Campagnolo opinions

Dr Nick said:

Hi everybody.

I've been in hibernation since - ooh, when you wouldn't buy an aluminium
frame (even if you could) and Campag Nuovo Record really was new and
Shimano was 600 or Dura Ace and Galli was poor man's Campag and Shimano
chains were [censored] and six cog clusters were high-tech and triathletes
hadn't (quite) polluted the waters and you could still buy a Clement
Silk 6 for $30 and etc etc etc.

Now I wake up and things are different. Help me please. I'm not
terribly keen on the ubiquitous Shimano kit (with its chunky levers) and
would love a real Italian gruppo.

Back then, the choice was Campag Record/New Record (or Galli). Now
there's a long list of Campag options.

My question: is the cheaper Campag kit worth considering? (Say, Veloce
or Xenon.) How does it compare with the old stuff and the current
(shudder) Shimano stuff, performance wise and durability wise?

And are Shimano chains still [censored]? (And if so, what's the current day
Sedisport?)

Please excuse any inadvertent button pushing. Despite my flippant tone,
this is a serious question.

(But what's with that _ugly_ Dura Ace chainrings these days? And those
_grotesque_ compact frames?)

Be gentle with me.

Dave

Ahhh another Dave. Well my ofsider Ian has Veloce on a Cenelli. Seems
fine. Typical noisy campag freewheel. 20000 km so far with no major issues

Dave

Dr Nick said:

Hi everybody.

Back then, the choice was Campag Record/New Record (or Galli). Now
there's a long list of Campag options.

My question: is the cheaper Campag kit worth considering? (Say, Veloce
or Xenon.) How does it compare with the old stuff and the current
(shudder) Shimano stuff, performance wise and durability wise?

And are Shimano chains still [censored]? (And if so, what's the current day
Sedisport?)

Please excuse any inadvertent button pushing. Despite my flippant tone,
this is a serious question.

(But what's with that _ugly_ Dura Ace chainrings these days? And those
_grotesque_ compact frames?)

Be gentle with me.

Dave

we have Veloce or Centaur on out bikes. Both gruppos work well, no problems. Love the ErgoLevers.

Dr Nick said:

Hi everybody.
My question: is the cheaper Campag kit worth considering? (Say, Veloce
or Xenon.) How does it compare with the old stuff and the current
(shudder) Shimano stuff, performance wise and durability wise?
Dave

Centaur seems to have the same basic design as Chorus and record, but just uses cheaper materials. In short, if you can stretch to it, Centaur gives you the best bang for the buck. My wife had mirage on her Cinelli, and we were very unimpressed with the shifting and the general build quality. FWIW I ride Centaur so of course take this advice somewhat with a pinch...

As far as the noisy Campy gruppo goes - I've just replaced my C50 chain with a Wipperman and it's made an incredible difference. It's virtually silent when pedaling now (obviously this does nothing to reduce noise from the freewheel, but then again that's never bothered me).

Craigster.

Dave:

Quoted message said:

(Campag) Typical noisy campag freewheel.

I was very distressed when I pumped grease into my Campag hub, and the
freehub howl stopped. Ahhh, but for great howl you've got to try a
Chris King hub. It even varies pitch when you back-pedal - almost
musical.

Recently on advice on this list I bought a Nemesis chain for Chorus.
Landed in Brisbane for $48 and it works beautifully. www.bikepro.com.au
, Surrey Hills in Melbourne.

Donga

Donga

Have a look at the spare parts PDFs on the Campagnolo web site and you can
see that in a lot of cases Record, Chorus, and Centaur all share the same
internals (ie the spare part numbers are identical across the three groups).
So Centaur is the best value.

Nick

Dr Nick said:

Hi everybody.

I've been in hibernation since - ooh, when you wouldn't buy an aluminium
frame (even if you could) and Campag Nuovo Record really was new and
Shimano was 600 or Dura Ace and Galli was poor man's Campag and Shimano
chains were [censored] and six cog clusters were high-tech and triathletes
hadn't (quite) polluted the waters and you could still buy a Clement
Silk 6 for $30 and etc etc etc.

