I feel better now. I haven't owned 11s Campy and didn't know if Campy had abandoned the hirth joint for their higher end stuff. Apparently they believe there to be enough merit in the hirth joint which used to be in the lower level Campy cranks as you know to maintain it for their 2012 Record and Super Record 11s. So I am in good company. and my crank hasn't been obsoleted. Pretty much the industry standard excepting Specialized cranks which are a Campy clone replete with hirth joint is some version of Campy's Power Torque as Mazda mentioned...long spindle with splined left crank arms and bearings separated from the crank unlike Ultra Torque. I will say my 2006 Chorus carbon UT crank has been perfect really. In fact still on original bearings with many thousands of miles. I have read that some have gone 20K miles on original Campy UT bearings. I do service my bearings at about 3-4K miles with fresh grease and rarely get caught riding in the rain.

A question to those that have run ceramic bearings...what I believe Campy calls CULT bearings in their Super Record. Can somebody share whether these are worth it over conventional stainless bearings?...durability?...perceived reduction in rotating drag or any smoothness difference?
Thanks
PS: Halfspeed, can you clarify something? In bold above you state the right bearing is preinstalled on what I believe would be the long spindle side of the crankset, next to the chainrings. Is this bearing preinstalled with a press fit? If so, it seems like it would take a very long bearing puller to remove it with such a long spindle...or the right side bearing a slip fit over the spindle and held in place with a circlip? Thanks for any clarification.