Using brifters on my 2 latest bikes (never had them before) I'm pretty impressed. The brake cable is concealed under the handlebar tape, but the gear cable irritates me by sticking out in the air. I notice that on some (more modern/expensive?) bikes/brakes that both cables are concealed. This is much neater.Which brakes are able to conceal the cables? Are there any inexpensive/good ones available?

Concealing the cables has nothing to do with the brakes. All of the lastest brake/shift levers now have concealed cables. Campy has had it since '91 or '92, SRAM since they first produced a road group and Shimano only this past year.

Campy's brake/shift levers are the lowest price, in most parts of the world, but most of the drivetrain SHOULD match (RD, cassette, and shifters at the minimum).

Wrong. Shimagnolo.

The Campag levers are beautifully simple and crashproof, look great, and IMO provide the slickest shifting you can get (haven't tried SRAM) in combination with Hyperglide (the Shimano tooth profiling).

Go for it.

The above comments are correct, there isn't a way to hide the shifter cables on Shimano STI shifters. I'm using an all Shimano 9s drivetrain with Campy 10s shifters. I'm not using an adapter right now, just rerouting the cable on the RD. It works pretty well, although I might get a Jtek Shiftmate when they're available again.

I've seen plenty of pics of Shimano brifter equipped bikes using Nokon cable housing to route the usually exposed derailler housing under the bar tape. There is a little housing peeking out near the levers but it's otherwise concealed. Certainly not the ideal solution but if you already had a Shimano brifter equipped bike and wanted concealed housing without the expense of a full upgrade, there is another option.

It is all a matter of preference and wrapping talent. I don't mind the brifter cables sticking out, but when I did the drop bar conversion on my touring bike i cabled the brakes tot he stem and the (Bar End) shifters to the inside of the brake levers.

Brifters


My Brake Lever/Bar End Shifter Setup


But, if you are pretty talented and craft, you can do whatever you want. They sell cable guides/housing guides that you can use or you can simply just place the cable under the bar tape.

Yeah let's advise the OP to buy into a problem. A+ effort though

FYI, JTEK has a few shiftmates (#1, #2, and #3) available on EBAY now.

Is there a problem with using Campy brifters with Shimano derailleurs and cassettes/freewheels?

op thinks it is "buying into a problem" to buy a shifter or cassette with anything but the latest highest number of gears.

Oh, I understand. Thanks for the explanation.

It can be.
To get an indexed system to run clean you need three things to match up, the spacing between the sprockets in the cassette, the pull from the shifter, and the actuation ratio of the derailers. When mixing brifters from one supplier with derailers/cassettes from another there's no guarantee that these things will match up any more.
Some combos will work well straight off, by accident rather than design. Others will work with a bit of tweaking. Others will work good enough for some riders, but not good enough for others.

Here's a page that'll tell you what you can get away with:
https://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=3946

A couple of items:

1. Jtek is back in business and has Shiftmates available directly from them.
2. The proper Shiftmate will let Campy brifters work perfectly with Shimano 9 or 10-speed cassettes and rear derailleurs.
3. Campy Ergo brifters are indeed less expensive than Shimano STIs, are rebuildable and have hidden brake and shift cables. Only Shimano's latest Dura Ace and Ultegra hide the shift cables.
4. Everything else Campy (derailleurs, cassettes, etc.) is more expensive than the corresponding Shimano.
5. Operator isn't advocating the "latest and greatest", he is saying a novice at this sort of thing is likely to run into problems with "mix-and-match. He is right.

Seems like the sort of thing even (perhaps especially) a novice would research properly before trying, IMO.

Like say, flashing hacked firmware onto your phone, it's obvious that you need to figure out the score before committing yourself, but the effort you pay is rewarded with a setup that suits you better than anything else, or at least anything else costing a lot more.

If you think scaring folks away from such satisfying learning experiences is wise, well... I'll refrain from commenting on that.

Lets try the more polite approach and cut out that one word crap like "wrong" and "fail". I had no intention of confusing the OP with the many ways that might be used to make one brand of shifter workable with another. That's another topic that I too am well versed in. A J-tek shiftmate could also be used to mate one brand of shifter to another brand of RD. J-tek is back in business.

I've figured out a few mismatches that work, myself. My winter bike is setup with Centaur shifters converted to 11 speed with an older Chorus 10 RD, slightly modified.

https://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=160601

One potential problem with using the newest ultrashift ergo levers with other brands or models of RD is inadequate return spring pressure. Even owners of Campy Centaur or Veloce drivetrains from '07-'08 have had problems using the 2009 ergo levers. If the RD has one of the weak return springs, the shifts to smaller cogs will always be troublesome. That spring is not sold separately for replacement.

I've not yet read of anyone using the hub-bub cable routing with the new ultrashift ergo levers.

The new ultrashift levers are certainly not crashproof. I broke the ergo body on a nearly new pair of 11 speed levers, last November.

I just learned something: I had no idea that break-shifter integrated lever is called a brifter

Adam

I'm not the OP on this thread, but I believe I'm who you are referring to. Why not post something of value rather than wasting space telling people what I think? I guess you missed my advice on how to convert to 11 speed with only the shifters, cassette and chain (if you've got Campy 10 now).

I believe zzyx_xyzzy was refering to "operator", not "original poster" with his "op" comment so it wasn't you either.

...I should've said relatively crashproof... Campy would do well to reinforce the inner brake lever pivot point... I actually repaired one once, after scratching my head for a few weeks; used a carbon stitch.

And I gather zzyzx was referring to Steve's reply to operator's A+ comment. OP != op ; )

As for "one word crap"... that's not what I posted, was it now? If you don't want to qualify your own blanket statements, don't get stuck into someone who does it for you.

It's a sad state on this forum when people are using op as a nickname for operator and speaking for him as to what he thinks, implying they have operator's tendencies and preferences memorized. I don't like operator's style, but one thing''s for sure: he has no problem speaking for himself.

It's pretty damn annoying when folks reckon they can speak for you, but a fairly unavoidable consequence of sustaining an opinionated presence for a while...

Unless the FAQ comes down extra hard on straw-manning, I guess

No, a brake-shifter integrated lever is called a brifter

The problem with this thread is that the OP never bothered asking a specific question. Which leads to generalizing posts and flamewars. This thread should've ended on hillriders post #13.

OK, it was a typo, I meant "brake-shifter integrated lever" I though the Grammar Police was off for holidays...

A.

As long as we're speaking for operator, I'll join in on the fun. I think he's speaking as a bike shop person. They learn to avoid advising mixing and matching. If they do, and a customer has a problem, they usually get the grief. It's fine for a person to experiment on their own if they're willing to deal with the consequences. But many times a customer will come onto a shop to purchase a component for a mix and match project they "heard" works on an internet forum, find out it won't work for them, then want to return the component to the shop, or the customer is PO'd then they have to buy more stuff to make it work. Often, it's easier for a shop to presume everyone's a bonehead, and advise them to take the most fool-proof route. You may start out with good intentions in helping someone with a possible work-around solution, but when it becomes a cluster-f@ck, the customer often holds you responsible for un-f@cking it. Work-around solutions can sometimes be a pleasant surprise, but rarely make a shop money.
Shop employees learn to recognize the signs of headaches before the pain sets in. This can be good and bad. It can help the unknowledgeable or fool hardy avoid hurting themselves, but it can also close your mind to some possibilities.

I own a bike shop.

FWIW, I joined BF before I owned a shop. I enjoy posting on BF as "well biked", mostly just talking about my own bikes, etc.

My earlier comment about speaking for others had nothing to do with any mechanical issue, recommendation, etc. Just a general observation.