Oh, it's a pasionate subject alright.

Some folks like red, others like blue & some like black.

For all my old bikes, it's Campy.
All the bling I missed as a kid with a paper route.

And I take it to extremes sometimes.
On a red recumbent trike I got 2nd hand, I "labeled" it with silver foil Ferrari lettering.
But it had a Shimano rear deraileur with bar-con shifter. So I replaced the deraileur with Record Carbon & Bullseye pulleys, then covered the Shimano shifter with a Campy QR lever cover.
Doesn't shift AT ALL in index mode, so it's 9 speed friction.
PITA, but a Ferrari with Japanese components?!? BLASPHEMY!

alright...I admit it....it's ALL about bragging rights!

BTW...What's a "brifter"???

combined brake and shift lever. hence BRake-shIFT-levER.

I have to agree: the clean cable-less front view of a Campy-equipped bike just looks cleaner (duh!) and hence more appealing to my eye.

I've never ridden on Campy, but my next bike will have Record (because the builder only works w/ Campy) and my biggest hesitation is not because of the expense but rather Where do I put my cue sheet? Those shifter cables squirting out of Shimano brifters are the perfect place to clip a cue sheet to keep it out of the cockpit but easily in view.

Suntour did indeed make "Brifters"

From the 1991 Suntour catalog.

Campagnolo is really that good, IMHO.

These (Shimano and Campy) shifters are on bikes being raced. They often see 200-400 miles per week and are operated by guys that keep their cadence in a narrow rpm range, so they shift Alot. Most of the guys use Shimano and a couple use Campy. There have been a few Shimano failures(some required replacing the shifter, some were crashed and full of dirt. I was able to tear them down and clean them. Shimano does not reccomend doing that) All of the Campy shifters have had to have the broken G-springs replaced at least once a season(more often usually) A couple of times they have had broken spring carriers and I have learned to replace the carrier anyway because they lose stiffness over time.

They both are quality products but the Shimano is lower maintenance. For me it would come down to shifting style. Campy allows more gear sweep (and in both directions) but is a little more finicky about adjustment. Campy also has way better trim on the front der. Pricing is pretty close for the shifters but Campy is higher for many of the other parts. If you break a Shimano you are pretty screwed because they do not offer parts. Campy offers parts but some are pretty exspensive

Suntour did not go out of business because they could not keep up with Campy and Shimano. They suffered a huge loss when they warrantied a coaster hub that was installed on hundreds of thousands kids bikes. They were bankrupted making good on this issue.

ah. so it's racing damage. that i can understand.

side note: one of the reasons i don't drive competitively anymore is that i'm a bad racing driver. not because i'm slow, but because i'm too much of a mechanic. i won't abuse the car to the point of winning, because i know (in detail) what kind of damage i'm doing.

I always hear people say they prefer Campagnolo because parts are replaceable. But is it really that good when something seems made to be rebuilt? And is it economical to buy those replacement parts or buy a new Shimano?

The G-spring failures were not crash damage. They fail when you shift alot. They will break eventually unless you never shift.
Almost every(but not every) Shimano failure has been from a crash. And the Shimano shifters usually drop dead around eight or ten years, there is a thread dealing with this on the mechanics forum right now.

neither is most damage to a race car. aggressive use leads to excessive wear. just the way it is.

i have generally been pleased with my campagnolo stuff. i have a 2 yo record bike and a 4.5 yo chorus bike (the chorus set up was shifted to a new frame in dec after the untimely end of my old frame). i also rode ultegra/105 bikes before that.

ergonomically i like the campagnolo shifters much better than shimano. i have never tried SRAM. this was the most important factor for me selecting campag vs shimano. i also prefer the cable routing

living in an area with a lot of short steep hills i like the multi-shift capabilities of campy very much. from what i read that centaur no longer shifts like record/chorus and that is too bad. in my opinion centaur represents the best value in campagnolo stuff.


durability has been excellent on my old chorus set up. i replaced one spring in the right hand housing. i broke the front der. at about 9500 miles...not sure why? the record stuff is still perfect after 6500 miles except for the rear cassette. a few of the cogs wore out after only 4400 miles which was a major disappointment to me. i did replace it with a centaur all -steel cassette

the durablity of campag clearly has been better for me vs shimano. i easily get 4-5k miles out of a record chain vs 1000 for an ultegra one. i replaced way more parts (and in less than 1/3-1/2 the time) on my shimano bikes than on my campag including front and rear der. , a crankset, brakes, and a bottom bracket. i never had to change the shifters though.


one thing i do not understand is the incredibly high cost of campag cables...and the fact they are not prestretched

In 2002, while living in Vicenza Italy (only a few miles from Campy's factory) I got a custom frame made and chose the veloce gruppo (https://picasaweb.google.com/trailbos...608225PM?pli=1). It was partly an economic decision - the euro and dollar were much closer in value at the time - but also I wanted a more pure Italian bike. I doubt the bike shop I was working with would have even let me consider shimano.

My only disappointment so far is that the campy front hub races were soon pitted. Reason: Poor initial adjustment or stingy amounts of grease? Don't know. On the other hand, my old (7 speed thumb shifters) Shimano XT components have lasted through two Bridgestone MB1 frames and are doing duty on my Bontrager mtb. I've only had to replace the nylon derailure pulleys, cables, chain, chain rings, cog set.

I also have a more difficult time shopping for campy upgrades/replacements. There is just so much more Shimano available. Normally I am more biased towards Italian wine, food, attention to detail and workmanship ... but in the campy-shimano debate I hate to say that I am leaning towards shimano.

Why on earth didn't this become popular? Or still available? Looks like it could be a real low cost altenrative to STi's.

When Shimano went 10 sp their prices went up significantly. They're actually more expensive than equivalent Campy groups.

As for performance the only real difference, as I see it, is the brifters. Campy uses thumb shifters and Shimano doesn't. Other that that, they both do the job.

Tim