This article was produced in association with Campagnolo
Campagnolo Super Record S Wireless is varietal. If it were a wine, the Italian company’s new groupset would be made from the same single grape variety as the flagship Super Record Wireless, but there are some subtle differences in its production process that give it slightly different characteristics from the original.
This isn’t the first time Campagnolo has been compared to fine wine and it won’t be the last. “We are Italian; it is how we are seen and it is what people expect,” say Campagnolo. “We have a long history of making not only the best-performing but also the most beautiful groupsets in the world.” The Barolo of groupsets? I think so.
I’m here in Italy for a taste of Campagnolo’s new Super Record S Wireless, not in a tranquil vineyard spread across rolling hills, but at the Misano World Circuit on the Rimini Riviera. Usually home to MotoGP racing and the former stamping ground of Valentino Rossi, for one weekend each year Misano hosts the Italian Bike Festival, where pedal power takes over and the great and good of the Italian cycle industry gather. Campagnolo’s stand naturally takes pride of place, a mini Vicenza erected at the rear of the central grandstand with the ‘dream bigger’ motto covering many of the comparatively diminutive hoardings. Under its own awning is Giulio Pellizzari’s VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè De Rosa 70 team bike. White with nude carbon weave and impeccably dressed in Super Record S, it’s a showstopper.
So first of all, what are those differences in the production process – how is Super Record S Wireless different from the original Super Record Wireless, which was released last year? Most obviously, Campagnolo explain to me, it has a different aesthetic: the matte black with gloss lettering is designed to be understated yet striking. Additionally, Campagnolo has made subtle changes that make it more competitively priced so that the new groupset can go head to head with any other top groupset on the market. Although Super Record S uses exactly the same wireless shifting technology and the same braking system as the flagship Super Record Wireless groupset, some of its more ‘extreme’ materials have been swapped in exchange for a minimal weight penalty but a big cost saving to the customer. For example, the crankset turns on a steel axle instead of titanium and the crank arms are not hollow. The bearings are ceramic, but not the top-of-the-range Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology type used by the flagship group. There are parts of the Super Record S rear derailleur where aluminium replaces carbon. This amounts to an extra 150 grammes, but the new groupset is priced at €3,990 compared to €5,200 for the original Super Record Wireless and, Campagnolo point out, the performance is exactly the same, aside from the small difference in weight.
As well as a lower price, Campagnolo customers will benefit from more gearing options, the company explain. Cranksets are now offered in six configurations: in addition to the 45x29, 48x32 and 50x34 of the original Super Record Wireless, the ‘S’ version adds 52x36, 53x39 and 54x39. There are three cassettes – 10-27, 10-29 and a new 11-32.
It doesn’t stop there: Bora Ultra WTO wheels and Bora WTO are available with the matte black ‘S’ finish, as is the new Super Record Wireless power meter. Campagnolo has taken over the Misano track and rebranded it ‘Campagnolo Road Circuit’. The gantry over the pit straight now sports the Campagnolo logo, while in the pits, Campagnolo mechanics are busy setting up a mouthwatering assortment of Italian superbikes with Super Record Wireless S for showgoers to test.
At midday on Saturday I present myself at the Campagnolo stand to a Campagnolo representative, who has agreed to accompany me and Rouleur photographer Alessandra out of the pits, along the pitlane and out onto the 4.2km circuit where I’ll put the new groupset through its paces.
I’m a kid in a sweetshop as Campagnolo show me the demo bikes and asks me which one I’d like to ride. There’s a mirror-polished gold Wilier Filante SLR, a bright green 3T Strada Italia and just as I’m scanning the rest of the beautiful machines hanging on the rail, my eye settles on a red and black Colnago C68, which features gloss black lettering on a matte black background that almost exactly matches the new Campagnolo groupset. It looks absolutely stunning.
Campagnolo seem more than happy with our choice. “Our idea with the groupset’s new aesthetic was to complement every bike, and that’s why now the groupset is all black – matte and gloss,” they say. Ironically the old flashes of red – previously highlighting the word ‘Super’ on the crank, for example – would have been perfect for this particular bike, but it’s true that monochrome looks good with everything. And the matte black finish enhances the components’ clean, aero lines.
