Road Bike Racing - Racing with Campy--how much does it cost?

So, as I'm saving my pennies for an '07 Chorus group for my new Pinarello, I can't help but notice that Campy parts tend to have a lot of their expense (and Carbon bits) in the parts that wear out or are easily damaged in a crash, like cassettes and rear derailleurs. Granted, the brifters are cheaper and rebuildable, but the crashability of the CF brifter is a bit of a question mark in my mind.

I know there's a lot of Campy being ridden by the folks who don't have to pay for it, but I'd be curious to hear from some mere mortals about maintenance costs on their Campy-equipped race bikes... How fast do cassettes wear out? How durable is the CF derailleur linkage?

These are the things that occupy my mind when I'm too broke to buy the stuff... :rolleyes:

My experience of racing on Campy is what lead me to Shimano.

Granted, it was 10+ years ago, but after a few crashes, i realized that the smart thing to race on - for me - was ultegra. worked fine, and was cheaper and quicker to replace than chorus. :)

Good things about Campy. Shifters are fixable. Parts last longer. Coolness factor.

Bad thing. Levers are smaller with my big hands.

I ride Campy anyways. Kinda' like owning a 'Cuda, when everyone else had a Camaro.

I've raced Campy for several years now. What I've found is:

a) The stuff doesn't wear out

b) The carbon bits (especially the levers) hold up as well or better in a crash than aluminum parts

c) If you're racing a Pinarello, worrying about the expense of Campy is Pin-heado :) Sort of like racing a vintage Cobra and worrying about tire cost.

Have you considered going Centaur?

Well you can save some money by using Chorus or Centaur Cassettes rather than blowing through the titanium cogs of the Record.

You can buy replacement derailleur cages, pulleys and probably that carbon faceplate.

Have you considered going Centaur?

+1

Also, are you really going to race that gorgeous bike? Crits? You have more confidence in your fellow racers than I would or do.

+1

Also, are you really going to race that gorgeous bike? Crits? You have more confidence in your fellow racers than I would or do.

I think I will give centaur a look, at least for replacement parts.

If I'm not going to race it, what the hell is the point of buying a high-end racing frame? To stare at it all day and be the biggest poseur at the local charity ride? I bought a race bike to do just that--race. And if I'm too broke to replace the frame in the very unlikely event of a catastrophic failure, I guess it's back to the $99 SRS-3 frame till I can afford a new one. ;)

I've raced Campy for several years now. What I've found is:

a) The stuff doesn't wear out

b) The carbon bits (especially the levers) hold up as well or better in a crash than aluminum parts

c) If you're racing a Pinarello, worrying about the expense of Campy is Pin-heado :) Sort of like racing a vintage Cobra and worrying about tire cost.

All good points... especially the pin-heado part. :D Good to hear that the durability is what I would've expected from Campy.

I ride with Chorus but as soon as stuff starts breaking I will probably drop down to centaur or veloce

my other bike has veloce/mirage mix and i dont notice any difference in performance between them and the chorus setup.

Don't race it if you can't afford to replace it...

Yeah, I guess if there's room on the emergency credit card for a new frame, I shouldn't sweat the cost of cassettes or derailleurs. :)

Yeah, I guess if there's room on the emergency credit card for a new frame, I shouldn't sweat the cost of cassettes or derailleurs. :)


Yes, yes God bless the emergency credit card :D

I raced on this (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/rockhillcrit.JPG) the beginning of this year.

I ended up here (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/PIX__11.jpg)

Now I race on this (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/NoahSprint.JPG)

About a one week turn around :D

Yes, yes God bless the emergency credit card :D

I raced on this (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/rockhillcrit.JPG) the beginning of this year.

I ended up here (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/PIX__11.jpg)

Now I race on this (http://noahsbucket-o-fish.i8.com/PICS/NoahSprint.JPG)

About a one week turn around :D

Yeah, the definition of "emergency" becomes pretty flexible as the season wears on... :D

I have Centaur on my cross bike/commuter and it is race-able. The feel of the brake levers is just gorgeous. The shifting is great. I just ordered the Centaur Ultra-Torque Compact crankset for that bike.

