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Potenza vs Centaur

by Ronald
Sun, Mar 11, 2018 11:35
12

I'm building myself a new bike from part second hand, part new components. In fact I now have all apart from the groupset which I intend to buy new.

It'll be Campagnolo for ergonomics preferences... Helped by my 3x9 Mirage setup being incredibly durable when compared to my 3x9 SLX. I do realise it'll cost more than 105 3
It'll also have to be 34x32, I use the 30x28 wimp gear on the Mirage bike too much to give up on such low gearing!

I can find Centaur 2018 / 11 speed from £450 in Germany.
Potenza closer to £650... (including BB30 bracket cups) Maybe slightly less if sourced from several shops and using the older powertorque crankset many shops are trying to dump. (2018 Potenza is now also ultratorque)

Ultratorque does seems easier to service, even when compared with the self extracting version of powertorque used by older Potenza.

Is Potenza worth the quite a bit higher price? Mainly from "pleasure/ease/fun to use" point of view, as I'm unlikely to race.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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12 comments

Avatar
Miller | 6 years ago
1 like

There are some restrictions on mixing matching various Campag components. The below was written by a knowledgeable person and is lifted from another forum.

SR & RE EPS - works with all 11s cranksets, best with cranksets post 2012
ATH & CH EPS - as above
SR, RE, CH pre 2015 need pre 2015 RDs, levers, FDs all matched, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chain
SR, RE, CH Post 2015 needs post 2015 RDs, levers, FDs all matched, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
ATH UltraShift will work with ATH UltraShift RDs (specifically), CH, RE, SR pre 2015, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
ATH PowerShift will work with Ath PowerShift RDs (specifically), then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
Match Potenza to Potenza, no year differences except pre-2018 LH shifter body needs changing to match HO cranks if used, then works with all cassettes, chains
Match Centaur 11 to Centaur 11, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains

Avatar
Ronald replied to Miller | 6 years ago
0 likes

Miller wrote:

There are some restrictions on mixing matching various Campag components. The below was written by a knowledgeable person and is lifted from another forum.

SR & RE EPS - works with all 11s cranksets, best with cranksets post 2012
ATH & CH EPS - as above
SR, RE, CH pre 2015 need pre 2015 RDs, levers, FDs all matched, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chain
SR, RE, CH Post 2015 needs post 2015 RDs, levers, FDs all matched, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
ATH UltraShift will work with ATH UltraShift RDs (specifically), CH, RE, SR pre 2015, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
ATH PowerShift will work with Ath PowerShift RDs (specifically), then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains
Match Potenza to Potenza, no year differences except pre-2018 LH shifter body needs changing to match HO cranks if used, then works with all cassettes, chains
Match Centaur 11 to Centaur 11, then works with all 11s cranksets, cassettes, chains

That's a very useful summary, seems to all match the tech docs - Thanks!

 

Sounds like:

2017 Power-Torque Potenza crankset

2017 Potenza front derailleur

2015 onwards Chorus rear derailleur (incl mid cage)

2015 onwards Chorus ultra-shift brake lever/shifters

Should work to Campagnolo's official satisfaction

 

After that I could finish off with Potenza brakes,  Potenza chain, Centaur 11-32 cassette (Scarily much cheaper than Potenza) and some Power-Torque BB30 cups...

This would give me a very nice balance between Function, weight and price 3

 

Avatar
cshep87 | 6 years ago
1 like

Keep an eye out on e-bay over the weekend. I'll be listing a new Potenza groupset. I've opened some of the boxes but nothing has been fitted to my bike. Change to job and new addition to family  have altered my cycling ambitions over the next year or two. 

Avatar
Ronald replied to cshep87 | 6 years ago
0 likes
cshep87 wrote:

Keep an eye out on e-bay over the weekend. I'll be listing a new Potenza groupset. I've opened some of the boxes but nothing has been fitted to my bike. Change to job and new addition to family  have altered my cycling ambitions over the next year or two. 

Which crank and sprockets will you be offering?

Avatar
cshep87 replied to Ronald | 6 years ago
0 likes

Ronald wrote:
cshep87 wrote:

Keep an eye out on e-bay over the weekend. I'll be listing a new Potenza groupset. I've opened some of the boxes but nothing has been fitted to my bike. Change to job and new addition to family  have altered my cycling ambitions over the next year or two. 

Which crank and sprockets will you be offering?

 

Crank is 50/34 and cassette is 11/29. Would sell without cassette if it doesn't have enough range.