We lift the Colnago off the rail, wheel it over to the mechanic’s workstand and he deftly adjusts the saddle height to my 770mm and tightens my Wahoo Speedplay pedals into the pristine black cranks. The Colnago is fitted with the matte black ‘S’ version of the Super Record Wireless power meter with 50x34 chainrings and I’ve got a 10-29 cassette at the back. Alessandra and I walk out of the pits into the sunlight and at the end of the pitlane we lean the Colnago against the white-painted armco to take some photos. It’s a clear day – blue sky with some spectacularly contoured clouds in the distance. Beyond the right-hand bend at the end of the straight is an enormous, skeletal-looking open grandstand and beyond that in the distance are peaceful, wooded hills and the open countryside of Emilia Romagna.
But now it’s time to focus on the tarmac underneath the Bora WTO wheels. And what tarmac it is. Perhaps it’s because I’m from the south of England, where chip- and-seal and jagged potholes rule, but it’s hard not to be awestruck by its sheer smoothness. Yes it’s a race track especially designed for motorcycles to go very fast on, but the Colnago feels shockingly fast too.
I decide that instead of cruising for a couple of laps clicking up and down the Super Record S cassette, I’ll respect the Misano track, the Colnago and the Campagnolo groupset by doing my own 10-mile time trial, ridden as hard as possible. Super Record S is a racing groupset after all.
I’ve already reviewed the original Super Record Wireless power meter and tested it against another power meter that I know to be accurate, so this time I don’t pair it. Perhaps Remco Evenepoel can’t ride as efficiently in a time trial if his power meter isn’t working (yet can still win the World Championship) but being a few years older than him, I learned to ride TTs by riding a course in advance, working out what I was capable of and chasing an average speed to achieve it. It’s true I never did them completely on feel, like some zen testers of the day, but generally because of hills and/or headwinds skewing the average, there was inevitably an element of that.
I set myself a target of a 25 miles-per-hour average or sub-24 minutes for 10 miles – the classic benchmark for British time triallists. The C68 is a drop-bar road bike of course, but the Super Record Wireless hood shape, which is unchanged in the new Super Record S version, is perfect for getting aerodynamic. It’s long with enough of a bulge behind the brake lever pivot that it can be held safely right at the end with all four fingers in front of the lever. I know purists miss the classic Campagnolo thumb shifter, but shifting up or down using just the little finger on the paddles without changing the hand position is faster if you’re in a situation where you need to be as aero as possible.
Just as was the case with Campagnolo’s mechanical groupsets, the Super Record S Wireless shifting takes a little more pressure so that there’s no chance of an accidental misshift. Because I’m changing gear only when strictly necessary, preferring to keep the pressure on the pedals, I like this. The Super Record S drivetrain feels ultra connected, very direct and very crisp. Changing gear, you can almost feel the edge of the sprocket as the chain moves over it.
The Misano track is wide open and windy, and there are small elevation changes across the circuit, so some sections are faster than others. Coming around the Tramonto hairpin I’m catching a cross-tailwind, moving down the cassette towards the 10 and then after a slight right at Curvone Veloce the wind is directly behind and I’m riding at 33 miles per hour, head low, whipping past other riders. Then another hairpin, the Curva del Carro, takes me back directly into wind, grinding around to the cross-headwind of the pit straight. Probably a northwesterly isn’t the fastest wind direction for Misano – a westerly would be a little better – and I’m realising by lap two of four that my target sub-24 minutes for 10 miles isn’t on, but it will be close, so I carry on pushing.
Lap three on the tailwind straight, I edge past a guy who’s riding another brand’s demo bike hard – I didn’t manage to see exactly what it was. He glances over in surprise and asks in Italian: “What is it?!” I answer: “It’s a Colnago C68 with Campagnolo Super Record S Wireless” and then realise I’m running out of oxygen and shut up. We do a brief two-up and he gives me a turn, but he’s gone by the time we go under the Campagnolo Road Circuit gantry. I make a final effort to get to 10 miles and stop the watch in 24 minutes and 30 seconds, average 24.5 miles per hour, and I’m satisfied with that. I could make some excuses about the wind direction, the fact that I’ve got a vented rather than aero helmet and just have a regular jersey and shorts rather than a skinsuit... but I don’t care about that because the most important thing is that I’ve absolutely loved riding this bike fast on this track – it’s honestly been magical.
The Campagnolo guys back in the pits know this by the look on my face and the sweat dripping off my nose when I pull up outside. The mechanic hands me my pedals back and starts to set the saddle height for the next rider. I give the bike a last look as I head back into the main show and Campagnolo’s words come back to me: “People expect this. The performance must of course be flawless but the groupsest must also be beautiful. It must be distinctive. This is Campagnolo.”
