Conquering Campagnolophobia (With Cold, Hard, Steel)

After sticking my nose in a classified thread (something I seem to be pretty good at) I got a message off a friend / forum member and regular contributor to my buyer habits, suggesting I purchase a Campagnolo Chorus 11 Groupset he had for sale.

I've always steered clear of Campagnolo groups, mainly due to their Alpha Romeo reputation, and partly their fugly cranksets, let alone eye-watering expense....
However, with the advent of the 4-arm crank (which is BEAUTIFUL) and the glowing praise from a hell of a lot of club members who ride Campagnolo (the largest concentration I've ever come across) my curiosity was starting to get the better of me.
The all-black everything aesthetics really suit the theme most of my bikes follow, so, fuck it, I'm gonna give it a go.

The first hurdle was deciding on a frame from which to hang the group - my thoughts immediately turned to the Italian steel / aluminium / carbon of Colnago, Bianchi etc - but I need to be practical as I have it in my mind that this will be a jack of all trades build - easy to smash weekend club runs on, great for training, hardy for winter, comfortable enough to use every day if necessary, and as economically efficient as possible.
That kind of immediately puts Italian steel/Alu/DEFINITELY carbon out of the picture as its all overpriced, and far too fancy to not worry about. Plus it's got to be black. Obviously.

After some days of forum and eBay searches I grew tired and almost gave up on the whole thing. Until I found this.

Perfect.

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subscribed

Postman just dropped off the forks

At least I think it's the forks...

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I think half the problem with Campag is their stupid crank/bb designs that are a pain to work with and/or require special tools.
Having said that, I have Chorus on my best bike (apart from the cranks) and like it a lot.

If they ever carry over the self extracting crank bolt from Potenza to Veloce, I may consider that for my commuter.

After sticking my nose in a classified thread (something I seem to be pretty good at)

Citation required

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/290794/#comment13139695

Evidence accepted

Are you now an Auditor?

I hate auditors

@DWatkinsLDN

However, with the advent of the 4-arm crank (which is BEAUTIFUL)

u wot

Campag peaked at 10spd Record. Downhill ever since.

Frame is a beaut. BB30 or BB86?

10 speed record is the only campag I've ever actually used, apart from a track crankset, and it was terrible. It was that groupset which made me not want to go anywhere near campag for the last 4 years!!

I HOPE it's 68mm BSA although looking at it, I'm now questioning that myself.... I'm sure I confirmed it was threaded 68

Oh yeah could just be a HT 2 BB

Yeah

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It's always looked quite simple to me - do you need a specific tool to take the cranks OFF?!

Just make sure you buy Ultratorque cranks and you'll be fine, just need the 10mm allen key. Don't touch Powertorque, even Campag don't provide instruction on how to remove them.

Haha yeah the chorus are UT!

OOOOOOOHHHHHHH

HAAAAAAAIIIIII

Thanks Parcelforce......

Never sure whether to be grateful I don't have to go to the depot, or pissed off that anyone could just grab it.....

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Now to try and find somewhere to hide it from the Mrs

Subbed!! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Haha I preferred "Sunbed"

Never been one for sunbeds. I like being the typical British pale.

glowing praise from a hell of a lot of club members who ride Campagnolo

Exactly how old are they mate?

Haha - about the same age as me!

this whole thread sounds ominous. subbed

Dat rourke looks fresh.