I ran the wheel support truck for a LOCAL road race back about 10 years ago. The Cat. 4 race stuffed my truck with SPARE Powertap wheels and the bed reaked of carbon. Self-financed? Yeah...with the ephasis on 'finance'. I watched a fall going up the first climb of 5 race (morons up front forgot to shift or over-estimated their legs) when two guys tangles at 7-10 MPH and just fell over on each other. One got up and stood his bike up to find the head tube had snapped of the frame and the cables were the only thing holding it on. Yeah...back-of-the-pack riders on carbon in a 5 race. And Ohio is NOT a particularly wealthy state.
Either you have it or you don't. It's just that simple. Sure, there's tham that got, but George squints when the wallet is opened. There's descriptive phrases for those sorts.
This is America, comrade. We are, indeed, defined by our wallets. To say otherwise is dishonest. In the race you need legs. In life you need dollars. In bike racing you need both.
In complete agreement with your sentiment that some 'smart' racers bomb the crits on alloy el cheapo frames and a mix of parts bin components as an insurance policy. Those guys are pretty rare in my area and when it's a road race those bikes stay at home and the Cinelli or Dogma comes out to play. And God help you if you show up at the local 20K ITT or TTT on anything less than the latest aero road rocket in a skinsuit, aero lid, aero bottles, aero wheels worth a couple grand or more. Yeah, there's always 'that guy' that shows up with fabric wheel covers (oh...all right. We'll let you enter with those...), but then again, there's always going to be 'that guy' in any endeavor.
"But for you to go off and say Campy the best and the rest is junk isn't very knowledgeable."
A Buick isn't junk. But it sure as Hell isn't a Corvette. To say that there is NOT a difference isn't very knowledgeable IMO.
"If that were true most pros would be riding the better groupset."
Professionals ride what they are paid to sit on...except for when the names are blacked out with a magic marker or tape.
"Now Campy is running in fear mode, their recently released Record looks very much like the ugly Shamino Dura Ace."
What you meant to say was their crankset looks very much like the ugly shitmaNO stuff. Except that the Campy version is both carbon fiber and very handsome. What you forgot to mention was that shitmaNO copied 4-arm spiders that were around for years in the mountain bike product range.
"People that buy Campy do so because it's iconic and unusual which in that last department is it's downfall here in America where sometimes getting parts means waiting."
Iconic? Well, I buy it for its superior function, superior durability, superior finishes, superior materials, superior technology, superior designs and superior craftsmanship. As far as parts go, I can get just about any Campy part I need to rebuild or repair or replace what I own in under 48 hours. Most shitmaNO small parts are just plain unavailable over any time period and their components are not repairable or rebuildable. That's just one more area of Campagnolo superiority.
All of the local bike shops sell shitmaNO. NONE of them stock shitmaNO pieces parts. Not even shitmaNO cables...Jagwire or such, yes. I wanted to try shimaNO pedal on that TREK I bought last winter. Guess what? Not a single local area shop had 105, Ultegra or Dura-Ass in stock. None. Chain Reaction and Planet Cylclery supplied those and the 39-53 rings and the 11-25 cassette I needed. shitmaNO availability? Yeah...maybe if you can ride with the **** that bolted onto all the geezer bikes shitmaNO equips nowadays. For me? Not so much.
"I think that Super Record is superior to anything that Shamino puts out but I can't recall one pro racer that uses that stuff."
There are several Pro Tour, Pro Continental and Continental teams using Campagnolo.
"And with Shamino 10 speed you can mix and match cheaper parts like cassettes, chains, and chain rings, but you can't do that with Campy."
Where did you come up with this? I use Chorus/Athena chains and cassettes on Record cranksets and derailleurs. You're losing me here....
I used to mix Victory with C-Record back in the 1980's.
"However Campy has, or use to have, fully rebuildable levers, Shamino does not. But Shamino splined BB is more durable than Campy's square taper however having owned square tapers including one that has over 160,000 miles on it I don't see the advantage."
I'm not sure what you just said there, but I think you just argued with yourself...and lost the argument.
"Here's another take on Campy: http://www.faston2wh...horus-groupset/"
He lost all validity with this statement: "Having been a Shimano person for a long time,". Sorry to hear that, but some folks are just not any more fixable than shitmaNO, itself.
Then the writer spews this bit of moronic ********: "Quite simply, no one was able to get this groupset to shift right for me.". Oy Vey! Either this dweeb that couldn't even work on his own bike went to five of the dumbest wrenches on the planet or he's the most cursed bike rider in the universe! A bicycle, even an 11-speed mechanically shifted one, is a VERY simple device.
Even then, we have supposedly intelligent men on this forum flat out stating the Hirth Joint has an "air gap" in it if you shim the spindle of an UltraTorque crank.
Frankly, when it comes to cycling I've never met so many cheap bastards afraid to spend a buck on a device they spend untold hours of their lives putting energy into getting it to move onward and upward AND as many idiots that can't even get their machines to shift better than a 1970's friction setup. It blows my mind to know there are that many stupid people on this little rock hurtling through space.
"I guess in a nutshell it reminds me of an old saying: You are not the contents of your wallet; nor are you defined by the component group you choose."
While not the sole defining attributes of a rider by any means, both factors are definitely in the mix. Let's just agree that we disagree on both of your assertions.
And Froze, nothing you said was taken personally and nothing in my reply is intended to be fodder for trolling on my part. Just my nearly worthless opinion of 45 seasons on Campy (with some Zeus, Triplex Sport, Huret, Simplex and what not thrown in for variety) and one 1000-mile Winter on the new 11-speed 105. Just FWIW, the 105 is mostly Meh ****, but the Ultegra pedals are really some pretty decent units.