Campagnolo (Finally!) Gets the Stages Power Treatment

Who makes the best cranks in the world? Getting anyone to agree on that may be impossible, but everyone would agree, Campagnolo needs to be on the list and if not on the top step, very near to it. Look at the Super Record crank, with a Hirth joint at its heart, ceramic bearings, a Ti spindle, hollow cranks and spindle arms, unbelievable stiffness and a weight of just 603grams it is at the sharp end of any stiffness-to-weight ratio chart and now Stages Cycling has created the Stages Power Campagnolo power meter to affix to the Super Record, Record and Chorus crank arms.

PELOTON

Stages Cycling first launched its power meter on alloy cranks with a small, super light, non-drive side strain gauge measuring power. The way alloy deflects is much more predictable than carbon. After power is put through the crank alloy returns to a more easily repeatable zero. Carbon, with the fibers and resin combining to carry the load, has a less consistent state of rest. Stages eventually solved these issues for SRAM, FSA and Race Face carbon cranks but Campagnolo remained a puzzle.

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“The Campagnolo carbon power meters proved to be a unique engineering challenge,” said Pat Warner, Stages Cycling Senior Vice President. “Campagnolo’s carbon design is entirely different and it took more time than anticipated to meter. We ended up creating a new iteration of our Stages Cycling power meter for the iconic Italian brand’s crank sets.”

“Working with the team at Stages Cycling has been an absolute pleasure,” said Tom Kattus, General Manager of Campagnolo North America. “The complex construction of our crank arms presented some challenges to the engineering team, and they were relentless in their pursuit to create a perfect solution. We worked closely with the team to understand our unique construction and they designed a power meter specific to Campagnolo. We are thrilled that the project has come to fruition and that Stages Cycling is now offering a complete line of power meters to complement our carbon group sets.”

The Campagnolo power meter is the first Stages Power meter to feature a new body that actually wraps around the crank arm itself as if it is clipped onto the arm when in actuality it is fixed with epoxy like a traditional Stages meter. The wings house the strain gauges that measure power, a location unlike any other Stages meter.

“Once in rigorous testing we learned that Campagnolo needed both a custom gauge and custom gauge placement in order to accurately and consistently (over all loads and temperatures) measure the crank arm deflection. It simply took this long to get the gauge design correct and implemented in production. Our Campagnolo meters look different, but they are have been our most tested meters to date (before release) and now we’re as confident in their quality as any of the other meters we’re manufacturing.” Matt Pacocha, Stages Cycling Global Marketing Director, told us.

PELOTON had initially heard reports that Stages had planned to launch its carbon power meter with Campagnolo first, so it is a project they have been working on for a number of seasons and it has finally come to fruition. The new Stages Cycling power meters for Campagnolo Super Record, Record, and Chorus crank arms in 170mm, 172.5mm, and 175mm lengths are available for $950, $800, and $700 USD respectively.

For more info on Stages or to buy a meter go to Stages Cycling, for more on Campagnolo cranks head to campagnolo.com.