The price jump between Chorus and Centaur is huge, and the weight difference is discernable. Things like the crank, the weight is like 150 grams lighter. I would go over the parts list carefully, and figure out the diifference in weight and judge if it is worth it. The functionality of the parts will be almost the same.

I wouldn't worry at all about wrecking the stuff, it'll hold up. And if it does get 'hurt' you can replace the bits, instead of the whole piece.

I have Centaur on my cross bike/commuter and it is race-able. The feel of the brake levers is just gorgeous. The shifting is great. I just ordered the Centaur Ultra-Torque Compact crankset for that bike.

The price jump between Chorus and Centaur is huge, and the weight difference is discernable. Things like the crank, the weight is like 150 grams lighter. I would go over the parts list carefully, and figure out the diifference in weight and judge if it is worth it. The functionality of the parts will be almost the same.

I wouldn't worry at all about wrecking the stuff, it'll hold up. And if it does get 'hurt' you can replace the bits, instead of the whole piece.

Huh... excellent advice. Good to know that the Centaur group is that comparable. I think I will hold out for some Chorus brifters, though, because one of the main things I like about the Campy design is the ability to upshift multiple gears at once.

I actually found some bargains on ebay for Chorus derailleurs... $131 for an RD and $57 for the FD, all '07 QS stuff, so that was nice, but given your advice it looks like the Centaur derailleurs are one spot where you can save a ton of money with minimal weight gain... Where were you last night, flythebike? :)

As a mechanic, having rebuilt a number of Campy shifters and having seen exactly zero D/A STI levers 'go bad' from anything other than a crash, I beg to differ with the 'lasts forever' hearsay. Shimano uses pawls, Campy uses what are called 'index springs' which by nature are guaranteed to wear out and break eventually. The spring carrier also has a limited lifespan...eventually the washer will saw through the long post sticking out of it. I've seen some mechanics come up with some interesting modifications to solve the latter problem, with varying degrees of success.

The good: you can rebuild them, and parts are...relatively...cheap (only the index gears are really pricey and they tend not to wear out, not like the spring carrier and not at all like the index springs)

The bad: you *will* have to rebuild them eventually, and far sooner than you're likely to have to replace a 7800 STI lever.

(Please don't bombard me with 'well my friend knows a guy whose D/A shifter failed so hah'...I know there are stories, but *I* personally haven't seen any, and I rebuild Campy shifters probably once a month, new and old alike)

I have Campy Daytona (Centaur basically) on my first road bike, a Torelli Corsa Strada. I used that in crits when I first started racing. Prior to that I was using the bike for a lot of centuries and distance events. In the 3 years that I've owned that bike, I don't think I've done a thing to it except replace a spring in the shifter.

Huh... excellent advice. Good to know that the Centaur group is that comparable. I think I will hold out for some Chorus brifters, though, because one of the main things I like about the Campy design is the ability to upshift multiple gears at once.

I actually found some bargains on ebay for Chorus derailleurs... $131 for an RD and $57 for the FD, all '07 QS stuff, so that was nice, but given your advice it looks like the Centaur derailleurs are one spot where you can save a ton of money with minimal weight gain... Where were you last night, flythebike? :)

I have school on Monday nights.

The thing to remember with the Campy stuff, I think, is that the top three groups work almost the same, the only difference is the weight. The Chorus and Record stuff probably shifts just a little better and has slightly better action.

The problem with Shimano is the stuff tends to get sloppy over time, even if it does take awhile for that to happen. I've had the shifters totally stop working in really cold temperatures, like 20-30 degrees F. You'll try to shift into an easier gear and the shifter just won't catch. So you get to ride whatever cog you downshifted to.

Pete I bought some Centaur shifters like a month ago and thought I'd get QS, but it ended up being 06 stuff. I don't really care either way though. Just saying I guess some 06 stuff is kicking around. I just bought an 07 Centaur Ultra Torque crank, but forgot to get the cups, so I can't comment on the thing yet, other than it looks like old alloy record stuff in terms of finish.

