# Super Record EPS review



## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

I recently demo'd a Dogma 65.1 as I had decided to get one of it felt good. The frame was 5k and the plan for for the LBS to install Sram red and use my own Dura Ace wheels. I have wanted sram red since my first bike due to the light weight and shifters. I have never had any knowledge or interest in Campagnolo beyond thinking its too expensive and not light enough (pretty much what I first thought of the Pinarello but DAYUM was it pretty). I have also never had any interest in electronic shifting. I am man enough to shift my own gears etc.
I rode the Dogma for a few miles and fell in love with it. A few days later I put 40 miles on my Cervelo. Nice bike but all I could think about was how hard it was to shift gears by myself! At this point I decided to pursue Di2 9070 due to the lower cost and seat post battery. I then took the dogma for 40 mile ride and was not comfortable but did love the electronic shifting. A couple of weeks later I went in to be fitted for the dogma. The plan was it the fit was good for me to take the bike and have the EPS switched to 9070. The more researched, the more interested I was in keeping the EPS. My prospective new bike was now much more expensive than I first intended and I also would need new wheels!
I was fit for the dogma and was going to take it out for another 40 mile ride or so. I got about 5 miles on it and decided it was perfect. The shift feel and single function shifters could not be improved upon so I decided to stick with EPS. I shifted a lot of these test rides and I was always instantly in the perfect gear. Multi shift is very intuitive and I was immediately able to end up in the right gear. this is a great feature at the top or bottom of a hill. I thought my Sram had this.....not like the EPS! 11 speeds also allow for some very nice ratios.My guess is if you read enough about Pinarellos you will eventually want Campagnolo and I did.
I bought the bike and right afterwards I put another 40 miles on the bike and it is incredible. EPS is one of my favorite things about the bike.
I went with the 50/34 and 12-25 cassette, the titanium 175mm cranks and the single pivot rear brake. This was how the bike was equipped with the exception of the cassette. I dont know how many gears are attached on the cassettes, my plan now is for Zipp 303s and if necessary add a set of Shamals with a cassette more suited for climbing. If gears are not attached I could mix and match but I would guess the biggest 5 or so are.
The feel of the EPS is incredible and the battery mount on the bottom of the frame is great because it is hidden by the crankset and keeps the weight low. It was a pretty expensive test ride but I cant imagine not having Campy on all my future bikes


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## flatlander_48 (Nov 16, 2005)

Donn12 said:


> I have never had any knowledge or interest in Campagnolo beyond thinking its too expensive and not light enough (pretty much what I first thought of the Pinarello but DAYUM was it pretty).


I am convinced that the reason people get Shimano for their second, third, etc. bikes is essentially inertia. They are familiar with how the stuff functions, so why change? SRAM pops up as an alternative due to certain compatibilities with Shimano hardware. However, I suspect that more people would react as you did if they could get on a Campagnolo equipped bike.


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## AnthonyL88 (Oct 9, 2007)

I'm riding the Dogma 2 with Campy EPS SR and once you ride Campy you won't use anything else. Campy is the best.


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## BlackKnight (Aug 14, 2012)

Campy EPS SR on a Trek 2013 Six Series. Can you spell, "Smoooooooooooth?"


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

11-spd. checked.
smooth rear shifting. checked
top notched flawless front shifting, even while standing. checked
strongest dual pivot brakes on the planet (enough to make one wonder what's the point of disc brakes). checked.
overall groupset under 2000g. checked
plenty of chainring options. checked
none of the associated electronic issues

Dura Ace 9000 mechanical

I know of 3 guys with EPS that has problems with rear shifting. Sometimes the darn thing would not shift until they bunny hop the back wheel. Very strange. They think it's a firmware issue, but me... I kinda giggle at electronic stuff.


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## mackgoo (Mar 2, 2004)

You have a 50/34 w 12/25 and you need something more suited for hills? I think you need a MTB. Just kidding, sort of. I'm itching for EPS my self.


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## eriku16 (Jul 27, 2011)

aclinjury said:


> *[DA...]*


:lol::Yawn:


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## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

aclinjury said:


> 11-spd. checked.
> smooth rear shifting. checked
> top notched flawless front shifting, even while standing. checked
> strongest dual pivot brakes on the planet (enough to make one wonder what's the point of disc brakes). checked.
> ...


