Campy 10sp or 11sp?

[roguedog]

Thinking of building up a bike with Campy group. I've always had Shimano but I'm interested in trying Campy because I think the hoods might be more comfortable.

Yes, I have gotten shims in my Shimano brifters and they're not bad. And they are mounted on a shallow reach bar.

I could just strip my current bike and put on the Ultegra group but I thought maybe this'd be a good chance/excuse to explore Campy hoods and also compact gearing since this bike will be more of a "go" bike versus my Riv Atlantis. (Course for me "go" is a .. ahem.. relative term. Maybe I should say "go .. a bit faster." )

So just thought I'd ping the community out there for thoughts and see what your experiences might be.

[smilingcat]

If the chain on the 10 speed is wider, go with a 10 speed. If the chain width is the same then I really see no difference.

I'm not really sold on even the 10 speed. More cogs you have, the narrower the chain. And with it, shorter life span of the chain. My SRAM chain didn't even last a season and replaced it with Ultegra. And I don't race. Just a casual weekend rider these days.

For my casual riding and training on hills with 10% grade, I rarely use the top two cogs anyway. I only use 8 cogs in the rear.

[ridebikeme]

Ahh Campy is great, and the wonderful thing is that you can rebuild the shifters overtime unlike Shimano where you simply throw them away and buy again. With that said, if I were buying a new group I would buy 11 speed. The reason is that I'm sure down the road 10 speed will become harder to get ... that will make things difficult when you need to replace a chain/cassette etc... You can buy other brands of 10 speed chains, but if you are someone that tends to have their bikes for a few years, than 11 speed is the way to go.

IMO there isn't any point to buying something that will become obsolete over the next few years, and make it difficult to keep the bike running with the current group.

[Biciclista]

I'm with smiling cat. 30 speeds is already more than I ever need!

[Thorn]

If I were to build right now, I'd be looking at Campy Athena for a go-fast bike (if my 14-17 qualifies as "go-fast")

My nice bikes are Campy 10-speed, but RideBikeMe has a point. If you keep your bike a long time, then you want to be able to repair and keep it running. If you buy 10-speed, you're already buying a couple years less of maintainability.

Sure, the lower end is still 10-speed, but when you do maintenance, do you want to be looking and downgrading your component because that's all you can get?

As for 11-speed reliability (my fear with the narrow chain), my LBS guy has run Athena without issue and I'd say he can put more power into his pedalling than I ever would.

Edit: Oh yeah, and as for the extra gears....it is the in-between gears that you're getting. Going to 10-speed from 9-speed meant adding an 18(?)--a gear in my normal spin range meaning I can find a nice spinning happy gear for long rides.

[Cataboo]

do you want a triple or a double/compact? I don't know that they make campy 11 sp for triples, but if you want a triple, I think 10 speed should be fine if there's significant cost savings.

If you're going to be running a double or a compact, an 11 speed could be nice... I wouldn't pay (much) to upgrade my 10 speed double to 11 speed, but if I was just building a bike and it didn't cost that much more, I'd go with 11 speed.

I liked the upgrade from 9 to 10 speed with shimano - I don't know that I'd run out and buy new shifters and all of that if shimano went to 11 speed - but I did upgrade all my 9 speed bikes to 10's... However, there's no shortage of 8 or 9 speed shimano parts just because there's now 10 speeds available... you can still get all the parts you need to maintain older systems, ebay's always a great source if something is hard to find.

I haven't had any problems with my 10 speed chains wearing out too fast - I typically use sram's 1070 chains, 1090's are lighter, more expensive, and hollow pin so may not last as long.

[ridebikeme]

Many of you are right in terms of 8 and 9 speed Shimano parts being available. HOWEVER, in my experience, Campy does NOT keep their drivetrain parts available for as long as Shimano. I have been riding Campy since 1992, and I can tell you that I have several boxes with shifters, derailleurs and parts because I couldn't find other parts to keep the drivetrain going. The other issue here is that Shimano has lots of groups on mtn bikes, where Campy does not. While that may not be an issue with shifters, with chains, cassettes and some derailleurs it does add to that extension of getting parts.

AS far as 10/11 speed chains, I have been riding them for several years without any issues. There are always instances where something fails... and that can be a new product or an older one. Remember most of these products are tested with the pros, and they certainly ride more miles, have more power than many of us ever will!

The bottom line is that Campy has a great reputation and makes very high quality products.

[TxDoc]

Hee-hee... I just saw this only after sending you a looooong PM about the different 10/11 Campy groups that I have either owned or tested...

[lunacycles]

I love Campy brifters compared to newer Shimano versions for my smallish hands, so I support your experiment.

One thing about going 11 speeds is that the shifting adjustment will have to be spot-on, will be a bit more finicky than 10-speed.

Yes, the narrower chain won't last as long. But it should last a pretty long time.

I really became verklempt when 10 speeds came out...I mean, 11 speeds, who needs that? Yet the demand is there. Why not.

Regardless, have fun. Athena is a good group. It is really good stuff. Very different from Shimano, but very reliable. Expensive, though. It would be cool if Campy stuff came down a bit. A bit pricey relative to the other offerings, imo.

