Campagnolo Record 13: with such a glorious history the latest generation has a lot to live up to – can it still cut it?

The new groupset is designed to provide a more accessible entry point into the Vicenza company's 13-speed platform via differences in material selection and finished – but it shares tech and full compatibility with Super Record

Photos: Campagnolo and Orbea Words: Neal Hunt

Campagnolo has expanded its 13-speed wireless platform with the launch of Record 13, bringing the same smoother shifting and faster gear changes as Super Record and Super Record X to a wider audience and, impressively, across five configurations at a price that definitely puts it on the radar for consumers and rival brands alike.

The words ‘Campagnolo Record’ for me bring back fond memories of the late ‘90s nine-speed groupsets. My first job in the bike industry as a teenager was building bikes with what I still think is one of the most aesthetically pleasing groupsets ever, with its svelte chainset with super-short bottom bracket axles, the neat small levers with the iconic thumbshifter and those gorgeously polished brakes with hidden bolts for no other reason than that they looked great. But time marches on: has the latest launch from the Vicenza brand moved the needle to keep up with its rivals, or is it a nostalgia trip that misses the mark?

I'll be honest, there was a period not that long ago where it felt like Campagnolo was in danger of becoming a heritage brand in the worst sense of the word. Beloved, respected, beautifully made, but increasingly a choice for those who valued tradition over having the most technically current groupset on their bike. The competition had caught up in the areas that should have been Campagnolo's to own: ergonomics, shift quality, and neater, easier-to-live-with electronic integration. The brand's absence from the WorldTour peloton was also hard to ignore for a company whose entire identity was bound up with the sport at the highest level.

Thankfully, that narrative has shifted considerably. When Campagnolo launched Super Record 13, the world's first wireless 2x13-speed groupset, it could have felt like a Spinal Tap moment, simply adding one more sprocket instead of genuine innovation, but it was in reality far from that. It had improved in all the key areas it needed to and put the Vicenza brand back on the radar, but at a price that was simply out of reach for many.

Then came the Cofidis partnership, which put Campagnolo back where it belongs: on professional race bikes, in the pro peloton. And although the longstanding French team isn't always seen as the sport's most dominant, it gave the brand back the racing kudos it deserves. It's also proof that the 13-speed platform isn't just technically impressive on paper; it's race-ready in the real world, where conditions are harder and the consequences of failure more visible.

Super Record technology

Record 13 is the next chapter of that story. Where Super Record 13 made the case, Record 13 opens that technology up to a wider audience, including the booming gravel and adventure bike market. When you expand a premium platform down in price, the temptation is to make cuts that feel small on a spec sheet but that riders notice immediately in use. Campagnolo has been careful not to do that, and the choices it has made about where to accept a weight penalty versus where to hold the line on performance tell you quite a lot about how seriously they're taking this.

Record 13 and Super Record 13 share the same platform, architecture, and origin. They are cut from the same cloth, yet the lower price point means we should see much more of it out on the roads and trails, which can only be a good thing.

The shifting speed is identical. The Ergopower architecture, redesigned in 2025 to provide full access to all functions from the tops, drops, or forward position, remains identical. And yes, that means the famous thumb shifter that many felt was a mistake when omitted from previous Super Record groupsets is still there.

The brake calliper body is the same as Super Record’s. The battery is the same: 750 kilometres of range, USB-C charging from a power bank, a plug, or, in an emergency, your phone, with no proprietary charger required. That last detail might sound small, but anyone who has turned up at a hotel with a dead groupset and the wrong charging cable will understand exactly why it matters; even more so for anyone with gravel or bikepacking adventures in mind. The derailleur kinematics are the same. The chain path geometry across the gear range is the same. The gear progression on the cassette, those closely spaced yet broad ratios that are one of the genuinely distinctive things about riding a 13-speed drivetrain, is the same.

Material differences

Where it differs from Super Record, as you might expect, is in materials rather than performance. The crankset uses a stainless steel axle instead of titanium, and the less-stressed areas of the crank arm use a low-density technopolymer, whereas Super Record uses hollowed carbon – yet it still offers seven different chainring combinations and eight aero options for the 1x option, which has been an increasingly more popular option given the increase in wider tyres and the clearances they require. The power meter option is also available across all configurations for an additional €600 and still maintains ±2% accuracy.

