So it looks like the rumors are true and there’s a new 13-speed Campagnolo Super Record 13 WRL SC road groupset in the works. An eagle-eyed friend of ours spotted the Team Cofidis bikes kitted out with the all-new drivetrain at the May Day Eschborn-Frankfurt UCI WorldTour race yesterday. And while we obviously don’t have any concrete details yet, there’s plenty we can pick out from this up-close sneak peek of what quite clearly is a next-gen 2x 13-speed groupset from the Italian drivetrain experts.
Let’s take a much closer look!
Campagnolo Super Record 13 WRL SC 13-speed prototype
Ever since the introduction of Campy Ekar’s 13-speed gravel groupset, we’ve wondered how long it would take until the Italian component maker would add one more gear to their road bike gruppo as well. Now, after launching their first WRL wireless road groupset just a couple of years ago, it looks like Campagnolo Super Record is about to combine 13-speeds and wireless electronic shifting.
The rear derailleur we see here is devoid of any branding. But there’s clearly a lot of carbon or molded carbon composite construction that looks to be out of well-developed molds. And if it’s ready to race on the WorldTour without being hidden, it’s probably not so far off from a complete product launch.
But, it’s not entirely clear that this outer cage is a final production piece though, so maybe we’ll see some change in shaping before it his the market.
Campagnolo was only really out of top-tier road racing for a single season. But this year they are back in the pro peloton with Team Cofidis. And they already have a new groupset to race.
So, what do we know?
13-speeds and Wireless!
A close look under the hood of this prototype Campy rear derailleur looks to have the same removable and rechargeable battery mounted to the inner parallelogram link, just like Campagnolo Super Record Wireless and Super Record S Wireless, both of which are 12-speed. A wired connection links the battery to the motor on the B-knuckle. But there are no other wires on this wireless shift setup.
Also, there’s a little label there saying SR13WRLSC, which I read as Super Record 13sp Wireless SC.
Super Record already got a more affordable S version last fall in matte carbon. So, is it possible that this version will become an SC variation?
Of course, we counted the cogs to make sure.
Yes, it really is 13-speed!
The R13 chain was the first confirmation, chasing looks the same as the C13 chain of Ekar & Ekar GT, just now with hollow pins on the road like the previous R12 12-speed chains of Record & Super Record.
As for the 13-speed cassette itself, Team Cofidis set up their bikes with a 10-33T cluster, making for a wider range setup than anything we’ve seen yet from Campy on the road. And which will use their latest N3W freehub standard, introduced with Ekar and which can go as small as a 9T cog.
All-new front & rear Campagnolo Super Record 13 WRL derailleurs
While the rear derailleur is completely new here, with a sharp-edged cage and more skeletal look overall, the front derailleur is also new. It features a revised design, compared to current Campagnolo Super Record WRL.
The overall share is quite similar, as is the carbon outer cage. But it looks to be shorter overall, tucking the links higher up into the main composite body, while keeping the same removable battery.
We also spot some branding on the new front derailleur that simply says, ‘Super Record’.
The prototype Campagnolo Super Record 13 drivetrain components themselves appear to be all new. But the shifters, brakes, and crankset appear unchanged. Fingers crossed that this suggests that there may be some cross-compatibility between current and future wireless components. Maybe if we’re lucky Campagnolo will have figured out some way to make their wireless system more modular like we’ve seen to great success with SRAM’s AXS platform.
If Campagnolo moves towards 13-speed and wireless in a flexible system, it could mean good things for both road and gravel options in the future.
Parting thoughts & Campy Super Record 13 WRL speculation
Several times in the evolution from 8 to 13-speeds, Campagnolo has been the first to roll out more gears and often to debut some of the lightest dropbar groupsets. This new Super Record 13 WRL prototype certainly ‘looks’ lighter with its thin arms, big cutouts, and a heavy dose of carbon or at least carbon composites. But there’s a lot we still don’t know.
Looking closely at this prototype rear derailleur, I notice that the parallelogram is located much further below the traditional derailleur hanger bolt than any other current Campy derailleur, perhaps hinting more at the curving Campagnolo shift patent we covered several years ago.
There are also all-new pulley tooth shapes and narrow-wide profiles that we’ve never seen from Campagnolo before, suggesting that this prototype road derailleur may be trying to deliver additional chain retention, as well. Could that signal some gravel crossover? The P-knuckle doesn’t look large enough to house any form of clutch, but Ekar GT did greatly simplify Campy’s gravel solution last year, so who knows?
What we know for sure is that 13-speed wireless Campagnolo Super Record is on the horizon.
And our interest is piqued!
