Road Cycling - Campy Record/Chorus

I wasn't sure if I should put this in bike mechanics or here. It wasn't really a mechnical question so I chose this one, sorry if I was wrong :P

I'm about to build up a new bike (thanks to a insurance settlement from my last one). I'm debating going Campy Record or Chorus.

I know they're the same components other than the Record group being lighter. My question is how much lighter is a full Record group over the Chorus? Just wondering if it's worth the ~$500 difference.

And does anyone know when the '04 campy line is due out? The 04 record stuff looks pretty nice. I may just have to wait.

thanks, ritalin

before anyone gets onto me for not searching the forum for this answer. I did and came up with 185 grams not including the crankset. but that's part of the group. and this was over a year ago. didn't know if things have changed, and what the entire group weighs.

Two changes for '04 will the cranksets for both groups. A differenct graphite Record crankset will be available and the Chorus group will now have a graphite crankset available. Both at extra cost. The difference in weight is primarily made up of the graphite and titanium bits on the Record group while the Chorus group uses stainless steel and aluminum.

One major part that makes a big difference is the weight of the cassettes. The titanium big gears weigh substantially less than the steel ones. But cost substantially more.

I ride a 2001 Record 10-speed group and like it very much. In about 10K miles of riding I have never had anything break. I have worn out a Record chain and switched to Wipperman. Also switched out the BB to Phil Wood and the headset to Chris King and seatpost to Thomson. Not that I needed to, but thought I might as well build with the best American parts as well as Italian.

I rode with the Chorus group for a couple of years prior to switching to the Record and found that the shifting feels "different" with the Record. No faster, slower or more or less crisp, just different. I put that down to the graphite shifting levers, which have a different response than the aluminum ones on the Chorus group.

Either way you can't go wrong. And its your $500. I bought Record because I like the way it looks. Not because I need it or thought it better than Chorus. Or Centaur, for that matter. Have fun!!

I would buy 04' Chorus and from the saving buy the Record cassette.

Ritalin, I'm with Paramount, on 2 of my 3 road bikes I run the chorus gruppo, because the guy I buy my bikes from at my LBS, say's the weight difference between the two really dosen't warrent the extra money, and I've never had any problem running the chorus group over the record..Now I do do this, buy the chorus gruppo and pay the upgrade for the brake/shift levers to the record level, to get those carbon levers, they are sooo nice and make shifting easier and it feels better to the hand than the alluminun levers that chorus has..So I do that, and really like that, but the rest I run strait chorus..

Best of luck.

Benjamin

Rumor has it that the 04 Chorus line will be very similar to the 03 Record. See this link for details-

http://www.campyonly.com/rumors/2004_lineup.html

I currently have two Record/Chorus mix bikes. One is Record other than cranks and bottom bracket while the other is Record with Chorus brakes and cassette. I also had a bike with complete Chorus a couple of years back. The operation is virtually the same and the weight is very similar. When it comes to looks or the Bling Bling factor, Record wins hands down.

If I were paying retail, I'd stop at Chorus. If you can get some good deals on Record along the way (read - no more expensive than Chorus) by all means, upgrade away.

My guess is the new Chorus prices will be similar to 03 Record.

For the bike I am supposed to pick up this weekend, Yaaa-sorry, I personally could not justify the price difference between Chorus and Record; however, I asked the cost of upgrading the levers, and I was advised that it would be a good idea, as if I chose the Record levers, the cables would also be upgraded to Record, and the upcharge was $30. I really have no clue w/regard to the cable upgrade-if it's really much/any different than the other cables, but I think it's worth $30 to have the levers so I'm going for it. BTW the Record does look nice with the carbon pieces. Just my opinion.

Oh see toothpick that upgrade to record cables, I didn't know about that, thats new to me, but as you say that dosen't really matter as much, but good to get the better levers..

Good choice!

Benjamin

Thanks for the info guys. I decided to get chorus stuff with a few record parts.

record front derailer (same price), record levers for coolness factor, and record casette since it's a decent weight savings for the price (realitively speaking).

$800 for record carbon cranks!!! no thanks, chorus cranks here I come

Originally posted by Ritalin
$800 for record carbon cranks!!! no thanks, chorus cranks here I come

How much are Chorus cranks? If you want sweet looking carbon cranks at a reasonable (relatively - is anything made of CF priced reasonably?), you might want to opt for FSA cranks and BB.

Check out the FSA Team Carbon cranks they are only around $300 compared to the campy $800 and they look better! I would go with the record rear derailleur over the cassette.. a Ti cassette also wears faster :) and the rear deraileur gets you the points for looks :) I have one bike with fully campy record but I went with a chorus cassette I could not justify extra $100 for record cassette.

Dang Kev, a full bike with full campy record!!, man that just sounds AWESOME yeah I know the pro's if their team runs campy, get's record, but for us non-pro, it's alway's cool to me at least to hear of some body who has record all the way thru!! Campy is soooo great!!

Great choice Kev!!

Benjamin

Any idea if Campagnolo will add a triple crankset for Chorus, and what are the Q-factors for both the Chorus, and Record?