want to switch from ultegra to centaur, is it a downgrade?

[phillip-8727]

gidday
i am riding an ultegra equiped bike at the moment, but i have always wanted to use compag on my next road bike. i was wondering if there is anyone here who has used both the ultegra and centaur groupsets and can give me their thoughts on the two.

obviously I'll test ride centaur at my LBS first; but i was wondering what people think of the two gropusets in areas such as the durability and longletivity of both.

thanks

 

[Mampara]

No t's not an down grade. This debate can go on for years. You will be very happy with it. The best part is that in 2005 they are bringing out a carbon crank for Centaur. Who knows, maybe carbon levers in the next 203 years.

 

[daveornee]

Originally posted by phillip-8727
gidday
i am riding an ultegra equiped bike at the moment, but i have always wanted to use compag on my next road bike. i was wondering if there is anyone here who has used both the ultegra and centaur groupsets and can give me their thoughts on the two.

obviously I'll test ride centaur at my LBS first; but i was wondering what people think of the two gropusets in areas such as the durability and longletivity of both.

thanks

Campy has serviceability in their shifter/brake levers that Shimano doesn't. This is a big pro for Campy.
Campy uses wider spacing on their cassettes so there is more dish in the wheels. This is a small con for Campy... if you have your wheels built by a good builder and you are not over 200 lbs, you should be fine.
Centaur has many of the advantages of Record and Chorus without the higher prices.
Shifting is quite different feel that you may or may not like, but I think that you can adjust to... if you want Campy.
I agree with the other poster, that the debate will continue. They are both very competitive and give us choices. There is no clear winner, or you would see only one manufacturer's products in the TdF.

 

[sfcommuter]

Depends on what you are looking for. There are many (me included) that prefer the Campy shifting mechanism and the fact the levers are rebuildable. That's going to be the biggest difference by far. Make sure you test ride a bike with the shifters first. The second biggest difference will be going to 10sp, but beyond that I can't imagine you would notice a huge difference in performance or durability with things such as cranks, derailleurs, etc.

Doing a full swap of all the components is expensive and unnecessary if all you really want is Campy shifters. More details on the options of mixing Shimano/Campy here:
http://www.hearingoffice.com/download/hearing/10_Speed_Conversion_screen.pdf