Italian groupset and accessories specialist Campagnolo is aiming to push current limits with its latest innovation, entitled Over-Torque technology.
Over and above
According to Campy, its Super Record Ultra Torque crankset with titanium axle is one of the lightest and stiffest solutions available. However, the company notes that its mission ‘is not merely to have a highly competitive product but rather to continuously innovate to find new solutions.’
The newest solution from Campagnolo comes in the form of cranksets with the recently developed Over-Torque technology. The new Over-Torque product was developed in an effort not only to push the limits of both rigidity and weight but also to come in a format that adapts in a more efficient manner to frames with oversized bottom bracket designs.
Following the Campagnolo philosophy of keeping the bearings at the widest stance possible in combination with a large diameter axle, the Over-Torque crankset construction has an extremely wide stance for bearings in addition to a 30mm axle diameter.
These two factors, combined with a newly designed crankarm produce a claimed 5% rigidity increase over the current Super Record Ultra-Torque crankset – as well as an increase of 10% with regards to the weight/rigidity relationship.
Weight loss
Despite the common belief that increased rigidity and reactivity come only with the drawback of added weight, the Campy Tech Lab has designed Over-Torque in such a manner that it not only has increased performance characteristics but also reduces weight.
The new design in the Comp Ultra version weighs in at nearly 54g less than the previous lightweight offering from Campagnolo. At 563g the Comp Ultra represents a new low-weight benchmark for its class, and when considering its rigidity and capability to transfer power efficiently it is ‘perhaps the new quality standard for oversized bottom bracket cranksets.’
The development of Campy’s two new cranksets follows a policy of durability and long lasting performance. For example, the new Over-Torque series of cranksets were tested and validated at fatigue levels over ten times higher than current regulations require. Corrosion tests above and beyond what are used in the automotive industry were also employed to guarantee that the materials used will hold up against the elements.
Campagnolo even went as far as to develop and patent new production processes and treatments that guarantee the maximum in quality and structural reliability of the product over time. With this attention to detail, added with the complete traceability of each and every part, Campagnolo guarantees the uniform quality of each and every piece of every product it produces.
The new Over-Torque technology will be available in 2014 and in two different crankset versions: the Comp Ultra 11s with an extremely low weight of 563g and the Comp One 11s that weighs only 605g.
Both versions are available in 53×39, 52×39, 52×36 and 50×34 configurations with the option of crankarm lengths of 170, 172.5 and 175mm for each configuration.
Both cranksets are designed to interface with 68×42, 68×46 and 86.5×46 standards and have corresponding bottom brackets for each version.
