Campag4life

In bold. Yes for discussion here. I personally wouldn't do it but have sold off all my 9 speed stuff. And yes, it popular because of Campy ergos.

surgeonstone

Yes , there is no other.

RollCNY

Mainly because I have some of the pieces (mainly lots of Shimano 9 speed stuff), love the ergonomics of my Veloce shifters (and know nothing of Mirage), and it holds the interesting challenge of "will it actually work'".

dalava

I will keep this in mind. I am at the start of the "amassing" process.

rousseau

I have both on different bikes, and feel the same way. Multi-cog upshifting with one throw of the thumb button is kinda cool, but in the end it shouldn't be a deal breaker. Like you, I can shift up with multiple clicks very quickly.

I don't race, but I can see how this could be a real concern. The pros use Ultrashift. What do they think?

Homebrew01

Yes, a couple of extra titanium bits here & there.

Campag4life

Well, it didn't keep Nibali from winning the TdF so I think he likes it. :-)
Campy made a conscious decision for 2015 of keeping Ultrashift for Chorus and Record and use it really as a market differentiator compared to Athena and Veloce. Way back when Campy also made this decision for Centaur as in 2011 they discontinued Utrashift for Centaur and in 2009-2010 Centaur was Ultrashift.
To me if there is a fault on Campy as great as it is, the side buttons take up a bit of real estate in terms of room for moving hands around. But the thumb shift works beautifully and is so convenient when on the hoods or even tops...don't have to go all the way forward to the front lever. I believe new Athena shifters will be very popular because of more room on the hoods and easy shifting from the drops.
Downside of 2015 Athena will be....it won't have the new improved front and rear derailleurs. But current Athena shifts beautifully so only a small downside I believe and a lot more money if you want Chorus or Record. I also believe current Chorus for those that want Ultrashift is a good deal.

Shuffleman

I recently made the switch from Shimano to Campy-Athena. I have to say that they are both great products. I wanted to go Campagnolo because I bought an Italian frame and because I simply wanted something different.
I personally like the size of the hoods better and it took me about 1.5 rides to learn to like the thumb shifting. For me, it was an easy decision but I do not work on my bikes and I do not have multiple parts to shuffle around.
I do not have enough time on them to say that they hold up better. They do shift very smoothly and I do not think that I will change back.
I say go for it though if you are not concerned about having parts that you can't use.

dalava

If I start with the Chorus 11 (with ultra-shift) shifters and current Athena FD/RD, is that a good start? A couple more questions:
- How are the Campy chains vs others, e.g. KMC?
- What's the biggest cog can the Athena RD handle? I see Campy makes a 11-29t.

I feel like I am drinking from the firehose on the new Campy stuff.

Campag4life

Yup, current Chorus 11s shifters + Athena derailleurs is fine.
Campy chains are great. In my experience KMC chains are excellent as well...and I have run Ultegra 11s chains as well with an Ultegra 11s cassette.
All of them will work nicely with a KMC Missing link but your call on how to connect them. Some Campy and Ultegra owners only want to do the pin.
The rub with Campy on big cassettes is finding a cage long enough if you run a compact in front. So using an Athena Triple rear derailleur will give you enough chain wrap to run a pie plate cassette in back. Ultegra makes some nice cost effective 11s cassettes with big cogs...but you need a Shimano freehub wheel.
Good luck...water tastes best from a fire hose.

Fred Smedley

Ability to shift multiple rear gears as you change front chainrings, and the fact that the brake lever does not pivot sideways.

headloss 

Newer style ergos are a delight to hold which is why I use that setup (Athena11) on a touring bike (allowing me to keep the 9speed chain for touring and run Shimano MTB RD for gearing). Of course, if I were just going to use a road RD, I'd go full Campy instead of what @RollCNY proposes. I suppose there might be a hub preference for some people as well...

AK404

I'm seriously considering going for a 9-speed setup on my road bike, swapping out the Dura-Ace for Campy, so I'd love to take a peek at what you've got. =)

On the other hand, while I'm familiar with how Shimano marks off the year and make of their component sets, I know next to nothing about how Campy or SRAM users can tell what years their sets come from.

dalava

Looks like the 11-speed came out in 2008, are there big differences between the model years for the 11sp stuff (mostly on Chorus, Record, and Super Record)? And how do I tell how old they are if I am buying used?

flatlander_48

When I originally had my bike built up with Centaur, the pricing for 9sp Ultegra was pretty close to 10sp Centaur, so that made it easy to consider. But, to me the main selling points (other than the Campagnolo mystique) were the separate movements and the brake levers having one degree of freedom. In terms of shifting, I have never used the Harder/Easier thought process. I think in terms of visualizing where I was the chain to go. Campagnolo is consistent with this as the movement of the levers mimic the movement of the chain. The way Shimano and SRAM work is counterintuitive. One degree of freedom for the brake levers is a security issue. It just feeling weird and sort of spongey having a brake lever that can move in 2 planes.

After I started riding the Centaur, another item surfaced: brake caliper release. Campagnolo brakes release on the shifters. Even if you forget to close it, and we all have at one point or another, the brakes still work. The lever throw is longer, but you can still stop. Forgetting to do that with the Shimano on-caliper release will result in no brakes. As far as I know, that is still the case with the Shimano brakes.

Sadly, yes.

REPENT!!!

NOW!!!

headloss 

If you read through this thread I tried to organize links to related threads discussing evolution of the current Ergos. It jumps around a bit, starting at road bike review forums and linking to threads across the cycling internet (velocipede, campy-only, paceline, weight-weenies, etc.).

At least, that covers the shifters... the only other big change that I can think of for 11speed is that they changed how the chain ring mounts to the crank (swapped sides, removed nut and threaded chainring itself).

dalava

Can you all school me on the Campy RD? If I want to use the 12-29t 11-sp cassette, would the short cage RD work? If not, what should I be looking for? I don't see any mention of short or medium cage in any of the 11sp RD models.

kansukee

The short cage works fine. My climbing wheelset has a 12-29 and it just works oob.

furiousferret

I'm going to the other way, as a 6 year user of Campy I'm going to SRAM. Mainly because Campy isn't equipped on Cannondale's and I don't want to go through the hassle of stripping the existing group, ebaying parts, then piecing together the bike.

I really enjoyed my Centaur group though. It work great for 5 years until the cogs in the shifter wore down. There's a very good chance I may regret going with something new and get Chorus next year.

sced

Campy shifters are easy and cheap to fix yourself.

flatlander_48

There are also people who do repairs on a mail-in basis...

Homebrew01

I think that is less true now. I hear that they don't sell as many spare parts.

RobbieTunes

Hard to tell what the best value is right now, with 5700 complete with cables and housing for $407 at ribble.uk, and Veloce 10 going for $75 more. Having ridden both, I'll take the 105, but when you start getting to Centaur and Athena, boy, you are in smooth territory vs. Ultegra, and it's a tough choice. I'm not a fan of Campy's look since 2008, but I can see how some like it. I still like polished components, so go figure.

You could ask Nibali, or Quintana, or Costa. All Campy, but my guess is they don't choose the bke or the group.

furiousferret

Some models, not 2009 Centaur.


Right, the parts I needed for my Centaur brifter were no longer available. I had to replace the whole thing.