Campagnolo Ekar GT groupset review 

Campagnolo Ekar GT is the brand’s new mechanical 13-speed 1x-only gravel groupset that sits below Ekar. 

Ekar GT (which stands for ‘Gran Turismo’) is designed to be a more “adventure-ready” groupset, thanks to a wider-ranging 10-48t cassette option and a smaller 36t chainring. By comparison, Ekar tops out with a 38t chainring and 10-44t cassette. 

To achieve a slightly more accessible price point, Campagnolo has made some apparent concessions on the crankset and cassette. The shifter ergonomics and rear derailleur have been redesigned too. 

You’re looking at roughly a 315g weight gain over Campagnolo Ekar, with Ekar GT claimed to weigh 2,700g in an unspecified setup. 

Ekar was a resounding success and breathed new life into the storied Italian brand. It’s more commonly specced on OEM bikes than any of its road bike groupsets. 

Sadly, since Ekar GT’s release in February 2024, uptake on complete bikes hasn’t been as wide. 

I say sadly because Ekar GT is a great performer, and outside of a slight weight increase, you’re unlikely to notice much of a difference from Ekar. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT setup 

Campagnolo supplied the groupset pre-fitted to a special-edition Basso Palta, however I removed all of the components to obtain actual weights. 

I have extensive experience with Ekar on my own Niner RLT 9 RDO gravel bike and I found Ekar GT’s setup to be almost identical. 

Adjusting and indexing the gears is fairly straightforward, but the B-gap in the rear derailleur is very sensitive to correct adjustment. 

It’s also crucial the chain is the correct length and the derailleur hanger is completely straight – both just like Ekar.

I’d also only recommend using Campagnolo Maximum Smoothness cables – I’ve had mixed results with after-market options and I’ve found it’s better to err on the side of having the outer cable a little longer than too short to avoid the inner taking any tight bends. 

Stick to these principles and setup will be problem-free.

Campagnolo Ekar GT drivetrain performance

Fortunately, drivetrain performance isn’t really any different from Ekar – it all works very slickly. 

Although my riding encompassed largely dry and dusty conditions, the groupset has been subject to technical, debris-filled trails befitting of Ekar GT’s more rugged pitching. 

Shifting feels a smidge heavier than Ekar, however it’s worth noting the Basso Palta test rig had an integrated front end (my Niner doesn’t), where the cable has to take a series of tight bends before it’s routed through the down tube. 

The drivetrain is quiet-running in all gear combinations, although there’s no mistaking Campagnolo’s trademark ‘ker-clunk’ sound when you change gear. 

This may not be to everyone’s tastes, but equally there will be many (like myself) who like the meaningful interaction and sensory feedback of a mechanical gear shift. 

All of the parts feel well-constructed and nothing’s showing wear through my test period. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT shifters 

The Ekar GT shifters see some significant changes from Ekar, with Campagnolo saying the Ergopower shifters are designed to excel “in all gravel applications”. 

They are now much smaller in height (compared to Ekar), with a new hood with golf-ball like texturing – reminiscent of the final generation of 11-speed Super Record EPS. 

Although Campagnolo hasn’t confirmed this, to my eye, the bump in the middle of the Ekar shifter hood has been banished. 

Some riders have complained the bump made their hands go numb, but it has never been a problem for me – and that includes riding the 850km Seven Serpents ultra-endurance race on it. 

Of course, the transition from the gravel bike handlebar to the shifter will also impact how much of a bump there is. 

If you’ve used any of Campagnolo’s mechanical groupsets, you’ll be familiar with Ekar GT’s ‘Ultra-Shift’ shift logic. 

Ekar GT uses a paddle behind the brake lever to shift to easier gears at the cassette, with the C-shaped thumb lever introduced on Ekar to shift to harder gears. 

You can downshift up to three gears at a time with one swoop of the paddle (compared to four gears on Ekar), but Campagnolo continues to restrict upshifting to one gear at a time.

On its road mechanical groupsets, you can upshift up to five gears at a time – a feature that no other groupset manufacturer offers – but Campagnolo limits this on Ekar and Ekar GT because it thinks you might accidentally upshift through more gears than you intended. 

I have mixed feelings about this – on the one hand, I agree you might accidentally misshift through more gears than you intended, but when you have to quickly make your way through to the other end of the cassette, you need to concentrate on pressing the C-shaped thumb lever repeatedly. 

The shifting feel is pleasingly positive and mechanical, and I can comfortably access the C-shaped thumb lever from both the hoods and drops. 

As for the updated ergonomics, I found the smaller shifters very comfortable. I really get on with the shape of the brake levers, which are unchanged. Their curved profiling is unmatched in terms of feel from both the hoods and drops. 