A few weeks ago I would have say electronic shifting was pointless and not worth the money. Then I put 40 miles on it. SOLD! I'll never shift my own gears again. I really liked everything about the 9000 on the R5 I tried besides the look of the new crank/rings and I have never been crazy about shifting with the brake lever. Both of these are just personal preference. I hope I don't have rear shifting problems....


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## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

mackgoo said:


> You have a 50/34 w 12/25 and you need something more suited for hills? I think you need a MTB. Just kidding, sort of. I'm itching for EPS my self.


I have it in my head that 303s are not the best climbing wheels for the bike but I may be wrong. I am thinking about the Civil War Century outside of DC and its supposed to be brutal climbing.


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## flatlander_48 (Nov 16, 2005)

aclinjury said:


> They think it's a firmware issue,


Something's not plugged in correctly...



aclinjury said:


> but me... I kinda giggle at electronic stuff.


Keep saying that.


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## Jbartmc (Sep 14, 2007)

EPS is great, I love it for the cycling indulgence it is. Easier than SR11, not as hard core as old Record 10 speed.


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## kmak (Sep 5, 2011)

Jbartmc said:


> *EPS is great, I love it for the cycling indulgence it is*. Easier than SR11, not as hard core as old Record 10 speed.


Amen.


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## primov8 (Dec 16, 2012)

Donn12 said:


> ... but I cant imagine not having Campy on all my future bikes


I know exactly how you feel. I had Sram Red, Red-black on all my builds and after buying the De Rosa and building it up with Chorus 11 as my first Campy equipped bike, I eventually ended up removing/selling all the Sram components on the other bikes. I installed SR11 on the Ridley, which I later transferred over to a NOS Cervelo S3 because I had planned on going with SR11-EPS on the Ridley. But after seeing De Rosa's new SuperKing, I'll probably go back to SR11 on the Ridley and save my SR11-EPS plans for the SuperKing.


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## flatlander_48 (Nov 16, 2005)

I find it funny that some folks can be such Luddites regarding bicycle technology. As the same time, I would be willing to bet that their cars (excluding collector cars) don't have carburetors, drum brakes or 8-track tape players. Technological progress doesn't stop. It's perfectly fine if you choose not to take advantage of a given technology; just don't attempt to poison it for the rest of us...


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## Shintaro (Nov 26, 2012)

i recently upgraded to the EPS. But sometimes im having issues with the FD. Most of the time it works fine but sometimes it wont shift ad a light indicating that theres trouble with the FD lights up. i think its green or yellow. help!!!



Shintaro Valdes
Pina Dogma 2 wrc
Campagnolo SR EPS
reynolds 66c


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## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/documenti/en/DIAGNOSTICA_EPS_UK_07_12.pdf

here is a PDF of the SR diagnostics. A green light doesn't seem to be bad unless accompanied by a buzzer. On my first few rides I was not pushing the shift button all the way foe the FD.


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## Shintaro (Nov 26, 2012)

*Yellow light*

Thanks Don12. I already downloaded that pdf file. Hmm i might be babying the FD lever too. Ill test it again tomorrow. =)


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

Donn12 said:


> I have it in my head that 303s are not the best climbing wheels for the bike but I may be wrong. I am thinking about the Civil War Century outside of DC and its supposed to be brutal climbing.


There were a few rides where I wish I had a 34x27, or even 34x29. The Ronde van Vlaanderen sportive is one of them. It's better to be prepared than to be sorry. One advantage of 11 sp is better tradeoff between gearing range and gearing resolution. Campa's cassette offerings have improved, and I'm glad that all 11-sp rear derailleurs can run all 11-sp cassettes. 

I'd love to hear one's experience in switching cassettes and/or wheels, whether one has to do much adjustment to EPS.


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## kmak (Sep 5, 2011)

orange_julius said:


> There were a few rides where I wish I had a 34x27, or even 34x29. The Ronde van Vlaanderen sportive is one of them. It's better to be prepared than to be sorry. One advantage of 11 sp is better tradeoff between gearing range and gearing resolution. Campa's cassette offerings have improved, and I'm glad that all 11-sp rear derailleurs can run all 11-sp cassettes.
> 
> I'd love to hear one's experience in switching cassettes and/or wheels, whether one has to do much adjustment to EPS.


