Classified Turns It Up To 13-speed with Campy Ekar Compatible Cassette

Written by Cory Benson Mar 17, 2023 8:46 a.m. ET

Classified cassette for Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed gravel group

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Classified’s Powershift gravel bike drivetrain just got one more gear, thanks to a new compact 13-speed cassette that brings compatibility to your Campagnolo Ekar-equipped bike. It’s a simple move, but now give Campy riders the option for even smoother steps, twice as many gear choices, and a wider range than Campagnolo’s widest cassette…

Classified cassette for Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed gravel

OK, so the big news is simple here…

Classified now has a Campagnolo Ekar-compatible 13-speed 11-36T cassette to fit the proprietary interface of the Powershift internally geared rear hub. That means you can now turn your 1×13 Campy gravel bike into a 2×13, smoothing out your gearing steps even further, and boosting overall gear range to 477% (up from 467% with Ekar’s widest Gravel Race 9-42T).

The one-piece machined steel 11-36T 13sp cassette (11-12-13-14-15-16-18-20-22-25-28-32-36T) sells for 279€ and weighs a claimed 242g with its lockring. Obviously, you need to factor in the added weight of the hub gear, but that cassette is already 150g lighter than the wide Ekar Gravel Race one I tested.

Available now, the Classified 13-speed cassette is compatible with the Campagnolo Ekar chain, so you will need to swap your rear wheel with one equipped with a universal Powershift hub inside, plus the wireless remote shifter.

Classified-Cycling.cc

Cory Benson

4,157 articles

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry created some of these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components, and worked as a bike shop mechanic.

Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, and short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.

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Astro_Kraken

1 year ago

Dang, I just want that cassette. The 9 and 10t cogs are useless where I live.

jonathan

1 year ago

Reply to Astro_Kraken

why is that? can’t you just use a smaller chainring to make them useful?

Veganpotter

1 year ago

Reply to jonathan

That will just give you more drivetrain friction in every gear

Greg

1 year ago

From a drivetrain friction point of view, this is excellent. Those tiny cogs are horrible for efficiency.
I’d consider adding spacers to move the chainring inboard to prioritize chainline in the larger cogs, but it might not be possible considering the ring will ideally have to be bigger to make up for the lost top end.
It’ll really come down to what the losses are when the hub gears are spinning vs the very small efficiency gain of the larger chainring.

Tyni Tyres

1 year ago

Reply to Greg

True that those tiny cogs are horrible for efficiency (percentage wise) from a drivetrain friction point of view. But drivetrain friction is negligible (also percentage wise) at the speeds those small cogs are used, consequently those tiny cogs are not really horrible. Only exception would be in a howling tailwind.

myke

1 year ago

Reply to Tyni Tyres

With all the internal planetary cogs, the system probably has a fair amount of loss(and points of failure. I personally would go with a standard 2x system.

Veganpotter

1 year ago

Reply to Tyni Tyres

I gladly use e*thirteen cassettes for plenty of reasons. But the small cogs are really annoying. I honestly don’t care about the friction in the smallest cog. I do however, hate that you can feel the clunkiness of it as you pedal

Antti

1 year ago

Reply to Greg

I would argue that the 9-tooth and 10-tooth cogs are also “bailout” gears, to give you something to push on when riding downhill. In these situations top drivetrain efficiency is unlikely to be THAT important.

Just like anything provided by the PowerShift should also be considered a bailout gear, due to the additional frictional losses.

On a personal note, I ride on the 10-44 Ekar cassette that has 440 % range. The gear jumps are not too big, but in fact just like a typical road cassette however with more widely spaced low gears.

I absolutely wouldn’t go for the additional complexity, price and weight of Powershift for a TINY extension of gear range. It seems like a crazy trade-off.

Veganpotter

1 year ago

Reply to Antti

We need to see 3rd party data for their low drivetrain friction claims. The weight is actually not very bad at all. But yes, it’s expensive and I sucks having limited cassette options