They were also first to the game with the app based modification option which is fun and very easy to use. The mechs also look the business ;-)

I'd recommend EPS without hesitation - but I'm biased.

shamrock134

Shortfall wrote:

Really? Twiddling a barrel adjuster a few times a year and swapping cables every few years (mileage dependent) is really that much of a hassle?

Thanks for your useful contribution. :roll:

thegreatdivide wrote:

I'd recommend EPS without hesitation - but I'm biased.

Aha, a decent reply. Thanks for your detailed thoughts.

Funnily enough, as I post this I notice a guy on Strava had to give up on the Cingles du Ventoux after two ascents due to his SR EPS front mech going "haywire". May have to ask him for further details!

shortfall

shamrock134 wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

Really? Twiddling a barrel adjuster a few times a year and swapping cables every few years (mileage dependent) is really that much of a hassle?

Thanks for your useful contribution. :roll:

!

Happy to oblige.
Seriously, I'm not anti electronic shifting per se and it's your cash. I just don't see the absolutely minimal maintenance involved in keeping Campagnolo mechanical sweet as a particularly good justification for splashing out the extra cash for EPS. And you did say you had niggling doubts as to whether it was worth it.

chippyk

thegreatdivide wrote:

apart from replacing chains, cassettes and chain rings it's performed brilliantly over tens of thousands of miles and I reckon it'll keep on going for many, many more years.

It sounds like Trigger's broom!

shamrock134

Shortfall wrote:

Happy to oblige.
Seriously, I'm not anti electronic shifting per se and it's your cash. I just don't see the absolutely minimal maintenance involved in keeping Campagnolo mechanical sweet as a particularly good justification for splashing out the extra cash for EPS.

You are right, my mechanical Chorus 11s is still going strong on its first cassette, chain and cables after 7700 (dry) miles. I suppose I worded my intial post badly. Maintenance isn't my primary reason for looking at EPS. I'm interested in EPS purely as a luxury upgrade for a new bike where I don't want to compromise on the spec (I don't consider Record instead of SR as a compromise since SR is just obscenely overpriced). If EPS v3 has any annoying eccentricities that make it harder to live with than mechanical then I'd like to find out before splashing out on it.

Of course, if I were to use my head I'd just buy Dura Ace Di2 since it's cheaper than mechanical Record!

shortfall

shamrock134 wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

Happy to oblige.
Seriously, I'm not anti electronic shifting per se and it's your cash. I just don't see the absolutely minimal maintenance involved in keeping Campagnolo mechanical sweet as a particularly good justification for splashing out the extra cash for EPS.

You are right, my mechanical Chorus 11s is still going strong on its first cassette, chain and cables after 7700 (dry) miles. I suppose I worded my intial post badly. Maintenance isn't my primary reason for looking at EPS. I'm interested in EPS purely as a luxury upgrade for a new bike where I don't want to compromise on the spec (I don't consider Record instead of SR as a compromise since SR is just obscenely overpriced). If EPS v3 has any annoying eccentricities that make it harder to live with than mechanical then I'd like to find out before splashing out on it.

Of course, if I were to use my head I'd just buy Dura Ace Di2 since it's cheaper than mechanical Record!

Well I bought mechanical Record over SR for the same reason as you and in all honesty Chorus would probably have served my needs just as well (I use Chorus chains and cassettes). I'd lusted after Record since being a kid though and I knew if I'd gotten Chorus I'd have kicked myself. If I ever did go down the electronic route myself then I'd likely get the Campagnolo over Shimano. It looks a million times better, and it has those tactile clicky shifter buttons that are strangely satisfying to press in the same way bubble wrap feels good to pop! Whichever you choose I'm sure you'll be happy. There aren't many posts on here shouting about how crap electronic shifting is. For me it's still way too expensive to make me want to switch though.

Tiesetrotter

I have mechanical SR. Which is the same as my mechanical Chorus ........... just a whole different price point.