Avatar
cshep87 replied to cshep87 | 6 years ago
0 likes

cshep87 wrote:

Ronald wrote:
cshep87 wrote:

Keep an eye out on e-bay over the weekend. I'll be listing a new Potenza groupset. I've opened some of the boxes but nothing has been fitted to my bike. Change to job and new addition to family  have altered my cycling ambitions over the next year or two. 

Which crank and sprockets will you be offering?

 

Crank is 50/34 and cassette is 11/29. Would sell without cassette if it doesn't have enough range.

 

On the bay if interested...

Avatar
Ronald replied to cshep87 | 6 years ago
0 likes

cshep87 wrote:

On the bay if interested...

 

Generous offer to be honest! I ran out of patience and went for the mix & match setup I posted above. I'm sure someone will get the set off you soon.

 

Avatar
Crampy | 6 years ago
1 like

I would go for the best you can afford. If you try to make yourself happy with a lesser gruppo when you could have afforded the better one, you will fail. 

Or you could do as I did - look around for deals, check ebay religiously and mix and match. For Campag, Athena 11 speed works with pretty much everything (last gen 10 speed stuff and first gen 11 speed stuff onward).

My road bike started out with a ten speed Centaur (previous generation carbon) set up.

It was then updated with Athena 11 speed derailleurs, an Athena carbon crank and Super Record (first gen 11 speed) shifters. I am now looking around for the rest of the Super Record kit to complete the set. 

The stuff I take off goes into the parts bin for future builds. 

Avatar
Ronald replied to Crampy | 6 years ago
0 likes
Crampy wrote:

I would go for the best you can afford. If you try to make yourself happy with a lesser gruppo when you could have afforded the better one, you will fail. 

Or you could do as I did - look around for deals, check ebay religiously and mix and match. For Campag, Athena 11 speed works with pretty much everything (last gen 10 speed stuff and first gen 11 speed stuff onward).

My road bike started out with a ten speed Centaur (previous generation carbon) set up.

It was then updated with Athena 11 speed derailleurs, an Athena carbon crank and Super Record (first gen 11 speed) shifters. I am now looking around for the rest of the Super Record kit to complete the set. 

The stuff I take off goes into the parts bin for future builds. 

I like the idea of Athena (rather prefer the name for some reason), and have looked at it. Unfortunately it only takes a 29 officially... In north Lancs we have these very sharp 20%+ climbs, and I insist on not having to walk them.

Can actually cobble together the triple from several sources still, but price wise barely (or none, if prepared to order from race view) an advantage over Potenza... Nor genuinely any gear ratio advantage over any 11-32 compact group.

Avatar
philhubbard replied to Ronald | 6 years ago
0 likes

Ronald wrote:
Crampy wrote:

I would go for the best you can afford. If you try to make yourself happy with a lesser gruppo when you could have afforded the better one, you will fail. 

Or you could do as I did - look around for deals, check ebay religiously and mix and match. For Campag, Athena 11 speed works with pretty much everything (last gen 10 speed stuff and first gen 11 speed stuff onward).

My road bike started out with a ten speed Centaur (previous generation carbon) set up.

It was then updated with Athena 11 speed derailleurs, an Athena carbon crank and Super Record (first gen 11 speed) shifters. I am now looking around for the rest of the Super Record kit to complete the set. 

The stuff I take off goes into the parts bin for future builds. 

I like the idea of Athena (rather prefer the name for some reason), and have looked at it. Unfortunately it only takes a 29 officially... In north Lancs we have these very sharp 20%+ climbs, and I insist on not having to walk them. Can actually cobble together the triple from several sources still, but price wise barely (or none, if prepared to order from race view) an advantage over Potenza... Nor genuinely any gear ratio advantage over any 11-32 compact group.

 

I'm running the triple Athena deraileur with an 11-32 and semi faux compact. All runs smoothly

Avatar
mike the bike | 6 years ago
3 likes

 

It matters not which groupset you buy because in a few months you will want a better one.  This is the second law of purchasing dynamics and has been the cause of my downfall.  Best of luck.

Avatar
Ronald replied to mike the bike | 6 years ago
0 likes

mike the bike wrote:

 

It matters not which groupset you buy because in a few months you will want a better one.  This is the second law of purchasing dynamics and has been the cause of my downfall.  Best of luck.

Only in a few months?I already want Super Record EPS 3

Sanity will limit it to Potenza though, which ignoring inflation will cost about the same as the (nearly) 15 year old Giant OCR0 with Mirage has cost me 3

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