zacster

I've posted about my old style Campy NR w/ friction shifters, using a 10sp modern Shimano wheel. I put a Campy 10sp Chorus square taper crank and repacked the old Zeus bottom bracket. I put Tektro dual pivot brakes and levers on it, but kept the old bars. New saddle on it too, combined with an old butt. Keo Elle pedals too. All of this on an old steel Davidson.

It is dead quiet, shifts flawlessly, doesn't get stuck between gears, and stops knowing people dead in their tracks to look at it when I'm stationary.

cyclinfool

Campagnolo - see, it is repairable

professorbob

On the 2nd ride on my brand new bike last year the left brifter (105) failed and went limp. I called the shop from the road, asking if the mechanic could talk me thru anything to get it going again. Sorry, there are NO serviceable parts on Shimano brifters. I was lucky that I was stuck in the big ring and my car was downhill, but thought that Campy might be worth the extra money. I ended up paying the difference (covered by warrantee-Yesssssss!) and getting Ultegra. So far, I'm happy. But do know that Sram is out there as well.

ddez

I got rid of those pesky integral brake, thumb index shifters on my Giant.Now have beautiful old set of 25 year old Suntour half rachet friction thumbies on the bars.Seperate brake levers.Shifts flawlessly.Guess ill join old fuddy duddy club too.

lhbernhardt

Not quite true. I use original SPD Ultegra road on my fixie until the winter, when I switch to M520 mtb pedals. I use the same shoes for both pedal sets - 6 pairs of Adidas shoes, one of them Adidas mtb shoes with mtb cleats. All shoes work with all pedals, no compatibility issues whatever, no adjustments necessary.

I did try using the Ritchie SPD-style road cleats (that look like the mtb cleats), but they do not work. I haven't experimented with any other brands.

I really wish Shimano would bring back the original SPD road cleats just because of their compatibility, but they went back to the Look pattern because the pro's were whining about the SPD pedal being too small. Funny, they seem to have worked for mtb racers ever since they were first invented.

One other bit of trivia: when Shimano first marketed a clipless pedal, it was a Look pedal made under license, completely compatible with other Look pedals of the time. Cycling used to be an "open system," within limited national thread standards, and you could buy a frame and expect any components you purchased, regardless of manufacturer, to fit as long as they adhered to the national thread standards. Now that the corporations have found that cycling is profitable, they are trying to lock you into systems where components only work within each system, locking you into one vendor. This is such corporate crap! (Why I hate corporations.) Probably my major reason for riding a fixed gear all the time now. I can pretty much use any component from any manufacturer (although Miche has been doing its best to be non-standard).

Luis