[roguedog]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great feedback.

I am leaning towards the Athena group or possibly Chorus for my experiment because it is an experiment. Um.. sadly it may come down to aesthetics. Do I want alloy look or quasi-carbon/grey/black look on the bike? Not sure the latter is worth the extra deniros though.

The other question I had was that if I saw a 10sp record group for approx what i'd spend on new Athena group.. which way should I lean. Txdoc, seems to think in her experience that it'd actually be better to go for the higher group even if it's older because it's higher quality.

Does anyone notice a difference between the 10sp and 11sp brifters? That's actually my bigger concern and one of my deciding factors. The 11sp are marketed as more ergo but I don't know if that means more geared toward male hands or females hands. This is the reason why I'm asking this forum. I'm not sure the guys really get the whole "brifters for smaller hands" issue.

I think Lunacycles has confirmed that the Campy hoods are definitely more comfortable for smaller hands than Shimanos. And I'd assume that shifting is easier too for smaller hand on Campy ?

From a gearing standpoint, I'm kinda with you guys. I mean all my stuff is still 9spd but if I'm going to spend the $ I might as well upgrade to either 10sp or 11sp it seems.

[kenyonchris]

Hey everyone,

I am leaning towards the Athena group or possibly Chorus for my experiment because it is an experiment. Um.. sadly it may come down to aesthetics. Do I want alloy look or quasi-carbon/grey/black look on the bike? Not sure the latter is worth the extra deniros though.

The other question I had was that if I saw a 10sp record group for approx what i'd spend on new Athena group.. which way should I lean. Txdoc, seems to think in her experience that it'd actually be better to go for the higher group even if it's older because it's higher quality.

Does anyone notice a difference between the 10sp and 11sp brifters? That's actually my bigger concern and one of my deciding factors. The 11sp are marketed as more ergo but I don't know if that means more geared toward male hands or females hands. This is the reason why I'm asking this forum. I'm not sure the guys really get the whole "brifters for smaller hands" issue.

I think Lunacycles has confirmed that the Campy hoods are definitely more comfortable for smaller hands than Shimanos. And I'd assume that shifting is easier too for smaller hand on Campy ?

From a gearing standpoint, I'm kinda with you guys. I mean all my stuff is still 9spd but if I'm going to spend the $ I might as well upgrade to either 10sp or 11sp it seems.

I have Campy Chorus 11 on my Colnago and love it. Wouldn't change it. I rode Shimano Ultegra before, and had the typical small hand problem on the left shifter in particular. The Campy is much better. It takes a little getting used to, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I ride a standard double crankset and am not sure they make the compact or triple. I guess I would catagorize myself as an aggressive amateur. I average 18-22 mph on a ride (18 for the hilly rides by myself, 22 if it is flat, I have someone to draft with, or I get a good tailwind for a stretch). I have only run out of gear on the worst, steepest, longest, most hideous hills, and I was still turning it over OK. Otherwise I hammer along on the big chainring for the most part.

Having said that, it is an investment. I wouldn't have spent the money if I weren't looking to squeeze every last bit of mechanical advantage out of my bike as I could afford. I ride with men and can't stand to be dropped, so I work my butt off but still need, like I said, every advantage I can get. If you can afford it and it is results/expectations reasonable, go for it.

[roguedog]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to bump it cuz I wanted to send a shout out of "THANKS" to Txdoc for turning me onto Campy.

I was out riding my bike with Campy the other day and thinking "Man, I love my Campy. I should really thank Txdoc for persuading me to give it a whirl."

So now I have it on two bikes and I love my Campy. It's easier to shift and the shifting is smooth. One has Chorus w/ the non-ergo shifters and one has Record w/ the ergo shifters. I like 'em both but I've ridden more on the ergo shifters.

Still have Ultegra on my daily commuter and hauler bike though.

So Txdoc, if you're still out there and reading.. THANKS for the push.

[maillotpois]

Very cool! I love my Campy 11 speed (compact double).... and my Campy 10 speed (triple)... and my Campy 9 speed (triple). Yes, I have every possible variation on each of my bikes.

[Eden]

While yes, you can fix a Campy shifter when it breaks, you can also spend an entire night (seriously.... until like 3 or 4 in the morning) running around the evening before a stage race searching for someone who had the parts and the know how and the time to fix one that has had pieces mysteriously fly out of it after a relatively gentle warm up/training ride.....

Whereas with Shimano, even though you'd have to replace the whole thing any bike shop in town could have done it, probably in less than an hour....

(happened to a teammate of mine this spring - who is also very lucky that her nice bike shop guy her home town reads his email before he goes to bed and knows another nice bike shop guy in the town we were racing in who was willing to go back to his shop at midnight to fix the thing... otherwise she would have been stuck sitting around all weekend watching me race, because we carpooled together)

[Biciclista]

or you can take your campy bike into an LBS and all the guys gather around to LOOK at your components. Hmmm, maybe I won't let them work on the derailleur.
But I love my campy and will put up with the inconveniences of owning it.