I remember back in the days when the Shimano groupset was roughly

Exage -> 105 -> 600 -> Dura Ace

and Dura Ace was the only grouppo with STI, the others had shifters on
the downtube.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

(But what's with that _ugly_ Dura Ace chainrings these days? And those
_grotesque_ compact frames?)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...

🙂

jim said:

They key difference for me is in the levers - Campy are more intuitive to
use, can be changed 'at rest', and you can jump multiple cogs front and back

You can move inward (to easier gears) up to 3 cogs at a time with Ultegra,
which is handy when turning onto a sudden hill, but outward only one at a
time.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Michael Warner said:

You can move inward (to easier gears) up to 3 cogs at a time with Ultegra,
which is handy when turning onto a sudden hill, but outward only one at a
time.

Those aint a feature. They're limitations!
Change down as many gears as you can muster and also just hold thumb down on inner ergo to change from biggest cog to smallest on Campy

I ride 04(carbon) Chorus so of course biased. was surprised recently to read how much weight diff there was b/n sh_____/campy.
Quite happy for campag to bring out their new BB/crankset design tho.
Like the noise and i loke my ergos. No silly antennae-cables nor looooong STI's.
Wouldnt mind winning a bike with STI tho to 'slum it' occassiionally 😄

F"let the games begin"Dutch

Jim:

Quoted message said:

Campy are more intuitive to use

That may be so if you are used to them and try to swap. After using
either brand for a while it is automatic. Switch from Shimano to Campag
and you'll change in the wrong direction for at least a fortnight, if
not thinking about what you're doing (speaking from experience and I'm
not a major klutz).

Donga

Quoted message said:

And are Shimano chains still [censored]?

most of the budget options still are. I much prefer using DA chains
eveywhere due to much longer life in unkind situations.

Quoted message said:

But what's with that _ugly_ Dura Ace chainrings these days?

its called stiffness, current two piece shimano cranksets have it by the
metric [censored]. Its quite helpful at the business end of a race when you
open the taps and apparently is the reason why Boonen stuck with alloy campy
cranks last year.

Dr Nick said:

My question: is the cheaper Campag kit worth considering? (Say, Veloce
or Xenon.) How does it compare with the old stuff and the current
(shudder) Shimano stuff, performance wise and durability wise?

I've been racing for 4 years with Veloce 9sp except for Daytona/Centaur
hubs. It's been great, no problems. It works as well as Record because
as someone else pointed out a lot of the internal working parts are the
same, it's just not as light or pretty. Have a look at the archive over
at rec.bicycles.tech since this isn't a specifically Australian
question and they talk about his sort of stuff all the time. And when
you decide what group to get have a look at www.probikekit.com in the
UK, much cheaper than Australia and here in a week usually. Lots of us
here buy stuff from them.

Quoted message said:

what's the current day Sedisport?

That'd be SRAM they changed their name. Nice chains and have a reusable
joining link so you can take them off to clean them if you want.

Bruce.

Dr Nick said:

Hi everybody.

I've been in hibernation since - ooh, when you wouldn't buy an aluminium
frame (even if you could) and Campag Nuovo Record really was new and
Shimano was 600 or Dura Ace and Galli was poor man's Campag and Shimano
chains were [censored] and six cog clusters were high-tech and triathletes
hadn't (quite) polluted the waters and you could still buy a Clement
Silk 6 for $30 and etc etc etc.

Now I wake up and things are different. Help me please. I'm not
terribly keen on the ubiquitous Shimano kit (with its chunky levers) and
would love a real Italian gruppo.

Back then, the choice was Campag Record/New Record (or Galli). Now
there's a long list of Campag options.

My question: is the cheaper Campag kit worth considering? (Say, Veloce
or Xenon.) How does it compare with the old stuff and the current
(shudder) Shimano stuff, performance wise and durability wise?

And are Shimano chains still [censored]? (And if so, what's the current day
Sedisport?)

Please excuse any inadvertent button pushing. Despite my flippant tone,
this is a serious question.