For me the whole point of sticking with Campagnolo top end is the ability and speed of the change. I just can't see the need for EPS, I might as well save some money and go Shimano. The mechanical button change on the Campag is lightening. I have Ultegra on my winter bike and it is sound and steady. But in about half the time it takes to change up one gear on the Ultegra I can go both up and down three gears on the Campag. Performance is night and day on mechanical and Campag is just superior because of that speed and flexibility of the gear changes.

From what I have spoken to others about the electronic, they are both equally as good.

thegreatdivide

Tiesetrotter wrote:

The mechanical button change on the Campag is lightening.

The change on EPS is even faster.

Joshgav

Just looked up Campag prices...sorry how much??!!

I knew they came in more expensive than SRAM and Shimano but some of their pricing is ludicrous.

ugo.santalucia

Joshgav wrote:

Just looked up Campag prices...sorry how much??!!

I knew they came in more expensive than SRAM and Shimano but some of their pricing is ludicrous.

Doesn't seem too bad to me as fas as these things go...

https://www.merlincycles.com/campagnolo ... 0wodXUcMxA

I don't think folks who look at EPS will look at the price tag and think they might get Shimano because it's cheaper... if they want Campagnolo, they are pretty much set on it... they'd rather save a bit by getting Record or Chorus than going the Di2 route.

shortfall

Joshgav wrote:

Just looked up Campag prices...sorry how much??!!

I knew they came in more expensive than SRAM and Shimano but some of their pricing is ludicrous.

It's pricier than Shimano like for like and stuff like chains and cassettes are a bit steep. That said, in my experience it really lasts and without wanting to start another Campag Vs Shimano war, it's cooler and looks miles better

Joshgav

Shortfall wrote:

Joshgav wrote:

Just looked up Campag prices...sorry how much??!!

I knew they came in more expensive than SRAM and Shimano but some of their pricing is ludicrous.

It's pricier than Shimano like for like and stuff like chains and cassettes are a bit steep. That said, in my experience it really lasts and without wanting to start another Campag Vs Shimano war, it's cooler and looks miles better

I wouldn't want to start a war, it does look nice but I've never used it as all my bikes have come with Shimano. My response was purely on price.

I was a bit surprised at the cassette price in particular as it is a purely mechanical part, are they hewn from a solid titanium block? The link to Chorus EPS is a decent price for a high end gruppo so I guess some deals make it (semi)reasonable.

shortfall

Joshgav wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

Joshgav wrote:

Just looked up Campag prices...sorry how much??!!

I knew they came in more expensive than SRAM and Shimano but some of their pricing is ludicrous.

It's pricier than Shimano like for like and stuff like chains and cassettes are a bit steep. That said, in my experience it really lasts and without wanting to start another Campag Vs Shimano war, it's cooler and looks miles better

I wouldn't want to start a war, it does look nice but I've never used it as all my bikes have come with Shimano. My response was purely on price.

I was a bit surprised at the cassette price in particular as it is a purely mechanical part, are they hewn from a solid titanium block? The link to Chorus EPS is a decent price for a high end gruppo so I guess some deals make it (semi)reasonable.

The titanium cassettes on Record and SR are crazily expensive which is why most people use the steel Chorus ones which weigh fractionally more but are less than half the price and last longer.

shamrock134

I think I've decided...

I'm going to sell all my bikes and get a Btwin Triban with Claris.


:roll:

drlodge

I've got Mechanical SR on the Rourke, just clocked 10,000 miles on it. When I got the WM Massive Attack a couple of years back, decided to put Chorus EPS on it. Simply couldn't justify the EPS Record or SR groups due to the immense costs involved. EPS Chorus was about £1500, Record another £500 and SR another £500 again. Using Chorus cassettes all round.

The mechanical SR grouppo has been flawless, other than snapping two RD cables. The EPS grouppo is really nice to use, so simple and easy to change up/down as needed and going back to mechanical afterwards does seem a little clunky at first. However I could easily manage with either, actually not sure which one I prefer due to one reason.