Of course, there is an element of subjectivity at play here. 

The inward curve of the brake lever as you go into the drops is easy to settle on and stands Campagnolo levers apart from the competition. The wider profile is a confidence-inspiring place to actuate the brake. 

Campagnolo fans may also appreciate the laser-printed graphic on the side of the shifter hoods – a classy design touch. 

It’s a small detail, but unlike the Ekar shifters where you are provided with two options to route the gear cable (either in front or behind the handlebar), there is only a single option of routing in front of the bar with Ekar GT. 

Are the lever ergonomics more comfortable than Ekar? I’m not 100 per cent sure – and it probably depends on your hand shape and personal preference. 

The smaller Ekar GT shifters are certainly very comfortable, but I equally like the larger Ekar shifters, and although they lack the golf ball texturing, I prefer the softer-feeling hood covers on Ekar. 

Then again, it may be that my hands are more accustomed to it, given I’ve ridden the older groupset for in excess of 5,000km. 

Fortunately, Campagnolo allows you to mix and match the shifters and rear derailleurs, should you prefer one design over the other. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT rear derailleur 

There’s one rear derailleur for all the cassette options and Campagnolo says it has been refined to provide easier setup and serviceability. 

It’s constructed from a mix of carbon and plastic, as well as aluminium. It uses the same clutch arrangement as Ekar, with an identical clutch-locking arrangement when you want to remove and install the wheel. 

The spring tension of the rear derailleur is still very strong, which makes removing and installing a wheel more fiddly than with SRAM’s Cage Lock system on its off-road-oriented groupsets. 

The rear derailleur uses 2mm hex bolts for the limit screws and B-gap, smaller than the 2.5mm found on Ekar. 

Campagnolo hasn’t explained why it made this change. 

It also uses a new design for the pulley wheels with larger holes to minimise dirt accumulation. By comparison, Ekar’s EK100 pulley wheels have smaller holes, akin but not identical to those found on Chorus, Record and Super Record 12.

Perhaps an element of bad luck was at play, but on three occasions during testing, I’ve had to de-clog the pulley wheels with the Ekar GT rear derailleur – with the larger spacing seeming to accumulate more dirt than Ekar. 

That said, once removed, the new pulleys are easier to clean than Ekar, thanks to the larger holes.  

Ekar and Ekar GT shifters and rear derailleurs can be mixed and matched, but if you’re using the 10-48t cassette (for example, if you want a more forgiving Ekar setup), you must use the Ekar GT rear derailleur because of its longer cage. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT crankset 

The most visually striking component of a groupset is arguably the crankset – and the Ekar GT crankset looks decidedly less premium than Ekar, losing the carbon allure and moving to an all-aluminium construction. 

Like Ekar, there are 38, 40, 42 and 44t chainring options, as well as a new lower 36t chainring, which I tested. 

The Ekar GT cranksets frustratingly run on a 104mm BCD, which is different from the 123mm BCD of Ekar. This means you can’t mix chainrings between them. 

You can pick between 170, 172.5 and 175mm crank lengths – there’s no 165mm crank length, which is found on Ekar. 

It’s also worth noting the cranks use a wider Q-factor at 151, compared to the 145.5mm of Ekar. 

The crankset continues to use a four-arm design and you can replace the chainring without having to fully remove the crankset. It also uses the same Ultra-Torque system, which sees the spindle split in two, with two halves connected by a Hirth joint. 

Ekar GT continues to run on Campagnolo’s ProTech bottom bracket system, which was introduced on Ekar and is also found on Super Record Wireless. The ProTech system sees additional sealing over the bearings, designed to improve their longevity. 

The crankset sees the biggest weight difference over its Ekar counterpart, with the 36t, 172.5mm crankset weighing 787g. 

The matt finish of the Ekar GT crankset is also a downside, making it more susceptible to scuffing than the gloss-carbon sheen of Ekar.

It’s also a shame Campagnolo hasn’t manufactured crank boots to protect the ends of the crank arms from rock strikes, as it did with Ekar. The two crank arms are different in profile, too (I tried mounting the Ekar crank boots onto Ekar GT) and I’ve already scuffed the ends.  

Chain security, though, is a real highlight. I haven’t dropped a single chain in testing and I’ve found Ekar to be the best-performing gravel groupset I’ve used in this regard until now. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT cassette

Ekar GT is available with three cassette options – 9-42t and 10-44t, as well as a new 10-48t version. Unlike Ekar, there isn’t a racier 9-36t option. 

The new cassette uses a more conventional multi-piece construction, unlike the Ekar cassette – which is constructed from two pieces plus the lockring. 

