Campagnolo (Italy) - Press Release: Ekar is not just the world’s lightest gravel groupset, it’s also reliable, durable and fast – and it was born tough.

Born on the mountain that gave the new groupset its name and with which it shares unmistakable and authentic characteristics. Cima Ekar is a charmingly diverse little gravel paradise in the Ventian PreAlps. It’s not the highest peak, it’s not the steepest climb, and it's not a celebrated regular on the Corsa Rosa or the other big-name Italian bike races. But it embodies gravel riding at its very heart – it’s almost as if it was made for us to find, explore and adventure together, to test our skill, technique and fitness, and prove our passion, spirit and camaraderie. It’s a special cyclist’s playground with a character that’s simultaneously unique, epitomizing the appeal of Italian gravel, yet that shares elements of its makeup with all the countless unmade roads, broken tracks, natural trails, and swooping singletrack right around the world that we call ‘gravel’.

Ekar’s is a character that changes with the seasons, waxing and waning like the moon above and sometimes showing a secret sparkle like the stars. To get the best fun and your finest performance on the technical climbs, the thrilling descents and the undulating paths, you need confidence that you and your bike can tame it together in perfect harmony. You need a gear ratio range that’s not only wide, but also spaced to intuitively work with your cadence as you take the rough with the smooth. Mt Ekar is where we worked it out how our 13-speed system would deliver so well. Hit the roots, the ruts and trailway drop-offs and you’ll want the best chain security only a specially-designed 1x system can achieve. It’s on Mt Ekar that the countless test rides proved our groupset’s capabilities so it's ready for your trails. Mix the sweat of sustained effort with the spring shower and you’ll be glad of Ekar’s ergonomically designed Ergopower controls, and as we approach ski season you’ll appreciate the new grip of the gravel-ready Ergopower levers. To ride fast of course you need to brake fast – with power on tap and the subtle modulation to keep you always feeling in control. Once again, it was our long days on Ekar that showed us the way.

At Ekar’s 1364m peak there’s a famous observatory. With its giant telescope pointing towards the heavens, it’s where science meets spirituality. And it’s under the shadow of this seat of learning that the Ekar gravel groupset found its spirit and its identity. We almost don’t want to tell you about Cima Ekar. We hesitated before we pressed the ‘publish’ button on this story. Part of us wants to keep it quiet, keep it under the radar, a discreet chapter in the Campagnolo gravel-riding heritage… maybe we weren’t so good at sharing when we were kids? But we’re beyond that now – now the Ekar Groupset is available, our pride has overtaken our privacy. Ekar is open to everyone, and we can show you the perfect way to get the best from this little gravel paradise.

Discover Ekar.