On EPS, you can only change gear one at a time really. Sure, you can hold the button/lever down and it will change through the gears flawlessly but you have no idea when to stop or what gear you're in. With the mechanical grouppo you can change multiple gears at a time and know exactly which gear you've ended up in. Doing the 'double dump' on mechanical, especially going from big/big to small/small is really easy and you simply can't do that on EPS.

So which grouppo would I get if getting another one? Well it'll be Chorus, but I really don't know if it would be mechanical or EPS. Probably depends on the kind of budget I have available and if I can justify spending double to get EPS.

shamrock134

Thanks for your thoughts drlodge.

From what I've read, in V3 (Chorus EPS is still only at V2) you can use the app to program the shifting such as how many gears it dumps in a multi-shift.

Perhaps thegreatdivide can comment?

thegreatdivide

shamrock134 wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts drlodge.

From what I've read, in V3 (Chorus EPS is still only at V2) you can use the app to program the shifting such as how many gears it dumps in a multi-shift.

Perhaps thegreatdivide can comment?

Yip, you can pretty much do everything. It'll also allow you to mod the Campagnolo 'gear dump' where you drop into the small ring while the rear mech selects the gear down so you keep your cadence on a climb which has always been a cool feature on the upper tier mechanical groups.

Good review of the app from Cycling Tips - https://cyclingtips.com/2016/03/campagn ... campy-app/

Tiesetrotter

I was a bit surprised at the cassette price in particular as it is a purely mechanical part, are they hewn from a solid titanium block?

Yep mostly they are ....... which I would suspect makes the manufacturing process effing expensive.

Someone once described the difference to me(excepting enormous size vs titchy size) that Shimano is an expert manufacturing company and Campagnolo is an engineering design company. With no pejorative view on either. So if you look at Dura Ace, Shmano have made a well built solution with the necessary components to make a light, functioning and reliable excellent gear system.

You then look at SR/R/Chorus which all have the same mechanical function you'll see that Campagnolo have gone for what the engineers would see as the ultimate materials for each specific part of the system and that R & SR are truly their playground and to hell with manufacturing costs. So in the case of SR you have:

Titanium bolts - not really necessary for a tiny grommit screw
Titanium single block (mostly) cassette - definitely not necessary even if they do last a long while
Carbon plates on the derailleurs do look cool ........... but at a price

All of this was fine a few years back when it was significantly lighter. But that isn't the case anymore.

But obviously aspirational buying and us old school blingers make the financially disastrous decision of SR. When actually Chorus and DA are nearly compatible on price. So why buy Campagnolo ....... well I think only three reasons matter:

1. The hoods - like or loathe the buttons the ability to dump down gears and do the front mech/rear mech change with no ratio or one ration change is just that little bit better than anything else on the market. Also the design engineers have got those hoods ergonomically perfect. It's all very marginal, but it is quicker and nicer to put your paws on.
2. Name - Sorry but Campagnolo is and always will be Italian cool. Shimano will be Japanese functional excellence.
3. History - However someone did once tell me Shimano have been making bike stuff longer than Campagnolo! So that's the third one out of the window

As to EPS over DI. I don't know ........... but I have owned two Alfa Romeos.

thegreatdivide

3. History - However someone did once tell me Shimano have been making bike stuff longer than Campagnolo! So that's the third one out of the window

Shimano the company was founded in 1921 and they got into the cycling market in the late 60's releasing their first groupset in 1973 (DA 7100)

Campagnolo founded in 1933 and making bike parts from the off.

drlodge

IMO no reason to get Record EPS over Chorus EPS - its only the mechanical parts that are any different (so I was told) and you save a few grams for an extra £500 or so.

shamrock134

I believe the new charging interface and management via app are the reasons to go for V3.

drlodge

Ah yes, Chorus not available in v3 yet...decision comes down to cost and whether you can justify the extra over mechanical.

EPS is nice, especially if you can have a custom multi gear change option. If you can afford it, go for it. You only live once and can't take it with you.

shamrock134

drlodge wrote:

You only live once and can't take it with you.

All the justification I need! :twisted: