Yes

Meh....not in this case...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...odel0001_3.jpg

Picture of a Chorus front derailleur that sort of "blew apart" during a race...no crashing involved.

Don't have that sorta issue with Shimano. But at least Campy looks pretty.

You can find any broken part on the internet, but you raise a good point -that FDR can be fixed, a shimano FDR would have to be replaced.

I changed to D/A when I just couldn't hit the thumb shifters in the drops.

It was on another forum I frequent...

And while that may be true...the Shimano part would have never broken like that, and the guy wouldn't have had to abandon the race 15 minutes after it started.

But again...at least Campy looks pretty.

Microsoft?

SRAM Force full group for $1082 at http://www.gvhbikes.com/
Am I missing something on it being overpriced? Just don't buy the Brifters by themselves ;)
Record is $1599
Dura Ace is $1121

I would have broken off the outer plate, and used my heel to downshift.

I had to do that once- 12 years old, 40 miles from home, no cash, no cell phone, and my folks grounded me the day before. They still don't know about that one:D

A lot of people(racers) break brifters in crashes, and need to buy them as replacements.

I've seen many FDRs break like that when a piece of debris like a twig gets in the chain.
Test it at home on yours tonight.

I agree, but I suppose if I broke my Force brifters in an upcoming race, I'd buy the group for $1k, keep the brifters and eBay the rest of the stuff. The cranks retail for $460 alone [you'd get less obviously], so I'd imagine you could make quite a bit back from the other 7 pieces, even at less than retail prices (which btw is $1099 w/o the shifters).

actually, I said I had 06 centaur when actually I have 03. Carbon has a place but I am BIG fan of polished silver on bikes. Nothing is more classic. As far as the shifts? Seems the same as my buddy's Chorus.

If your budget allows you to do that, that's great. Some guys have a tighter racing budget than others.

You could do the same thing with a Bikesdirect.com Record bike, and make even more $$$. It just takes time and a little effort. How much is your time worth ?

I know nothing about Campy. What is the purpose of the thumb shifter?

It's like the small lever on Shimano.

Aesthetically beautiful, if you don't count the cable routing...but that's just me (I have Campy but aesthetics didn't even factor into that decision). YMMV, IMHO, and all that.

As for wanting to try Campy but having Shimano freehub bodies, American Classic and Wheels manufacturing make conversion cassettes or you could use the Jtek Shiftmate. Aside from that, your wheel manufacturer(s) may have the option of easily swapped freehub bodies.
No excuses now...come over to the dark side. :D

Yeah, but that can happen to anything. I saw a DuraAce RD explode last year during a crit. It's racing, it happens.

Oh...so it shifts the cassette?

Shifts the cassette from larger to smaller cogs, and shifts the front from big ring to small ring.

+1

also many of us, already have road groups from the other big two. Why should I replace my perfectly functional DA brakes and cranks,BB, and lighter cassette?

Hypothetically, would you be replacing the shifters and derailleurs but keeping the rest? Owning all three brands, i can say that, IMO, SRAM shifts smoother in the rear than DA [Shimano wins up front, however] and i think it's, in part, due to the heavier cassette's tooth pattern [missing teeth in a few cogs].

To each his own - I just figure that when you are buying Force, Record and DA, you have the means to replace stuff if/when it breaks.

For what it's worth, if cost is a huge factor, Rival shifters work identically, they are just slightly heavier and don't have the bling factor of their carbon brothers.

I gotta disagree there. I have SRAM and Shimano cassettes on my SRAM bikes and I dont really notice a difference between the two.

Maybe now that Ive got to compacts on both bikes, I'll try more SRAM cassettes and reevaluate.

can you use a DA chain with ultegra cassette? thought i read the DA chain was narrower.

Give me your bike to do it on, and I will gladly do so. Although it might take several days of continually running over a branch to somehow get it caught in my front derailleur. Rear derailleur....not a problem, I've done that plenty of times mountain biking (and incidentally, never destroyed it).

It's just those damn rocks that seemingly jump out of nowhere (on road and offroad) that I have issues with.

SRAM isn't made in USA?