I don't see why you couldn't race Veloce on up. If you are on centaur, it's mechanically identical to veloce, as I remember. Veloce just isn't quite as pretty.

i have '07 centaur with '07 chorus brifters... it's sweet. '07 centaur rear der. is carbon, & almost identical to '06 chorus. the qs feature is nice, too.

i have '07 centaur with '07 chorus brifters... it's sweet. '07 centaur rear der. is carbon, & almost identical to '06 chorus. the qs feature is nice, too.

I did just discover the Centaur cassette. it's something like 13g heavier than Chorus but saves a good amount of money. Apparently has the same sprockets and surface coating as Record but has slightly heavier innards.

If I hadn't gotten a great deal on some Chorus derailleurs I probably would've gone for the same setup, but I've gotten pretty lucky on ebay with some Chorus components. For instance, FD for $57, RD for $130, brifters and cables for $225, all brand new.

Now if I can just get a good deal on some cranks...

The problem with Shimano is the stuff tends to get sloppy over time, even if it does take awhile for that to happen. I've had the shifters totally stop working in really cold temperatures, like 20-30 degrees F. You'll try to shift into an easier gear and the shifter just won't catch. So you get to ride whatever cog you downshifted to.

9 or 10 speed? The internals are TOTALLY different. Ghosty shifting was a common problem on 9spd Shimano and has been, as I understand, all but solved in the 10spd stuff. I've seen a number of dead 9spd shifters come into the shop and have not as such seen the same problem on a single D/A 10. Even Tiagra has been redesigned for 2007 to mimic the 10spd internals, even though it's still 9spd.

the crashability of the CF brifter is a bit of a question mark in my mind.

My chorus lever has a nice patch of road rash on it. Still works fine.

9 or 10 speed? The internals are TOTALLY different. Ghosty shifting was a common problem on 9spd Shimano and has been, as I understand, all but solved in the 10spd stuff. I've seen a number of dead 9spd shifters come into the shop and have not as such seen the same problem on a single D/A 10. Even Tiagra has been redesigned for 2007 to mimic the 10spd internals, even though it's still 9spd.

Yeah this was 9 speed. Enough of a problem to turn me off of the brand though. My wheels are all Campy now so I'm not about to go back.

I have school on Monday nights.

The thing to remember with the Campy stuff, I think, is that the top three groups work almost the same, the only difference is the weight. The Chorus and Record stuff probably shifts just a little better and has slightly better action.

The problem with Shimano is the stuff tends to get sloppy over time, even if it does take awhile for that to happen. I've had the shifters totally stop working in really cold temperatures, like 20-30 degrees F. You'll try to shift into an easier gear and the shifter just won't catch. So you get to ride whatever cog you downshifted to.

Pete I bought some Centaur shifters like a month ago and thought I'd get QS, but it ended up being 06 stuff. I don't really care either way though. Just saying I guess some 06 stuff is kicking around. I just bought an 07 Centaur Ultra Torque crank, but forgot to get the cups, so I can't comment on the thing yet, other than it looks like old alloy record stuff in terms of finish.

The reason your shifters wouldn't "catch" in the cold is because the grease in them got too stiff, and the spring wouldn't return to the "pre-catch" position. This will also happen in warm enviornments where the grease just gets too dirty and thick. A quick shot of WD-40 or some other cleaning lube will free them up and they will be good as new. I had a set of old Shimano 600 STI levers that lasted for over 10 years as long as I kept the internals cleaned. They still work today.

The 'sweet spot' in Campy cassettes is actually Veloce, which can be had for $50-$60 from a place like probikekit. Check out the weight differences; they aren't significant until you get to the ones using alloy cogs(ugh).

The reason your shifters wouldn't "catch" in the cold is because the grease in them got too stiff, and the spring wouldn't return to the "pre-catch" position. This will also happen in warm enviornments where the grease just gets too dirty and thick. A quick shot of WD-40 or some other cleaning lube will free them up and they will be good as new. I had a set of old Shimano 600 STI levers that lasted for over 10 years as long as I kept the internals cleaned. They still work today.

Yeah thanks Smoothie i figured it was something like that but I didn't know how to mess with it. I have no patience for this kind of stuff anyway so I'm happy enough with solving the problem by riding Cramp-and-go-slow components. I have no grand beef with Shimano or anything, you don't win 7 Tours on stuff that doesn't work.