I plan on going to a shop closer to September to try a bike with Campy. Don't think shifting from the drops will be a problem for me, because like 80% of us, I do of my shifting from the hoods.

WRT the conversion between Dura-Ace, Record, and Chorus - I feel like Record and Dura-Ace are pretty evenly matched in quality. To me, Centaur is like Chorus without multiple upshifts in one throw - i.e.: has the escape mechanism. Looking at the obvious specs between Centaur and Chorus tell the story - both have carbon levers, carbon outer parallelogram on the RD, skeleton calipers, carbon cranks...

When I look at Dura-Ace vs Ultegra, its obvious that the quality of basic finishes are better on Dura-Ace, so I can only imagine how much better the internals of Dura-Ace STI levers are over ultegra. Heck, even the Dura-Ace rear dérailléur is leaps and bounds over the ultegra one in design and quality.

The only time I played with SRAM was on a stationary bike with Force, and I don't have much confidence in the lever throw... it seems that there's too much room for error.

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I should say - after my ride tonight, I'm really hoping that Campy gives more shifting feedback than Shimano. I'm constantly second guessing my ultegra downshifts, because there's nary a hint of feedback...