Weaknesses: Chinese quality in an excessively expensive product. Terrible customer service. Campy does not stand behind their products. Beware before you spend your hard earned $.
Bottom Line:
Purchased new from LBS, low miles, broke clean in half during a ride, never abused or crashed, LBS mechanic and owner even commented that it looked like a defect in the casting, they sent to Campy which took about 4 months to get a response, apparently Campy won't replace because they don't make that style any longer. WOW! I nearly crashed, tore up the tips of my SIDI shoes and Campy won't back their product. Very dissapointing. I've run Campy on all my bikes for the last 30 years and have thousands of mile on other components with no troubles. Apparently Campy no longer values their loyal customers or stands behind their defective products. I believe I'll be parting ways with the current Cheap Campy products from now on. If Campy wants to lose a loyal customer over a couple of hundred dollars or so, so be it. SRAM and Shimano here I come.
Strengths: Stiff, aesthetically stunning, fast and precise shifting
Weaknesses: clear coat chips easily, proprietary bolt circle diameter.
Bottom Line:
This is for the standard (non-compact) Carbon Ultra Torque:
The crankset looks and functions wonderfully. The arms seem stiff to me and the chainrings shift great. Changing from an ISIS drive FSA to the Chorus UT made my whole bike feel way stiffer. The set-up is really simple. The tension bolt that pulls the two arms together does require and extra long Allen wrench to achieve the required torque - or you can use a combination of wrenches.
My only complaint is about the clear coat, which has developed some chips in.
Strengths: Light, strong, attractive, great road feel.
Weaknesses: Price
Bottom Line:
This review is for the carbon version. My understanding is that it is the same as Record, except for the decals, so if you want to pay ~$150-$200 less and get the same thing get the Chorus. I also have an FSA carbon crank, a compact crank, for my cross bike, so it is interesting to compare the differnce. The FSA is wider (not thicker) and has lots of torque that is immediately noticeable. What is noticeable about the Campy carbon is not so much what you notice as what you don't. It feels the same as the Record alloy crank I had, until you start to go fast. Then you notice that your efficiency is better, your power transfer is better, it takes less energy to spin the crank because it is lighter, and it is more comfortable because it mutes vibration. One of my feet was shattered in a car accident so this is no small matter to me. It looks beautiful and I hope it holds up as well as other Campy cranks that I have had. Paired with a Phil Wood Ti BB, it is a nice, light, strong set-up. The only thing better IMHO would be a (new 397 gram) Zipp crank. I would pick this over that FSA Mega-Exo, because I already had the ~$200 BB, and while I like FSA, Phil and Campy have been doing this for a long time, and I think they know what they're doing.
Similar Products Used: FSA Compact Pro Elite Carbon
Bike Setup: Calfee Dragonfly, Record 10S
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
sde21
a Road Racer
from Cambridge, UK
Date Reviewed: September 19, 2003
Strengths: Low Q-factor, stiff, beauty.
Weaknesses: Only goes with Campag BB which is not durable.
Bottom Line:
Looks great, very good value for money(cheaper than Ultegra at the time I bought the chainset), stiff, lightweight, has Record chainrings, low Q-factor.
Similar Products Used: Ultegra, Stronglight, Suntour Superbe Pro.
Bike Setup: Colnago Asso with assorted high-end kit.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Andrew McLaren
a Road Racer
from Halifax, Canada
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2001
Strengths: Stiff, great finish, high quality chainrings
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
After 2 1/2 years these still work great, finish is good, might think about replacing the 39 ring soon but that's par for the course. Glad I went with Chorus, I once spent stupid money on a pair of Magic Motorcycle cranks once and they're really light but pretty high-maintenance with really flimsy chainrings. Chorus Cranks/BB setup is by contrast pretty much fit-and-forget. The bottom bracket that goes with the chorus cranks is one of the best on the market. Campy really does design stuff to last, and these cranks are no exception.
Aesthetically, a lot nicer than the current Shimano cranks, The only shimano parts with as nice a finish these days are the Dura Ace 25th anniversary stuff, older dura ace had a much nicer finish, across the line.
Mechanically, Chorus stuff is just as good as Record. Don't really need to spend hundreds of extra dollars, what is it they say when you're actually riding it, "Don't look down!"
I'd like to switch out the Chorus 10-speed standard cransket on my drivetrain for a compact crankset but all I see online are 11-speed Chorus cranksets. I believe I've read that o Read More »
I've just about finished accumulating a group for a winter project bike. It's mostly Chorus. But as I'm searching ebay for a nice 10 sp CF rear der I noticed NOS Centaur and Chorus Read More »
[url=http://www.bike-components.de/products/info/p19172_Chorus-11-D-Skeleton-v-h-Set-Felgenbremse-Modell-2010---Auslauf-.html]Campagnolo Chorus 11 D-Skeleton v+h Set Felgenbremse M Read More »
Hey folks,
Just ordered my Chorus 11 set from Ribble and doing as much research as possible. I've always done my own installs and maintenance (Shimano to Sram) and not planning Read More »
