I'm looking for the best road component group (manufacturer and line) for home mechanic to work with. I want to do more of my own wrenching and work on a couple of 'project' bikes, but don't want to get in over my head.

What is the easiest to setup/dial in?
Easiest to maintain (stays dialed in, easy to adjust when needed)?
Requires the least amount of special tools?
Easy access to "how to" and "tech advice" online (outside of this forum )

I'm also considering switching my current Sram Rival setup to Sram Red/Force or the new Ultegra group.

For ease of set-up and use you can't beat friction shifters.

Enjoy

I guess I should have been a little more specific.

Which is easiest between Sram Rival/Force/Red, Shimano Ultegra(6700)/DA(7900), or Campy Chorus-11/Record-11

I guess I could go with some friction shifters + Paul Thumbies, or possibly bar end, or maybe dig up a frame with old school shifter mounts on the down tube, ... or I could add "easy access to new parts" in my list of criteria

Seriously, if I could find a nice old (preferably new-old-stock) steel frame in my size at a reasonable price with down tube mounts and spacing for a 10spd cassette (and sell the one I have which is too big), I would consider 'indexed' shifters.

If I were you I would read the instructions for whatever parts you're considering, and then decide what seems more doable to you. If you stick with SRAM, the procedures are going to be about the same as the Rival group you already have, and that's something.

This is kind of a weird question to answer, because anyone who has experience with all the groups you've mentioned has enough experience with bikes in general that installing any road group takes about the same amount of effort. You get to the point where you can do it in your sleep.

DI2 is pretty easy.

Sorry, forgot to say "any cable actuated road group"

Thanks MarkWW!

Little out of my price range - Maybe in a few years.

Great advice. I will get reading.

True – I guess I'm looking for those with the experience to point out what one with less experience may have a lot of trouble working on, or may find easy, or all things equal once time is spent actually doing the work.

RDs all setup about the same. Campy has better control of the FD than any other brand. There are no partial or soft clicks for trimming the FD. Four clicks cover the full range of travel and they all feel the same.

If you know what you are doing with each adjustment, the time difference for setting up the rear should be trivial. If you don't know exactly what you are doing, you are more likely to stumble upon a set up that works when using fewer rear cogs. For the front, while I've never used Campy, knowing how it works it has to be by far the most forgiving up front (not that non-Campy is very difficult to set up). As you probably know, a double crankset will be easier to set up than a triple, but again, if you know what you are doing the time difference is minimal (a little more than trivial).