Campagnolo Athena

catlike said:

What is your thoughts. Is there any need for another group in betveen Chorus and Centaur?
bikeradar.comfirst look campagnolo athena 11 speed 21582Open ↗

Need? Food is a need. A component group is not. That said, Athena is 11s, while Centaur is 10s. Offering a lower cost 11s group is good for Campy. It's likely a move to bridge the transition from 10s to 11s for customers, and that Centaur--or one of the lower groups--might disappear next year or the year after.

This could also help get Campy 11s spec'd on more bikes in the future, but Campy has never really been interested in OEM bike sales.

Personally, I don't see a need for Shimano or SRAM, but they appear to be doing business anyway. If Athena sells, then bringing out a new Athena flavor was a good move on Campy's part. Personally, I think the Athena group looks pretty sharp.

alienator said:

Need? Food is a need. A component group is not. That said, Athena is 11s, while Centaur is 10s. Offering a lower cost 11s group is good for Campy. It's likely a move to bridge the transition from 10s to 11s for customers, and that Centaur--or one of the lower groups--might disappear next year or the year after.

This could also help get Campy 11s spec'd on more bikes in the future, but Campy has never really been interested in OEM bike sales.

Personally, I don't see a need for Shimano or SRAM, but they appear to be doing business anyway. If Athena sells, then bringing out a new Athena flavor was a good move on Campy's part. Personally, I think the Athena group looks pretty sharp.

That is what i am talking about. They have put 11s on chorus and record without renaming groups. Is centaur that bad that it does't deserve 11s? Obviously they cant sell Chorus good enough and lowering price 2 times a year would't look any good. Thats why they brought athena.

We all know that market needs Shimano and sram. Without them Campa would never be as good as it is.
P.S. carbon wraped AL "racing look" levers doesnt look any sharp to me. Maybe my taste is bad.

catlike said:

What is your thoughts. Is there any need for another group in betveen Chorus and Centaur?

Geez, you missed the more interesting article about the updated Campagnolo Electronic prototype -- New Campagnolo electric prototypes.

[center][/center]

catlike said:

What is your thoughts. Is there any need for another group in betveen Chorus and Centaur?
bikeradar.comfirst look campagnolo athena 11 speed 21582Open ↗

I would have liked to see them make an all aluminum 11s Centaur rather than add-a-group. No doubt that 11s was going to filter down to lower groups and the differences between 10s and 11s are small, ERGO-innard wise.

Peter@vecchios said:

I would have liked to see them make an all aluminum 11s Centaur rather than add-a-group. No doubt that 11s was going to filter down to lower groups and the differences between 10s and 11s are small, ERGO-innard wise.

Since I only paid passing interest to the 2009 Centaur group, my initial impression was that the 2009 Centaur rear derailleur was basically a 2008 rear derailleur ...

Whereas, the 2009 Athena has the updated parallelogram + front-knuckle design:

[center][/center]

If THAT is true, then it was undoubtedly a reason (or, should I say "an excuse"😉 to resurrect the "Athena" name.

[center]Will there soon be a CROCE D'AUNE group, too?!?[/center]

BTW. Do the Athena shifters have ball bearings or bushings? The use of Ball Bearings may be another difference from the Centaur shifters ...

And so, the new Athena shifters may be the equivalent of a pre-CF Chorus shifters ...

OR, someone at Campagnolo decided to elevate the status of my old 9-speed Athena shifters on the used-parts market!

alienator said:

Need? Food is a need. A component group is not. That said, Athena is 11s, while Centaur is 10s. Offering a lower cost 11s group is good for Campy. It's likely a move to bridge the transition from 10s to 11s for customers, and that Centaur--or one of the lower groups--might disappear next year or the year after.

This could also help get Campy 11s spec'd on more bikes in the future, but Campy has never really been interested in OEM bike sales.

Personally, I don't see a need for Shimano or SRAM, but they appear to be doing business anyway. If Athena sells, then bringing out a new Athena flavor was a good move on Campy's part. Personally, I think the Athena group looks pretty sharp.

Thank you so much for finally explaining what a need is. To think I've gone this far without this valuable bit of wisedom.

benkoostra said:

Thank you so much for finally explaining what a need is. To think I've gone this far without this valuable bit of wisedom.

No problem. I didn't realize that you had serious cycling needs.

Since you've made it this far, I think people will be relieved and won't have to worry about your future ventures without wisdom.

catlike said:

That is what i am talking about. They have put 11s on chorus and record without renaming groups. Is centaur that bad that it does't deserve 11s? Obviously they cant sell Chorus good enough and lowering price 2 times a year would't look any good. Thats why they brought athena.

We all know that market needs Shimano and sram. Without them Campa would never be as good as it is.
P.S. carbon wraped AL "racing look" levers doesnt look any sharp to me. Maybe my taste is bad.

Well, since you've got it figured out, was there any need to ask the question.

Campy wanted to. They made it so. Alas, they didn't call you or Peter to ask opinions, but life can be a [censored] sometimes.

