catlike said:
Looking to replace may curent Sora bike with new one. I consider to equip it with veloce (mainly becauce of thumb shifting I like i am swithing from Shimano to Campagnolo ).
The qestion is how do 2010 and 2011 compares to each other. I don't care about skeleton brakes, but as I understand from campagnolo website Cranksets and Shifters mechanism are redesigned. 2011 are better or worse? Or no big diferences here.
I can see some good prices for 2010 veloce (420 euro- it is less than 105 5700). Any rumours on pricing of veloce 2011? Up, still or down?
First, whether or not you should opt for the 2010 Veloce or get the 2011 Veloce -- I'll bet
dollars-to-donuts that the internal mechanism of the 2011 Veloce-and-ilk shifters is a variation of the Xenon-based internals of the 2010 shifters with the exception (if Campagnolo is "smart") that it will be rebuildable (i.e., the shaft on which the escape mechanism pivots will be replaceable/removable so the other parts can be readily replaced).
I think the Xenon shifter mechanism is a brilliant design, but the big-brother Ergo shifter is much better because it is more robust & rebuildable PLUS the left shifter on the Campagnolo Ergo shifter can be used with ANY front derailleur-and-chain combination whereas the Xenon design has limited capability -- maybe, the new, presumably-Xenon-based Left shifter will have more indexing 'indents'.
I still can't quite embrace the new hood design, but that's just me.
FYI. I have found that the 10-speed Campagnolo shifters + 8-/9-speed Shimano rear derailleur == 8-speed Shimano indexing (which is the close-enough to 8-speed Campagnolo indexing, if it matters to you) ...
So, you can update your Shimano SORA equipped bike by simply changing the shifters to a 10-speed Chorus (or, Record) shifters OR any pre-2007 (i.e., non-QS) 10-speed Campagnolo shifter & directly connect the rear derailleur cable to your Sora rear derailleur OR (recommended) replace the Sora rear derailleur with a nicer 9-speed Shimano rear derailleur (i.e., 105-or-better Road rear derailleur OR 9-speed Shimano MTB rear derailleur).
If you want to change to a 9-speed cassette, then buy a 10-speed Shimano rear derailleur.
You won't have to change the front derailleur.
Do change the brake & derailleur cable & housing! Campagnolo's cables/housing are subjectively
the best
... Shimano's cables & housing are excellent, too. I'm
not keen on the parallel stranded housing which both Campagnolo & Shimano supply with their cable sets, and I always felt that the Shimano derailleur housing was subjectively worse than Campagnolo's otherwise I would guess they are comparable since they are (AFAIK) sourced from the same manufacturers.
So, I recommend you track down a lightly used
or NOS pair of pre-2007, 10-speed Campagnolo shifters
or any pair of 10-speed Record-or-Chorus shifters rather than buying an entire group -- 2010, or 2011 -- because there are practical reasons to continue to use Shimano/-compatible wheels ...
If the 2010 Veloce shifters are the 'new' design, then I recommend that you get it; but, I thought the 2010 Veloce still the earlier, Xenon-based 'QS' shifters.
As far as the new Power Torque crankset vs. the Ultra Torque -- I have always been critical of the Hirth coupling ... so, IMO, the new crank whose design echoes that used by everyone else is probably better.
BTW/FWIW. I've chosen to put my cranks which have external bearings on my
lesser bikes ... and, have reverted to square taper Campagnolo or Octalink Shimano on what I consider to be my
better bikes.