The derailleur itself shows the brand's intent, with two versions to meet the ever-growing expectations of what consumers use drop-bar bikes for. Record takes the same architecture as the Super Record derailleur, and the Record X variant opens it up to a wider range of gravel and adventure bike riders who want to run 1x or just value the extra gear range, security, and chain retention the X variant offers.

The rear mech's body is carbon fibre-reinforced polyamide, paired with a completely redesigned internal steel cage, a combination that Campagnolo says delivers exceptional lightness, strength, and reliability, and which I have no particular reason to doubt given the care that's gone into the rest of it. The 14-tooth narrow-wide pulleys run stainless steel bearings top and bottom, unlike the mix of ceramic and steel found on Super Record, which still delivers the precision and shift quality but at a cost saving. The Record X gravel derailleur uses the same Nano Clutch and long cage as the Super Record X, with a 12+16 tooth pulley configuration, for cassettes up to 48 teeth.

Five configurations launch simultaneously today, which is significant in itself for a brand that prides itself on its completely European-based production. Campagnolo is presenting the complete platform in one go rather than teasing it out over months. Road, Gravel, All Road, and two 1x variants cover the full breadth of drop-bar cycling as it currently exists, and the decision to include gravel and all-road configurations from day one reflects where the market actually is, not where it was five years ago, which, for this Campagnolo fan in particular, is great to see.

Campagnolo Record 13 shifters from the front

On top of that, it looks like they are making inroads back into OE, or original equipment, on bikes from several brands, including Orbea, which is announcing bikes with Record and Record X spec. This may not mean much to most consumers at first, but it's an area the Vicenza brand has struggled with against the likes of Shimano and SRAM in the past, and does mean we will see more of this groupset on shop floors and showrooms and not just in pictures, and this bodes well for the health of Campagnolo in general, since this is where the vast majority of sales are to be found.

Competitive pricing

The 2x Road, X Gravel, and 1x Road variants are available immediately; the 1x Road and All Road configurations follow in July. Pricing opens at €2,129 for the gravel and 1x road setups, rising to €2,699 for the 2x road groupset. For context, SRAM's equivalent Red AXS sits above that, and Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 is in similar territory. That is not cheap in absolute terms, but set against what this groupset is, where it comes from, and for a brand that manufactures entirely in Europe, within its own facilities, I think it's genuinely competitive. The fact that they can hold that manufacturing position and still arrive at this price point is, if you think about it, a remarkable thing.

The MyCampy app makes fine-tuning the groupset far easier than earlier electronic groupsets (and also ends the argument on whether it's Campag or Campy, though it shall always be Campag in my workshop), available on iOS and Android, handling firmware updates, button customisation, ANT+ integration with Garmin and Wahoo, and full component diagnostics in real time. Like with other electronic groupsets, you can reassign functions across every lever and button; there are factory presets and an accessible preset for one-handed riding that are easily configured in the app, and are genuinely thoughtful and useful additions.

Ergopower controls from the 13 platform are also backwards-compatible with the Super Record 12 WRL system, which matters to anyone already invested in that ecosystem. The groupset evolves wirelessly over time, which means what you buy today isn't necessarily what you'll be riding in a year's time. New features, performance improvements, and expanded customisation options can all arrive via a software update. In an era where products can sometimes be obsolete the moment you open the box, it makes a refreshing change.

Campagnolo has been making components in Vicenza since 1930. The quick-release skewer, the automatic pedal, the Ergopower lever, Delta brakes, early adoption of factory-built wheels, the list goes on and on. These aren't just products; they're cycling inventions and innovations that have changed how the sport works.

The move to 13 speeds was another moment of genuine first-mover ambition, and the Cofidis partnership that brought Campagnolo back to the WorldTour gave the platform the race-proven credibility it needed. Record 13 confirms that the ambition wasn't a one-off. It is, as far as I can tell, the clearest signal yet of where Campagnolo intends to go: build the best platform, build it in Italy, make it available to as many riders as possible without diluting what makes it special, and be present at the highest level of the sport to prove it works under pressure. The brand that I and many others have loved for so long looks like it's back on the right track and bang up to date for both traditionalists and rapidly changing gravel and adventure riders alike.