Campagnolo announces new triple cranks, super-compacts

Italian component legend Campagnolo has announced new double and triple cranksets and two new ten-speed cassette combinations, broadening the gear ranges it offers in a move that's clearly designed to appeal to the burgeoning MAMIL market.

Triples return to the Campagnolo range at Athena 11-speed, and Centaur and Veloce 10-speed levels, which is bound to please any Campagnolo aficionado who regular tackles steep hills or carries big loads.

The Athena crank is a 52/39/30, Centaur is offered in two options, 52/39/30 and 50/39/30 and Veloce just in 50/39/30. All come in 170mm, 172.5mm and 175mm lengths.

Campagnolo has also announced all-new matching front derailleurs to move the chain around the three rings, and new rear derailleurs with longer cages to take up the extra chain slack.

There's no technical documentation for the new cranks available yet, but we're crossing our fingers and hoping that inner ring has a 74mm pitch circle diameter so you can go even lower than a 30-tooth inner ring if you want to.

For Campagnolo users who want a really big gear range, Campagnolo has also announced two new ten-speed sprocket cassettes. There's a 12-27 (12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25-27, gear chart fiends) and a 12-30 (12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30) which means that with the new triples you can go down to a 1:1 ratio for pootling up even the most hideous hills.

Differently compact

Last but not least, Campagnolo has announced a 52/36 option on some of its compact cranks. “Go compact or standard? How many times do cyclists ask themselves this same question before a race or before purchasing a bicycle?” That's the question in Campagnolo's announcement of the new cranks, and the answer is sort of 'super-compact' option that gives you slightly higher gears, but doesn't go all the way to the 39-tooth inner ring of a proper grown-up racing set.

The new chainring combination will be available at Super Record, Record, Chorus and Athena carbon level, in 165, 170, 172.5, and 175mm lengths.

If you're wondering why 52/36 and no some other combination, Campagnolo says it, “wanted to offer the broadest range of ratios possible (16), but with no loss in the vital prerequisite of derailing quality. This crankset offers the same derailing speed and precision as standard or compact components.”

We suspect you could sneakily combine a 34-tooth inner with the 52 outer and persuade it to work if you didn't mind slower shifts and a bit more set-up finnickiness, but with the caution typical of component manufacturers, Campagnolo doesn't recommend it.

More more information see Campagnolo's news page