Campagnolo launches its own power meter with a £2k price tag – we’ve got one and here’s our first impressions

Campagnolo is one of cycling's most famous brands, and the Italian marque has finally launched a power meter for the first time, claiming class-leading accuracy. Can it still compete with Shimano and SRAM? In lieu of detailed information about the HPPM power meter, we've gone one better and got our hands on a test bike with one fitted to it instead, which is also dripping in the latest Campagnolo Super Record groupset and Bora Ultra WTO wheels. 

> The bikes of the WorldTour peloton 2024

Our demo bike - a Basso Vento R - features the brand new HPPM power meter that has literally been released today, the latest Super Record WRL groupset fresh back from its full review here at road.cc and some very bling Bora Ultra WTO wheels, released earlier in the year. 

All this high-end carbon loveliness is clearly going to be good; but with the products coming at quite a premium compared to competitor brands, we were keen to assess if the cutting-edge tech is worth the extra for those who can afford it.

Power meter

We’ll start with the new power meter, because it is as new as new can be. This is also the only part of the groupset that we haven’t used yet, but let's take a look at some of the tech and what we know about it so far...

It’s not exactly a secret that Campagnolo was going to be bringing out a power meter. It’s been rumoured for quite some time, there’s been patent after patent, and ever since the Super Record WRL groupset got released we always assumed that the recesses on the crank arms were for a future power meter.

> 12 reasons why you should buy, and use, a power meter

What we actually got though was a spider-based power meter, which Campagnolo calls HPPM, or HIGH PRECISION POWER MEASUREMENT (note the capital letters to really hammer it home).

In the (very brief) press release, we’re informed that the power meter uses 16 sensors and one gyroscope. It measures to an impressive claimed accuracy of +/-1%, and has a very high-frequency sampling rate.

If these claims are to be believed then it’s mighty competitive. The latest Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 power meter only has a claimed accuracy of 1.5%, with road.cc reviewers and other publications finding that it’s not always completely reliable. SRAM Red, meanwhile, we've found is more reliable courtesy of Quarq's technology, but even that only has a claimed accuracy of 1.5%.

Campagnolo's power accuracy figures, on the other hand, match that of the class-leading SRM Origin Power Meter 9, which also has 1% accuracy.

The impressive tech doesn’t stop there, as the angular velocity and torque signals are measured every five milliseconds. That’s 200 hertz, which Campagnolo says gives the clearest possible reading of the data. It’s also got a titanium axle and carbon fibre cranks.

Speaking of cranks, you can get the power crankset in the standard lengths of 170mmm, 172.5mm and 175mm, and with 45-29, 48-32 or 50-34 chainring options. The port to charge up the power meter has the same magnetic connector as the rest of the groupset, with each charge said to last over one month.

We don't yet have UK pricing, rumour has it the new power meter will retail for a whopping $2,449/€2,240, which works out at about £1,920. That's almost identical to the SRM Origin 9, but significantly more than Shimano's R9200P (£1,200) or SRAM Red (£1,125) albeit Campag's boasts better stats. 

Camagnolo says that "precise measurement matters", but this clearly doesn't come cheap. We'll be keen to hear if you think a Campagnolo power meter was worth the wait in the comments, as always.

Groupset

> Review: Campagnolo Super Record Wireless

Power meters are all well and good, but the flagship product in Campagnolo’s lineup is its latest road groupset, Super Record WRL. This is still quite new and only released last year, and we put plenty of miles in before giving it a score out of 10 (you'll find the link to the review above). 

Campagnolo’s Super Record groupsets have always been on the expensive side, but this latest one differs because as the name suggests it’s wireless.

Like SRAM AXS groupsets each mech has a separate battery, but unlike SRAM, they're not interchangeable. This means if one runs out of battery out on the road, there might be some swearing. 

> Complete guide to electronic gears

Also like we’ve seen with SRAM, the chainrings have got smaller thanks to wider range cassettes. The smallest sprocket at the back is a 10T, and that means the chainrings don’t have to be as big to get the same gear. We rather like this modern approach, and find for amateurs it generally feels more comfortable as you can stay in the big ring for longer.

In the full review we also praise the braking; Campagnolo might have been a bit later to the hydraulic disc brake game than its American or Japanese rivals, but the callipers are very powerful and stop you in a smooth way without ever feeling grabby.