I don't know about switching, but I set up EPS on my bike myself. Adjusting the RD was a piece of cake, but you will need to have the bike on a stand and an extra set of eyes helps.


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## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

kmak said:


> I don't know about switching, but I set up EPS on my bike myself. Adjusting the RD was a piece of cake, but you will need to have the bike on a stand and an extra set of eyes helps.


I was assuming that if I have 2 sets of wheels that have cassettes mounted I can swap back and forth very easily. With EPS can I just shift to the smallest cog and change wheels or will I have to do something funky to the derailer?


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## Michael15 (Aug 17, 2010)

Do you guys use the magnet that shuts down the system after you ride? I insert the magnet after every ride and I have not experienced any of the little bugs that others have. My LBS also indicated that the magnet is important to use and they have noticed it does help.


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## Michael15 (Aug 17, 2010)

Donn12 said:


> I have it in my head that 303s are not the best climbing wheels for the bike but I may be wrong. I am thinking about the Civil War Century outside of DC and its supposed to be brutal climbing.


I'm using the Shamals for climbing right now. I have the 11-25 rear. I only get in trouble on longer grades that are over 12%. I'm getting a 12-27 for some big climbing days, over 8k ish with some pretty steep pitches. I have the 50/34 upfront.


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## strathconaman (Jul 3, 2003)

Fugly. Check.


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## snidemcbride (Aug 27, 2012)

I've been on Ultegra Di2 for around 2000 miles, and will never go back to mechanical shifting. There are so many advantages including zero maintenance, auto trim front derailleur, flawless shifts with never ever an under or over shift. Go to youtube and check out some of the reviews. I would love to try the EPS stuff too. Just from what I've read the Shimano Di2 stuff seems much more user friendly, and reliable.


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## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

My SR EPS stopped working after 2 months of use or about 1,200mi. The green light came up on the power unit with the buzzer. RD would not shift. It goes away sporadically and then always comes back. Campy says it might be either RD or the shifter. Even with warranty it will require a ton of $$$ to figure out which one - internal wiring requires a lot of labor. Before that it worked well enough except downshifting up front on high grades. I am switching back to Di2 - I have had zero issues with it over 3 years and 16,000 miles.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

poff said:


> My SR EPS stopped working after 2 months of use or about 1,200mi. The green light came up on the power unit with the buzzer. RD would not shift. It goes away sporadically and then always comes back. Campy says it might be either RD or the shifter. Even with warranty it will require a ton of $$$ to figure out which one - internal wiring requires a lot of labor. Before that it worked well enough except downshifting up front on high grades. I am switching back to Di2 - I have had zero issues with it over 3 years and 16,000 miles.


Dude are you sure?? Because of according to some, EPS is infallible, and they wouldn't know what to do without their Campy, I mean Campag.
Like I said, know 3 guys with EPS having rear derailleur issues. Expensive headaches.


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## Donn12 (Apr 10, 2012)

Did a good shop install it for you? Have you used the magnet to turn off and reset he system?


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## flatlander_48 (Nov 16, 2005)

aclinjury said:


> Dude are you sure?? Because of according to some, EPS is infallible, and they wouldn't know what to do without their Campy, I mean Campag.
> Like I said, know 3 guys with EPS having rear derailleur issues. Expensive headaches.


Campagnolo is not infallible. However, they don't put schlock out in the marketplace either. There's a reason why things happen and I'd be checking in installation.


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## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

Installed by a highly skilled professional mechanic. It is not a rocket science and the magnet is just for storage and as a matter of fact I have been using it. I should also say that I like SR mechanical on my other bike better than EPS, even better than current Di2, except for braking. Once Di2 11 is widely available I am switching. I also do not like Campy brakes, DA brakes are way better.


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

poff said:


> I also do not like Campy brakes, DA brakes are way better.


Really? I used to think Campag brakes were not up to snuff because they didn't have that "bite" Shimano & Sram had. Having used them for a while now I understand that they are much more progressive than the competition, especially on a mountain descent. Then they come into their own.


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