Tools for Campag Ekar

If someone with a reasonably well stocked home workshop was to take on a Campagnolo Ekar groupset, what new tools would they have to consider?

Hmmm, my main worry would be the cassette/freehub. I’m guessing it’s a totally different system and locking ring pattern to everything else.

Yeah, I think I knew their lock ring is unique to them. Wondered if they used another “standard” for bottom bracket cups. I assume the crank itself is a conventional bolt.

Mind you, I’m old enough to remember the last time they strayed from the pure road market and how quickly support for those groupsets dried up. Maybe Campag isn’t the smart choice.

I can’t help but like the idea it’s got 13 sprockets one being a dinky 9t job, after a bit of reading it turns out they’ve found a way to make the freehub body sort of backwards compatible with a little adapter (so maybe the locking patern is the same as older campag?). it’s new, fancy, super expensive and Italian…

But I could never justify the purchase price and you just know that you’d never find emergency spares for it in a regular bike shop…

The best mechanical gravel group available to buy today, but no bugger will ever buy it because GRX and CX1 are pretty good, will have better spares availability and cost less.

It’s a shame.

You’ll likely need torx drivers for the shifter clamps and rear mech. A socket extension with a hex driver, or long hex wrench, for the (presumably) Ultratorque crank bolt. Campagnolo cassette lockrings require a slightly different shaped tool to Shimano, but these should be cheap (< a tenner off ebay/amazon). Your Shimano BB tool will work with a Campagnolo BB (presuming Ultratorque, it may have changed).

Cheers. Doesn’t sound too tool intensive then.

Just the question of Soares availability going forward.

The only thing that may stump you is if you need to replace the BB bearings. You should use a bearing puller and a drift, I’ve done it in the past with screwdrivers and a mallet, but this was on an older 10 speed crankset with alloy arms.

Campagnolo spares have historically been very good, but that was in simpler times when everything was mechanical and cable actuated. I believe Magura are/were involved with the disc brake side of things, so I imagine those spares shouldn’t be an issue. The only thing that’d put me off is the price of replacing the “consumables” i.e. cassette, chainrings and chain – I can’t imagine they’re cheap.

The only thing that may stump you is if you need to replace the BB bearings.

Unior has a kit for this that’s 60 euros, Park Tools’ is 100.

Are they something oddball, or will a set of blind bearing pullers do the trick?

You need something to support the puller on top of the hirth joint in the spindle without damaging it. The ready-mades are shaped to do this, but you could probably figure something out for a generic one.