The new Campagnolo Chorus 12 groupset debuted earlier today, but you will have to wait until midsummer to build up your Italian 2×12 all-road gravel bike. In the meantime, we got the exclusive chance to drop the new C12 DB components on our scale. So let’s compare the actual weights of Chorus 12 vs. Chorus 11, and see how much you would save if you decide to blow out your wallet and go big with a Super Record 12 or even Super Record EPS 12 upgrade…
Campy Chorus 12 – Actual Weights & Pricing
Campy has now revealed an update to their most value-oriented premium road bike groupset, bumping Chorus up to 12-speed. The new group expected to show up in shops this summer with much of the same tech as the higher-end Super Record & Record mechanical groupsets will retail for $1288/1275€ for rim brakes, and $1819/1837€ for disc brakes.
While the rim brake version is obviously the most affordable, we think the disc brake group will be the most desirable, especially with its new gravel-friendly 48/32 sub-compact crankset & wide 11-34 cassette options.
So we’ve broken down the complete weights of the new components (and their individual prices) and compare them to the older Chorus 11 (C11+H11), and newer Super Record 12 (SR12).
Note:All $ prices are without tax, € pricing includes VAT.
Chorus 12 Ergopower shift/brake levers
Campy claims 503g for a pair of Ergopower controls. With full-length hydraulic lines and shift wires, this pair came in at 554g. Ergopowers are sold individually left or right, as a complete set with a brake caliper and mineral oil (plus mounting screws for the front brake) for $403/399€, meaning you buy a left & right with your preferred brake caliper separately.
This is definitely where you spend the single greatest amount of money in the new Chorus 12 groupset ($806/798€ for the pair), a direct result that the shift & braking mechanics are the same as the Super Record 12 mechanical gruppo, just with alloy brake lever blades. But weight wise there is no difference in the mechanical Ergopowers at any level – an H11 pair weighed 554g & a SR12 556g on this same scale.
Chorus 12 front derailleur
Campy says the $98/97€ front derailleur would weigh 94g including the inline barrel adjuster needed to dial-in setup. On its own, the braze-on weighed just 82g on our scale. There’s not much weight difference here either, with SR12 at 78g & C11 at 80g, but don’t forget an extra 26g if you need the round seattube mount or ~15g extra if you want to use the Campy chain catcher.
Chorus 12 rear derailleur
The $171/169€ rear derailleur has a claimed weight of 240g, but was just 215g on our scale. The move to the larger/longer rear derailleur to work with wider-range, 12-speed cassettes comes at a weigh penalty. The longer cage is one part of that, but also the return to alloy parallelogram links. This C12 derailleur is 30g heavier than C11, and 32g heavier than SR12.
Chorus 12, 11-34 cassette
Campy lists a 306g cassette weight in their tech data sheet for the smallest 11-29 offering. The new $200/197€ wide ranging 11-34 weighed just 10% more on our scale at 337g.
Even though we have to compare it to a 11-32 for Super Record, the biggest SR12 cassette is much lighter at 283g thanks to more extensive machining. But comparing to the biggest 11-speed 11-34 offered with C11, then new larger C12 cassette is only 8g heavier, even adding an extra cog in the middle for smoother gearing steps and two extra teeth at the top end.
Chorus 12 crankset
The new $388/384€ sub-compact 48/32 Chorus 12 crankset is said to weigh 718g with 172.5mm long arms. Here the road compact 50/34 crankset weighed 727g, with 172.5mm arms and the standard BB bearings pressed onto the steel spindle.
To work with the wider disc brake rear spacing, Chorus 11 didn’t really have its own crankset, instead replying on H11 which was essentially Record-level spec. So it’s not muc of a surprise that this new C12 crank is heavier than both the old H11 (665g) & new SR12 (634g). But Campy’s Chorus 12 weight claims seem accurate, so you will save back a few grams if you opt for the sub-compact setup.
Chorus 12 chain
The official weight for a complete $44/44€ 110 link C12 chain is 241g, or a few grams more at 247g within its plastic bag (to keep from getting greasy.) Good to their claims, the thinner C12 chain is lighter than the 11-speed C11 version (257g), and no surprise that the hollow-pin R12 of Super Record is again lighter (229g).
Chorus 12 brakes
The disc brakeset itself share the same calipers & rotors as Super Record, Record & H11. Campy lists the weight of the 160mm front caliper at 152g (here it is 130g with pads on our scale), the 140mm rear caliper at 118g (125g on our scale), 120g for a 160mm rotor (119g for us), and the 140mm rotor at 99g (it weighed just 98g for us.) Calipers are priced together with the Ergopower levers, and both size rotors sell for $48/48€.
Those weight claims are more or less the same as Campagnolo claims. But more importantly, whether you have any H11 groupset, Chorus, Record, Super Record, or even Super Record EPS, all of these are the same components so there is no weight difference from top to bottom.
Not shown are the actual weight for the bottom bracket cups that depend on each build (my Press-Fit bike gets 40g there), the standard front brake mounting bolts (7g), or the chainstay-specific rear brake mounting bolts (another 14g on my bike).
Claimed vs. Actual Weights?
Based on the lightest available option which Campagnolo claims in their groupset total weight, only their Ergopower lever claim is really low. Pretty much on every other component, the actual weights were lighter than claimed. With that said, we expect most riders will end up with a group in the configuration like the components we weighed, which total up to ~2695g or about 60g more than Campy’s estimated total.
Chorus 12 vs. Super Record 12, or as an update over Chorus+H11
If we compare just on weight, the new Chorus 12 DB groupset looks like it will add up to a real world total of 2721g. That makes it 199g heavier than Super Record 12 mechanical, but does bring with it the extra two teeth on the big cassette (and the option to pick the sub-compact crank). But don’t forget Chorus 12 will sell for just $1819/1837€, vs. Super Record 12 at $3171/3223€. Is that 200g really worth an extra $1352/1386? Only your wallet can decide that one.
If you are seriously talking about emptying your wallet, Super Record 12 EPS sells for a staggering $4636/4677€. Interestingly though, because of the EPS derailleur motors, battery & control unit, it would save you less than 10g over Chorus 12 in a similar gearing & rotor configuration.
As for comparing it as an upgrade to a Chorus 11 + H11 groupset, the new 12-speed Chorus is actually going to add around 92g over the last mixed group generation. With that you will get smoother gearing steps, the promise of better shifting, and the possibility for much wider (read: lower) gearing range. If you are looking at pricing though, the new C12 is surprisingly much cheaper than C11+H11 when it originally debuted at 2343€ for the Chorus-level mechanical shift, hydraulic disc brake groupset. The new dedicated Chorus 12-speed disc brake groupset is more than 500€ cheaper, making it an even easier decision if you are building up a new road, all-road, or gravel bike!
Head back to the full tech details on the new Chorus 12 groupset here!