(But what's with that _ugly_ Dura Ace chainrings these days? And those
_grotesque_ compact frames?)

Be gentle with me.

Dave

I have had Centaur for almost two years now and have had to have both levers rebuilt. In that time i have done prob. around 35,000k's so if that seems reasonable wear i'll take it but i still think levers should last a bit longer than 18 months for that price. From experience i would upgrade to Chorus if i could, as i race a hell of a lot, though for general riding Centaur would be perfect.

Also, i use durace and ultegra 10 speed chains on my campag system and they work perfectly. Only $38 each from probikekit.

Dr Nick:

Quoted message said:

levers should last a bit longer than 18 months for that price. From experience i would upgrade to Chorus

I've just paid $150 to have a Chorus ergo rebuilt - broken return
spring. Only 18 months old and still in warranty, but I bought it while
travelling in Italy. The Oz distributor would repair it on warranty, by
returning it to Italy. So I forked out, trusting Italy Post even less
than Aust Post.

Points:
- Chorus may not be more durable than Centaur
- Risk in buying OS

....and should have mentioned: at least it can be fixed!

Donga said:

Dr Nick:

Quoted message said:

levers should last a bit longer than 18 months for that price. From experience i would upgrade to Chorus

I've just paid $150 to have a Chorus ergo rebuilt - broken return
spring. Only 18 months old and still in warranty, but I bought it while
travelling in Italy. The Oz distributor would repair it on warranty, by
returning it to Italy. So I forked out, trusting Italy Post even less
than Aust Post.

Points:
- Chorus may not be more durable than Centaur
- Risk in buying OS

and just quietly.....

CAMPAGS AFTERSALES SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA IS USELESS!!!

byron27 said:

I have had Centaur for almost two years now and have had to have both levers rebuilt. In that time i have done prob. around 35,000k's so if that seems reasonable wear i'll take it but i still think levers should last a bit longer than 18 months for that price.

Is that normal? I know we're talking Campag here but my Shimano Tiagra levers have been going three years, rain hail and shine for 55,000kms and haven't skipped a beat. Not saying Shimano's better than Campag 'cause I've never used Campag, just offering that little factoid is all so no knickers in a twist please :-)

EuanB said:

Is that normal? I know we're talking Campag here but my Shimano Tiagra levers have been going three years, rain hail and shine for 55,000kms and haven't skipped a beat. Not saying Shimano's better than Campag 'cause I've never used Campag, just offering that little factoid is all so no knickers in a twist please :-)

Well i had a pair of Ultegra levers for 4 years that did 3 years fulltime couriering and about 10,000k training and they are still in workable order so yes, i do question their longevity to a degree.

That said, apparently record is unbreakable and lasts forever from accounts i have been privvy to.

EuanB said:

byron27 said:

I have had Centaur for almost two years now and have had to have both
levers rebuilt. In that time i have done prob. around 35,000k's so if
that seems reasonable wear i'll take it but i still think levers should
last a bit longer than 18 months for that price.

Is that normal? I know we're talking Campag here but my Shimano
Tiagra levers have been going three years, rain hail and shine for
55,000kms and haven't skipped a beat. Not saying Shimano's better than
Campag 'cause I've never used Campag, just offering that little factoid
is all so no knickers in a twist please :-)

likewise with my 105 levers. 56,000km and a little vague and loose,
but still working fine.

quote='Bleve'EuanB said:

byron27 said:

I have had Centaur for almost two years now and have had to have both
levers rebuilt. In that time i have done prob. around 35,000k's so if
that seems reasonable wear i'll take it but i still think levers should
last a bit longer than 18 months for that price.

Is that normal? I know we're talking Campag here but my Shimano
Tiagra levers have been going three years, rain hail and shine for
55,000kms and haven't skipped a beat. Not saying Shimano's better than
Campag 'cause I've never used Campag, just offering that little factoid
is all so no knickers in a twist please :-)

likewise with my 105 levers. 56,000km and a little vague and loose,
but still working fine.[/QUOTE]

Vagueness? I have a little trouble feathering the front sometimes but put that down to clumsy fingers. Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?