I don't want to start another Campy/Shimano neverending discussion but I do wonder: during the last season I noticed that close to all European pros used Shimano equipped bikes, Says-Deschacht and a lonely Saecco-Italian being the notable exception and I wonder why. The Rabos, but also Wellens, Vervecken, the boys from Holland, Eastern Europe, France, Germany and the USA all used Shimano. Same with the women (Küpfernagel, vd Brandt, the French girls). Is this only a matter of sponsorship or do they actually prefer Shimano over Campagnolo in the European pro cross scene? If so, for what reason?

I think so.

is is all sponsorship. two seasons a go, you saw a lot of pros riding campy.

you'll also notice how many euro teams ride ridleys.

Thank goodness this thread didn't take off.... hahah

Wait it is still early in the thread.......we still have a chance to turn this one upsidedown :)

That does not say it all. What if two seasons ago they were very happy with Campagnolo? Would they switch to Shimano for the money? Or what if two years ago they were using Campa but not happy about it? Or perhaps Campa simply does not focus on cyclocross. There are many possibilities.

there are many possibilities, but i don't think the pros care as long as they have a couple of extra bikes in the pit. what is interesting though is that you see a whole lot more campy stuff among un-supported elite and semi-pro level racers in north america.

Not that I wanna start a flame - o - rama, but is it the.... "OOOoohhhh" thing with Campy, as well as the serviceability of their shifters?

I personally like the "OOOooohhh" thing.... Shiney objects do captivate me.

I remember reading something a while ago about how campy viewed using their shifters for CX as abuse of the product, so they wouldn't cover them for warranty.

I would. vice versa would be true also. Free, new components sounds nice to me.

i can't speak for anyone but myself, though timo might be able to back me up on this. i chose campy centaur for my race bike for very specific reasons...

1. rebuildable shifters. i had to rebuild a shifter last year. cost me about $50 in parts and many hours of painstaking labour. replacing the whole whack, if it's been shimano, would have cost a lot more/

2. the front/left shifter is not actually indexed [more accurately, ratcheted]. this allows me to find a whole lot of intermediate trim positions that i can't get on shimano. this is a big help when trying to maintain a good chainline in the muck.

3. the brakes have a quick-release on the levers. on a number of occasions, the ability to open the brakes on the fly, when i've warped a wheel or got completely jammed with mud and grass and twigs, has kept me in the race.

4. i'm not sure, but the spring tension on the centaur rd seems quite a bit stiffer than on a 105 rd. in an y event, i've always noticed crisper shifting with campy.

5. this sounds strange, but for the one season when i raced with 105, i found the sti shifting to be a real pain in tight downhill and off camber sections. throwing my weight around, i found that i'd shift when i braked and brake when i shifted. i found it unnerving.

those are my observations, ymmv.

I can certainly second point 5. I had that same problem both on- and offroad with my Ultegra shifters, mainly when I am tired at the end of a ride, when my fingers suffer from the cold or when I wear winter gloves during winter training rides.

I've heard people complain about this, but after my first ride, I never had any problem. agreed, if you move your hand the way that it naturally goes, the brake will be activated, however, I quickly adjusted to the differences. then again, I like a bit of slack in my back brake, so possibly thats an explanation why I've never had trouble. this is on a road bike BTW...

Im building up my Jake,Slowly but surely. I've thhought of going to bar end shifters for this reason, on the shop's reccommendation because of the in advertant shifiting / braking, as well that when the going gets messy, you can switch to friction, and for the most part "You should be ridding from the drops..." he said with a stern look.

Does this make any sense?

One of the guys I race against regularly used to be a semi-pro (made top 10 in UK national Champs a few times), and his sponsers gave him a shimano equiped bike.

Now that he has to buy his own kit, he's gone for Campag Record. When I asked why he said "servicability"