We’ve spotted prototypes on team bikes and pre-release parts on Colnagos and could barely tell they were different save for logos. Even Campy admits most of the changes incorporated into the new Super Record RS group will be hard to see, and in reality only two parts see physical changes. But, they say it brings the top end mechanical group’s performance to a new level.
Designed for top pros, several angles and shapes were tweaked, primarily on the chainrings and front derailleur. For the chainrings, tooth shapes and ramp profiles were fine tuned to enable crisper shifts and better chain retention. The front derailleur was then modified to be stiffer and move the chain better between rings.
The rest of the group carries over with nothing but special edition tri-colore Italian racing inspired graphics. Oh, and the whole thing’s only available in limited numbers…
The front derailleur is all metal, eschewing the carbon parallelograms and outer chain plate. Other parts are standard Super Record bits with new clothes.
The tweaked models will have the SC14 code stamped on them. They used this during early season race testing when the parts had normal graphics on them so team mechanics could tell them apart.
The cranksets will be available in 53/39, 52/36 and 50/34 configurations. They’ll come spec’d on some complete bikes and be available aftermarket in limited numbers and only for a limited time.
UPDATE: Only 2,000 groups will be made available, shipping in April 2014. Pricing is same as Super Record, and it’s in standard Ultra Torque only, not the BB30 Over Torque. This is the group we spotted on the team bikes, so for now it doesn’t look like there’ll be a separate “SL” version.