One of the aspects I’ve appreciated about the existing cassette options was that there were at least five one-tooth jumps in the first gears. With the 10-48t, there are single-tooth jumps between the 10 and 14t, before there’s a two-cog jump to the 16t sprocket. 

The cassettes continue to mount on Campagnolo’s N3W freehub standard, which is backwards-compatible with 10, 11 and 12-speed Campagnolo cassettes. 

Some Campagnolo Ekar cassettes can be prone to creaking or developing play and, as such, you needed to over-torque them. This was a problem I experienced on my own Ekar cassette initially and was acknowledged when I spoke with the UK Campagnolo Service Centre at the time. 

Fortunately, this hasn’t proved to be a problem with Ekar GT. 

I find the £218.99 cost of a replacement Ekar GT cassette rather befuddling for the less extravagant construction, with the Ekar cassette just under £30 more at £247.99. 

That means you’ll want to be religious about replacing your chain on time to avoid a needlessly expensive bill. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT chain

Although, confusingly, Campagnolo offers an Ekar GT chain, it is fundamentally exactly the same as Ekar. 

The Ekar GT chain is simply cut longer with 123 links, whereas the Ekar chain is 117 links. 

That’s a good thing because the Ekar chain is a real highlight and has proven incredibly durable. 

It’s 0.25mm narrower than its 12-speed counterpart and Campagnolo says it gets an ultrasound lube bath when it’s manufactured to ensure complete coverage. 

When I started the Seven Serpents ultra-endurance race, I made a point of changing the chain just before and got 550km on it before needing to apply some chain lubricant. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT braking performance

The brake calipers and rotors are unchanged and continue to be a real highlight, and one of my main drawing points to Campagnolo. The braking performance is excellent, and arguably still outperforms Shimano and SRAM’s latest efforts. 

You get lots of modulation from the levers, feeling akin to a well-tuned rim brake, and there’s more than ample power. I also like the buzzing noise you get when braking at high speed and the pads bite into the rotor. 

The pads are the most durable out there, in my experience – I tend to get significantly more mileage out of them compared to Shimano and SRAM. 

The rotors are my favourite of the three too, being a little wider in thickness. While that leads to less clearance between the pad and rotor, the Ekar rotors are less prone to warping. I’ve even seen some riders pair Campagnolo rotors with Shimano or SRAM calipers to minimise rotor rub.  

Campagnolo Ekar GT weight 

We’ve taken the opportunity to weigh the Ekar GT components, with the actual weights listed in the below table alongside Campagnolo’s claimed weights. 

Note our weights do not include the cables, hoses or brake pads – the former two items will vary by your bike depending on the length you cut it to. 

Campagnolo Ekar GT pricing and value 

Adding up the individual RRPs of Ekar GT components gives a total cost of £1,302.91 (as opposed to the £1,211 cost Campagnolo claimed at launch) compared to £1,615.92 for an identical Ekar setup. That’s a difference of £313.01. 

However, it’s important to note real-world prices for the groupsets vary and are generally lower. 

Compared to its key rivals, Ekar GT is priced competitively at full RRP. 

A Shimano GRX RX-820 Unstoppable groupset retails for £1,272.99, for example. 

SRAM Apex Eagle, the American brand’s only mechanical offering, retails a bit cheaper at  £1,071/$1,020/€1,192. 

The advantage Ekar GT has over both of these groupsets is that it’s 13-speed and while the hood shapes of all these groupsets will be down to personal preference, I think Campagnolo betters its rivals in terms of braking performance. 

While Ekar GT is competitive at full RRP, it’s worth noting both Shimano and SRAM products are more regularly discounted, though. It remains to be seen what the real-world pricing of Ekar GT will settle at.

Campagnolo Ekar GT bottom line 

Campagnolo Ekar GT is ultimately a successful and easy-to-live-with second-tier gravel groupset from the Italian brand. 

While the shifting quality will typically improve the higher you go up the groupset tree, this hasn’t proven to be the case with Ekar GT and its shifting performance is nigh-on identical to Ekar. 

The updated shifter ergonomics are great and I’m relieved Campagnolo is sticking to its winning hydraulic disc brake recipe. 

The crankset is a bit of an ugly duckling, which is a shame, and it’s strange that the new Ekar GT cassette is almost as expensive as the more lavish Ekar option, despite a simpler construction. 

I’m also unsure how popular this groupset will be. 

It feels as though more riders have been asking for Ekar wireless than a cheaper version of Ekar (which still isn’t cheap). 

Still, if the £300 price saving of Ekar GT gets more riders on Campagnolo, that can only be a good thing in the long-term for the brand.