Campagnolo has unveiled its latest group sets, called X, for Gravel and All-Road, featuring an industry-first 9-tooth rear sprocket. With the smallest final drive gear on the market, available in a new 9-42t cassette, the brand ducks further under the recently rebuffed rule changes restricting final gear ratios, overthrown by competitor, SRAM in court recently.
Campagnolo goes one tooth further than SRAM, to deliver a final drive ratio even higher than the 10 tooth SRAM uses, which courted controversy this summer, when the UCI moved to ban it.
Whilst you’d expect to see several gear combinations, and no stone unturned in terms of matching the offering of Shimano’s GRX and SRAM’s XPLR gravel offering in terms of crank length options, gear ratios and cassette options, that’s all broadly speaking there, although a 160mm crank option is missing, so the standout feature is undoubtedly the introduction of the 9-tooth rear sprocket, allowing riders to achieve faster speeds with lower cadence. Specifically, the gear ratios span from 1:3.22 to 1:5.67, which could benefit sprinters and competitive racers, in some circumstances.
However, the 9 tooth option invites some skepticism regarding its usability. SRAM’s Red AXS XPLR system features a 10-tooth sprocket. Shimano’s GRX system, with its 11-speed set-up now seems to lag behind. Critics of ‘going smaller’ are not only at the sport’s governing body. The UCI clearly feels higher gears, mean higher race speeds. Other’s may claim Campagnolo’s 9-tooth sprocket could add resistance in the drivetrain, owing to having to drag the chain around a much smaller radius. We’ll see.
The claimed weight for the entire group set is approximately 2,700 grams, which depending on how they’re weighing the groupset, puts it in between GRX and XLPR, in a competitive position. The recent Ultra upgrades offered in the road version of this groupset aren’t offered here at launch, but one wonders if similar options might become available to allow customers to hop-up their X groupset also, further saving weight, at a price of course.
The components in this range borrow much from the road version and as a result are compatible with Super Record 13 Wireless as you’d hope, with the chain length and rear mech cage in each case being critical choices for correct operation. Campagnolo says they should all play nicely with either the existing 113-link Super Record Road chain or the similar but longer 123-link version in X, provided you match it all up properly.
The Q-factor – the width between the pedals – is increased to 152mm on a 47.5mm chainline to accommodate wider stays and increased tyre clearance in gravel.
The 1x crankset is also offered in an aero set-up, and TT specific designs. The existing road crankset offers 44, 46, 48, 50, 52. This new product group expands that range to include a 1x chainset option with chainrings from 38 to 52. The smallest available on SRAM XPLR is 33, but mullet components from MTB, available in both SRAM and Shimano’s GRX systems, will give adventure riders lower tooth chainring options, with GRX options down to 33.
The X system is paired with a new Bora, Bora X of course, which utilises a 27mm wide rim bed, made for minimum 35mm tyres, and a 50mm rim depth. That’s clearly aimed at the UCI style gravel race event market, but should make for a very exotic looking gravel race set up. Speaking of looks, the black finish from the Super Record 13 Wireless system should look pretty high end on a 9-42 cassette, and the industrial design follows that of the other Super Record family components.
As for pricing, a question we always seem to have to address with Campagnolo, it isn’t wild, although this is Super Record, so it is certainly premium, with the gravel version priced at €3,375 / 3,899 USD / £ 2,999 and the all-road version, available in 2x configurations, with the added capability of the nano-clutch rear mech for chain retention over rougher ground coming in at €4,370 / 5,065 USD/ £ 3,899.
Super Record 13 Road for comparison is €3,410/ 3,975 USD/ £ 3,050.
All versions are also available with the PWM HPPM power meter, for an additional €1,167 / $1,325 USD / £ 1,050.
The recommended retail price for the new BORA X Wheels starts at €2,290/ $2,599 USD/ £1,999. Quoted weight is 1430g.
All versions also available in a version with the PWM HPPM with a surcharge of €1,167 / 1,325 USD / £ 1,050 *
The recommended retail price for the new BORA X Wheels starts at €2,290/ 2,599 USD/ £ 1,999*
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