Campagnolo Ekar 13 speed with Specialized Creo

[Chrisgla]

My Creo comp currently has 11x 105 rear mech, 11/ 34 sprocket and the standard Praxis 46t at front.

Spinning out sometimes and getting new wheels built with Hope hubs, thinking of three options-
1) Stick with Shimano 11 speed free hub and 11-34
2) Fit eThirteen xcx plus on XD free hub giving 9-34 https://www.ethirteen.com/collections/all-cassettes/products/xcx-plus-11-speed-cassette
3) Fit Ekar 9-36t On N3w freehub. My (original GRX) levers and other kit are still unmarked to sell which is making me think if I want 13 speed now is the time to do it.
The problem I’m finding is chainring, I can only find one 110 BCD 5 bolt to suit 13 speed. It’s 38t which I think’s a bit low for my mainly road/ stone chiip riding https://ratiotechnology.com/product/ratio-ring-5-bolt-110-bcd/

I thought of going for SRAM axs, but given we need to back off the power to change anyway I think if I’m spending that much I’d prefer to go for the extra gear (and it’s Campagnolo)!

Anyone fitted Ekar to SL1 bracket- or have other suggestions?

 

[mschwett]

no idea on the ekar… but wolf tooth has many chainrings which fit the creo.

110 BCD Gravel / CX / Road Chainrings

110 BCD 1x chainring sprocket gravel cyclocross cx road wide narrow wolf tooth drop stop

www.wolftoothcomponents.com

i think we’ve had members who have used as big as the 50. i run the 42 with 10-42 sram cassette in back.

 

[andydale]

I had a similar idea and contacted Ratio last Dec and their response was:

"Yes, we are keen for more sizes! I think we might go smaller first, just because that’s not something Campag offer with their Ekar setups, but we’d like to add 40 and 42t too. These will probably be appearing later in the Spring."

 

[Chrisgla]

Thanks Andy. I got a similar reply from Ratio, no intent for larger ring at the moment.

I decided to stick with the 11-34 and standard Shimano hub for now. E*13 stories weren’t the best to risk XD, maybe Ekar in the future. At least I can swap the freehub if I need to.

For now I’ll just need to work on getting cadence up so I can go wheeeeeee down hills and flats!

I’ve just put my 40mm Schwalbe Almotions on to see how they fare vs the GP4000’s, that will probably clamp me a bit.

Final toy of the week is. Power Mirror saddle, it’s nice!

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I have the E Thirteen 9 / 34 on my Creo and I swapped front ring to 38T. Works like a dream and far lighter than standard set up. Run this for a year now with zero issues.

 

[bayareabikeman]

no idea on the ekar… but wolf tooth has many chainrings which fit the creo.

110 BCD Gravel / CX / Road Chainrings

110 BCD 1x chainring sprocket gravel cyclocross cx road wide narrow wolf tooth drop stop

www.wolftoothcomponents.com

i think we’ve had members who have used as big as the 50. i run the 42 with 10-42 sram cassette in back.

Did you have to change the driver to accommodate the SRAM cassette? I’m guessing not because SRAM is compatible with Shimano? I am looking for 50 x 10-42 gearing.

 

[bayareabikeman]

I have the E Thirteen 9 / 34 on my Creo and I swapped front ring to 38T. Works like a dream and far lighter than standard set up. Run this for a year now with zero issues.

Did you have to change the driver to accommodate the e thirteen cassette?

 

[mschwett]

Did you have to change the driver to accommodate the SRAM cassette? I’m guessing not because SRAM is compatible with Shimano? I am looking for 50 x 10-42 gearing.

yes, the stock driver won’t support a 10t small cog on the cassette. i know shimano has drivers that do but the ones the creo comes with do not. any XD or XDR driver works in the case of an SRAM 10-42, which is what i put on. stock rear derailleur worked just fine with no adjustments.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Did you have to change the driver to accommodate the e thirteen cassette?

Yes, what mschwatt said is correct and I swapped to an XD driver. The 9 and 10 small cogs on E13 and SRAM cassettes are too small for the Shimano driver and is why Shimano had to introduce Micro spline for the MTB's. The shift performance on E13 is good, SRAM is a little better and Shimano is best. Shop around for an E13 and they can be found cheaper (at least I found that in UK / Europe) 9/34 is excellent with 38 front for moderate hills and good top end, the 9/39 will give you better hill climbing for the steep stuff !!

 

[bayareabikeman]

Thanks mschwett &​

Dazmanturbo​

My main goal is higher top speed before spinning out on descents. 38/9 is not very different from the stock 46/11, so I'm thinking of sticking with the stock 46T chainring and switching the cassette to 9-39. 46/9 will give a much higher top end speed even compared to 50x11 on my 10 speed road bikes! 46/39 is steeper than the stock 46/42, but if it gets really steep, there's the Turbo mode to the rescue! Anyway, I have a gravel wheel set for with 11-42 for off-road use.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I used https://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios to work out what I needed. When I sent the new up, I wanted the best mix of weight saving with good range. Being in a steep hilly area, I wanted a low climbing gear, without losing top end. The 1x does restrict a touch, so have a good play with this and see if it helps. Each tooth you drop on the rear 11 v 10 for example is roughly worth 4 teeth on the front. The system I wanted as the Classified hub, which is a 2x built into a 1x hub, but they do not do this in boost as yet......maybe down the line?