Weight-wise, the latest Super Record is also competitive. On our scales the groupset came in at 2,571g excluding brake hoses, which will add just a few extra grams. That compares well with the Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset which we reviewed at 2,507g, and SRAM Red at 2,518g.

> 7 reasons why you should get electronic shifting

When riding the new groupset, the first thing you'll notice is that Campagnolo has done away with the thumb shifters, which, if you weren't aware, sat on the inside of the hoods. They were not only used on the previous version of the electronic Super Record EPS groupset, but for a good few decades before that. 

Campagnolo claims a battery range of around 750km (466 miles), but obviously, that depends on how much you use your gears. One of our review bikes using this groupset covered 415 miles and went back with around 33% left in the batteries, so that should give you a good idea of the range.

When you get to this sort of price point, value for money isn't usually as much of a deal breaker as it is for lower to mid-level groupsets. Campagnolo has always kind of had that style of delivering a product to the marketplace, and the price is what it is. In this instance, that's about £800 more than its competitors.

For a full groupset you’re looking at £4,500, which is more expensive than Shimano Dura-Ace at £4,280, and the latter comes with a power meter included; without it, you're looking at closer to £3,700. SRAM's top-end Red AXS groupset is fully wireless like Super Record, but it costs quite a bit less at about £3,700. 

The only place where Super Record isn't competitive is the price. For some that'll be a deciding factor, but for much of its target audience, it won't be. 

As for performance, it has a completely different feel from Dura-Ace and Red in the way it shifts, but I think it's neither better nor worse. It's stunning to use, and while the price is high our reviewer still scored it 9/10.

Wheels

Did you know that in the 1970s Campagnolo supplied wheels for Ferrari's Formula 1cars? While the brand is all about bike wheels nowadays, it does claim that the latest Bora Ultra WTO hoops are - as you might expect - wider, faster and lighter than ever before. Another little fact for you: WTO stands for Wind Tunnel Optimised. Who knew? 

> Campagnolo makes Bora Ultra WTO and Bora WTO road wheelsets "lighter" and "more aerodynamic"

The new range consists of 35mm, 45mm and 60mm rim depths, and we’ve got the mid-depth option here. All three depths now get an internal rim width of 23mm, which Campagnolo says will "benefits aerodynamics and trajectory control"... whatever that means!

As you’d probably expect from a set of wheels in 2024, they will happily take tubeless tyres. The new wheels still feature the distinctive G3 spoke lacing pattern, which apparently isn't just for looks, but contributes to enhanced stiffness too.

> Best road bike wheels

This is also how you can tell the Bora Ultra WTOs from the non-Ultra version. The Ultras have seven groups of spokes, whereas the lower range wheels have eight.

You still get internal spoke nipples, which do look good and is supposedly slightly more aero, but will also make them harder to work on.

We’ve previously been very impressed with the performance of Campagnolo wheels, but they have historically been a bit on the heavy side. These new rims have undergone a weight reduction of 135g compared to the previous version, meaning that this 45mm deep wheelset weighs in at 1,425 grams, which is much more competitive.

The price? £3,146.50.

Can Campagnolo still compete?

Well, in nearly all cases Campagnolo's equipment is more expensive than rivals such as Shimano and SRAM; but we’ve found that it is still capable of producing top-level tech.

The World Tour pros might not be using this gear in 2024, but we think that’s more to do with finances and luck than the quality of the products. As has been the case throughout much of Campagnolo’s history you have to pay a premium, but in return you'll still get some of the best-looking and best-performing kit in the world.

Some would argue that Campagnolo components aren't as 'special' as they once were, but in our reviews of their latest products, they do always seem to buck a trend or two.

> Check out the Colnago C40 Gold Limited Edition

Sometimes this is for better, sometimes for worse, but in nearly all cases Campagnolo seems to come at new products with a different approach to everyone else.

Campagnolo never seems to be overly concerned about making products that will sell well. A new Chorus or Centaur groupset would surely be better for revenue than a power meter which costs the best part of two grand, but that's not the Campagnolo way!

I wouldn't call myself a die-hard Campagnolo fan, but I can still respect what the brand does and respect that it seemingly designs, produces and sells whatever it wants. It's all very good, too!

Let us know what you think of Campagnolo’s latest equipment down in the comments below, as well as which of these components you’d most like to fit to your bike...