Campagnolo Super Record New Vs. Vintage Shootout! – Bike Snob NYC

Further to yesterday’s post, I’ve officially taken the Super Record-ified Faggin for a proper ride:

I did have to turn around and swap saddles, as the low-profile ass hatchet was bottoming out on the seatpost clamp, making it even more punishing on the perineum than it already was:

Then there was the odd stop to fine-tune the shifting:

And of course I had to calibrate the adapter that allows the 11-speed Campagnolo brake levers to work with the 9-speed Shimano brakes:

Just kidding:

But now the bike is officially running beautifully, and I’m even glad I went with the red hoods:

Though maybe I should have paired them with the Zero Gravity brakes from the Plimpton bike:

I did consider it, but they’re a little finicky to set up and after overhauling two bikes in a week I really didn’t have it in me. Plus, those Ultegrae are about as good as rim brakes get, whereas the Zero Gravity brakes are light and cool-looking and, well, that’s it.

Of course, Campagnolo 11-speed has been around since like 2009, so I’m about 16 years late on this, but as someone who’s used to the previous generation a couple of changes in particular stood out:

(I still don’t know what I was thinking when I got rid of that bike.)

One of these changes is that you can no longer upshift across the entire cassette with one push of the Mickey Mouse ear; instead, you can only upshift three cogs at a time. The other change that the front shifter no longer has lots of clicks, which allowed you to trim the derailleur almost like you do with a friction shifter (and I think also made the elver inherently triple-compatible); instead, it now has only four positions and works a little bit more like a Shimano shifter.

I mean the front shifting works great, and as an aging Fred I sacrifice absolutely nothing “only” being able to upshift three cogs at a time. Still, those two features were the ones Campagnolo-philes were by far the most insufferable about–that and the shifters being rebuildable, which I’m not sure the 11-speed levers are, either. (Or at least not officially.) Then again I have no idea if Campagnolo still supplies the small parts for its 10-speed or 9-speed shifters, either, or if the 11-speed shifters even wear out like the previous ones did.

Apart from that, the levers have that same familiar Campagnolo action, where shifting sounds and feels kind of like snapping a small twig. (In a good way.) And the “new” 16-year old shape is extremely comfy, maybe the comfiest of any lever I’ve used. And they work perfectly on a Shimano cassette without any sort of kludgery. Best of all, they say Super on them, and they have speedholes:

But the real question isn’t how 11-speed Super Record compares with the components that immediately preceded it; no, it’s how does it compare with the Campagnolo Super Record of 1982?

Well, Super Record 11 allows for three-gear upshifts, and five-gear downshifts. Meanwhile, the Super Record on the Cervino lets you shift as many gears as you want at a time in either direction–plus, you can operate both levers at the same time with the same hand:

And how many gears do you get? Super Record 11 gives you…11. (Though I’ve been reading that you can kludge it down to 9 with a Shimano derailleur.) As for the Super Record of yesteryear, it doesn’t care how many gears you use. While the Cervino came with a six-speed freewheel, I’ve used nine with no problem, and I bet it would handle 11 just fine:

Of course you’re not getting all those extra gears without a freehub, so Super Record 11-speed is the clear winner there.

It also wins in the crank department:

Sure, it looks better, but looks aren’t everything. Campagnolo 11-speed cranks may not be pretty…

…but at least you’re not stuck with a 144 bcd.

But what about the brakes?

Yes, “modern” rim brakes (though even the newest rim brakes are antiquated now, sniff sniff…) feel much better and have easy-to-change cartridge pads, but you’ve got to balance that against the fact that classic Campagnolo brakes not only had a quick-release unlike their modern counterparts, but were also single-pivot, and that Jobst Brandt said dual-pivot is for “woosies:”

As for the levers that operate them, ergonomics have certainly come a long way:

Though Campagnolo loves to tout its “One Lever One Action” approach:

So by its own criteria its old brake levers were better, since all they had was the one lever, and all they did was the one thing.

Think about it.