If you really need to know, call Campy; write them a letter; email them; or visit them. What exactly did you think you were going to learn about corporate strategy on an internet forum?

alienator said:

Well, since you've got it figured out, was there any need to ask the question.

Campy wanted to. They made it so. Alas, they didn't call you or Peter to ask opinions, but life can be a [censored] sometimes.

If you really need to know, call Campy; write them a letter; email them; or visit them. What exactly did you think you were going to learn about corporate strategy on an internet forum?

If you have nothing to tell, you can always keep mum for a while.

catlike said:

If you have nothing to tell, you can always keep mum for a while.

Other than whining, was there another purpose for this thread you had in mind? You seemed to already have the answer to your question fixed in your head before you asked.

You've yet to say anything. Sure, you've whined, but any [censored] can do that. Maybe you should try applying intellect to your question......or, given your own advice.....keep mum.

alienator said:

Other than whining, was there another purpose for this thread you had in mind? You seemed to already have the answer to your question fixed in your head before you asked.

I wanted to know others people opinion about group. Some of answers i found intersting. You always take the critics of campagnolo products so seriously- and its always so funny... please, don't give up

alienator said:

You've yet to say anything. Sure, you've whined, but any [censored] can do that. Maybe you should try applying intellect to your question......or, given your own advice.....keep mum.

Well, compared to yours, my intelect is so limited that i can't put more of it in my questions. Next time i'll be starting new tread i will ask your permission. And i will send you e-mail with my question, for you to check- is there enough of intelect to post the tread, smart guy.

[b]Will there soon be a CROCE D'AUNE group, too?!?[/b]

Why not? The Giro just went over the Croce on Tuesday...a 100 year anniversario Croce group?

Better Campy drop a line than add Croce. The last Croce group sold like [censored]. Stuck between C-Record and Chorus it was ignored. Somewhere...I still have a set of Croce Delta brakes (1/2 the stopping power of the worthless C-record Deltas with wice the weight!) and a Croce rear mech (with that weird articulating rod on it) laying around in a box.

I hope the new 11s Athena is a bargain and durable as the old Victory group was. It should be a great choice for entry-level racers.

Better still, will Campy bring forth a revived Gran Sport group or perhaps a Valentino group to bring back memories to the older guys?

catlike said:

I wanted to know others people opinion about group. Some of answers i found intersting. You always take the critics of campagnolo products so seriously- and its always so funny... please, don't give up

What? What the [censored] have you been reading? Are we playing make believe, now? Reading comprehension is obviously something you need to work on more, or you're just fond of making [censored] up.

Well, compared to yours, my intelect is so limited that i can't put more of it in my questions. Next time i'll be starting new tread i will ask your permission. And i will send you e-mail with my question, for you to check- is there enough of intelect to post the tread, smart guy.[/QUOTE]

Thank the gods you made that realization, but to be fair we have to say this: your intellect is limited compared to most breathing bipeds.

I think you'll be hard pressed to come up with a decent question.

[quote="CAMPYBOB"][b]Will there soon be a CROCE D'AUNE group, too?!?[/b]

Why not? The Giro just went over the Croce on Tuesday...a 100 year anniversario Croce group?

[/QUOTE]

I always reckoned the main reason they dropped the name was because nobody other than Italians could pronounce it.

alienator said:

Need? Food is a need. A component group is not. That said, Athena is 11s, while Centaur is 10s. Offering a lower cost 11s group is good for Campy. It's likely a move to bridge the transition from 10s to 11s for customers, and that Centaur--or one of the lower groups--might disappear next year or the year after.

Probably more of a move to cater to those who like the silver look and/or can't stand the look of carbon fibre components. You know, the 'steel is real' crowd.

I always reckoned the main reason they dropped the name was because nobody other than Italians could pronounce it.

Crotch de Own!!!😄

alienator said:

Thank the gods you made that realization, but to be fair we have to say this: your intellect is limited compared to most breathing bipeds.

Of course, but your intellect is particulary high. Sleep well, cowboy.

classic1 said:

Probably more of a move to cater to those who like the silver look and/or can't stand the look of carbon fibre components. You know, the 'steel is real' crowd.

That could be. The alloy Athena crank does look nice, as does the RD. It could also be a move to return some of the tradition. Centaur/Daytona doesn't/didn't have the history of Athena.

It could also be a signal that there'll be some 10 speed groups around for a while, i.e. Centaur and the others. That'd be a way to keep from alienating some of the customer base.

CAMPYBOB said:

Better Campy drop a line than add Croce. The last Croce group sold like [censored]. Stuck between C-Record and Chorus it was ignored. Somewhere...I still have a set of Croce Delta brakes (1/2 the stopping power of the worthless C-record Deltas with wice the weight!) and a Croce rear mech (with that weird articulating rod on it) laying around in a box.

Hey, I was riding that group for many years. It was great, in particular the shifting of that rear derailleur. One of the best-looking groups at the time, IMHO. Of course, I used Shimano DA brakes instead of those crappy Deltas...