shimano group vs. campagnola group

Hello fellow cyclists, I am thinking of getting the Shimano group ultegra double for my road bike.
Installed for $629. I could get campagnola centaur double 10 installed for $559. I could also get
Campagnola chorus double for $899 installed. What do people like better? Which would be less likely
to need repair? Would the chorus be that much better than the ultegra or centaur?

Thanks Brink

 

Chorus will be lighter and have a nicer finish than Centaur. I believe Centaur and Ultegra will both
work fine but Centaur will last longer overall, especially the shifters. I have no idea what the
hell Shimano was thinking, making the new ones with so much plastic when they aren't rebuildable.
They are fragile compared to Ultegra 8 speed STIs.

If you by the Ultegra, don't crash the levers! That was just stupid- improve the rear mech and the
crankset but over-optimize the product engineering on the most important part of the group- the
integrated shifter levers.

Terry

Brink wrote:
> Hello fellow cyclists, I am thinking of getting the Shimano group ultegra double for my road bike.
> Installed for $629. I could get campagnola centaur double 10 installed for $559. I could also get
> Campagnola chorus double for $899 installed. What do people like better? Which would be less
> likely to need repair? Would the chorus be that much better than the ultegra or centaur?
>
> Thanks Brink

 

"Brink" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]... Would the chorus be that much better than
the ultegra or
> centaur?
>
Religious choice.

Have worn out a set of 105 levers.

Replaced with Ultegra

Then mashed an ultegra lever with a lot of km on it - had got sloppy and floppy over time

Replaced with Chorus 10sp.

Love it love it love it and the levers can be rebuilt.

LBS says Centaur 10sp the best value gruppo but I have not tried it

Ain't never going back to the Evil Empire again. YMMV, best Andrew

"Wasting time is a completely relative concept. The people who understand this are the ones who
appreciate riding a bike" - John Merrall

 

In article <[email protected]>, Brink
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Hello fellow cyclists, I am thinking of getting the Shimano group ultegra double for my road bike.
>Installed for $629. I could get campagnola centaur double 10 installed for $559. I could also get
>Campagnola chorus double for $899 installed. What do people like better?

Out of the three groups you named I like Chorus the best. Not a hard choice since the others are not
really a fair comparison.

>Which would be less likely to need repair?

I would put my money on either of the Campy groups but quality of assembly has a great deal to do
with it. Bad assembly can give poor performance and damaged components no matter how good they are.
And a meticulous assembly and make inexpensive components work better and last longer.

> Would the chorus be that much better than the ultegra or centaur?

Well how much is "that much"? Centaur works great and I would pick it over Ultegra any day. Chorus
has some improved features in some parts (over Centaur) but people tend to notice shifting and
braking the most and you will not find significant differences in shifting and braking between
Centaur and Chorus. Finish and appearance are considerably better with Chorus but I wouldn't call
Centaur ugly either.

 

"Brink" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello fellow cyclists, I am thinking of getting the Shimano group ultegra double for my road bike.
> Installed for $629. I could get campagnola centaur double 10 installed for $559. I could also get
> Campagnola chorus double for $899 installed. What do people like better? Which would be less
> likely to need repair? Would the chorus be that much better than the ultegra or centaur?
>
> Thanks Brink.

I bought my bike new 3 years ago. It's all Ultegra. I have been pretty satisfied with the overall
performance, but have had to replace the right STI shifter two times so far and they are not cheap.
I'm on my third one. I am a spinner and shift a lot. With such use the right shifter seems to last
8K-10K miles. Reasonable durability? I guess, but will probably go Campy or Dura Ace on next bike.

 

On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:25:52 +0000, David Storm wrote:

> shift a lot. With such use the right shifter seems to last 8K-10K miles. Reasonable durability?

No, it's not. With my Campy shifters I have to replace two $2 parts at about that mileage. Not much
comparison there.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not _`\(,_ | certain, and as
far as they are certain, they do not refer to (_)/ (_) | reality. -- Albert Einstein

 

David L. Johnson <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:25:52 +0000, David Storm wrote:
>
> > shift a lot. With such use the right shifter seems to last 8K-10K miles. Reasonable durability?
>
> No, it's not. With my Campy shifters I have to replace two $2 parts at about that mileage. Not
> much comparison there.
>
> --
>
> David L. Johnson
>
> __o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are
not
> _`\(,_ | certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to (_)/ (_) | reality. --
> Albert Einstein
>

I'd also like to vote for the Campy. My Chorus goes thru springs as well, and there's more shifting
effort than Shimano (at least mine vs. my buddies). But in addition to being rebuildable, there's
also the legacy compatibility, which is in favor of Campy.

Bernie

 

The reason I've always opted for Shimano is that the brake hoods feel much more comfortable in my hands. Campy's hoods are far more narrow. I would imagine that the bigger your hands are, the more Campy's hoods will bother your hands. Still, I'd spend some serious saddle time with both.