SRAM and CAMPY users give me your feedback

[alpinerabbit]

Another happy campy-er. Chorus with a Centaur compact double crankset for me.

I had Ultegra on a rental bike and perhaps this was only due to the triple crankset but when I got back home, I thought I noticed it was much smoother, easy-going.


I read that only Record and Chorus allow to downshift several gears at once with the thumb levers. I don't know what your Bianchi would come with but it is an asset.

[Ninabike]

I have Campy on both of my bikes, but have ridden Ultegra also. I much prefer Campy: easier reach; shifting with thumb and index finger; easy to trim. I know nothing about SRAM so can't help you there.

[Kathi]

I love Campy, too! Very comfortable for my tiny hands.

One disadvantage of Campy cranksets is that there is no 165 mm crankarm. I use the Specialities TA Carmina crankset instead. It works just as well but my LBS said I could have shaved a few more ounces if I could use the Campy crankset.

I'm not a weight weenie and my bike weighs 15.4 lbs so I don't care about shaving off more weight.

And Campy is repairable. When I had my Aegis tuned last year the springs in the shifters were bad so the LBS replaced them. It cost less than $15.00 for the repair.

[FreshNewbie]

So, I see a lot of Chorus fans, however all of Bianchi's women's bikes or their steel models come with Veloce components. Are they also good or Chorus is much better?
Right now I have all 105 on my bike, if I were to buy a new bike I wouldn't consider anything below Dura from Shimano family. However, if I went with Campy on my new bike, which groupset should I be looking at ?

[mimitabby]

Centaur gives you the most bang for your bucks according to all the experts I spoke to. I was going to get Centaur until i fell into an amazing deal with some slightly used Campy Record stuff for my bike that is currently being built.
On the other hand, folks with Veloce (like me) seem to love what they have!

[IFjane]

Right now I have all 105 on my bike, if I were to buy a new bike I wouldn't consider anything below Dura from Shimano family.

I cannot speak to either Campy or SRAM because I have only ridden with Shimano on both mountain and road bikes. I have Ultegra on my new bike. I swapped the drivetrain over from my old bike. I have had zero problems with it and it is about 7 years old now. Regarding upgrading to Dura, when I asked my LBS about doing just that, he told me that he would stick with the Ultegra because I would get more bang for the buck with it. In his opinion, the upgrade is not worth the money I would spend. He feels ultegra is the workhorse of the Shimano group. I have confidence in what he says because he rides with all three (Shimano, Campy & SRAM) on various bikes of his own.

[indysteel]

So, I see a lot of Chorus fans, however all of Bianchi's women's bikes or their steel models come with Veloce components. Are they also good or Chorus is much better?
Right now I have all 105 on my bike, if I were to buy a new bike I wouldn't consider anything below Dura from Shimano family. However, if I went with Campy on my new bike, which groupset should I be looking at ?

According to Bianchi's website, the female line that are Campy speced use Campy Mirage, which is one of the lower-end groups. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with it but it's not on the same level as Shimana D/A. As far as comparisons go, it's a little bit like comparing apples to oranges, but Record and Chorus are on reportedly on the same footing as D/A. Veloce is somewhere between 105 and Ultegra. Centaur is comparable to Ultegra. But I say that believing that all of Campy's groups perform well.

I have a 2006 Bianchi Eros Donna that came stock with Mirage. I changed a few things out to Veloce because I didn't love the plastic on the Mirage brifters and wanted smoother shifting in the rear. I don't race so I don't really need ultra-quick shifting, and everything on the bike works suits my purposes. I have about 3,000 mile on the bike, and she's needed very little maintenance.

I'm curious as to why you wouldn't go with anything less than D/A. I know a lotta happy Ultegra users out there.......

[FreshNewbie]

Indysteel,
I want my next bike to be steel, my dream would be titanium but that's really out of my pocket right now. As for your question regarding Ultegra, I don't really have any particular reason not to go with Ultegra. I road a bike with DuraAce and it was so much smoother than my Shimano 105 (2005). If I find a well fitting steel bike with Ultegra I would definately go for it. When it comes to test riding next year I will have to try both and decide what I lilke best. So far Campy sounds attractive because of durability aspect. I have my bike for about a year now with 1400 miles on it so far, the shifting is not very smooth, especially on a hill. I don't have any complaints, so far I didn't have to fix anything but I think I will outgrow 105 pretty fast.

[indysteel]

FreshNewbie, I, too, wanted a road steel bike and was really frustrated at how few options there were, especially since I ideally needed a women-specific bike. When I bought my Bianchi last year, I only had the Eros Donna, a couple of WSD Shimano speced LeMonds and two bikes by Burley, from which to choose (I admittedly didn't look at Jamis or Colnago). Neither LeMond nor Burley make those particular bikes anymore, so there are even fewer options now.

I wasn't thrilled to buy a bike with a lower-end groupset, which is one of the reasons that, from an emotional perspective, I decided to do some modest upgrades. The most important factors in my decisionmaking, however, were still the frame and fit. While I have very little to compare it to, I like my ED and feel like the components have been adequate for the type of riding I do.

Unfortunately, short of getting a frameset only or going custom you likely won't find a lot of stock steel bikes from which to choose and even fewer (if any) speced with D/A, Chorus or Record. You might want to look at Gunnar's steel frames in that regard. They're reasonably priced and you could build them up to your own specifications. As happy as I am w/ my Bianchi, I wish I would have investigated that option a bit more.

If and when I get another bike, I'd like to go the custom route and have it built up primarily with Chorus. Sigh.....

Good luck!

[indysteel]

Here's an interesting thread from today on roadbikereview.com's forums about why some pro teams use Chorus and Ultegra intstead of D/A and Record.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=93606

BTW, you might have to register for roadbikereview.com to read it.

[warneral]

I went from tiagra/sora to Campy Chorus. BIG difference! LOVE my campy components!

[Popoki_Nui]

Shifting issues aside, there is the matter of durability and longevity. I think Campagnolo is still the king of durability. "Campy breaks in while Shimano breaks down" is a phrase that is likely still as true today as it was "back when". (I'm still riding on 30+year old Campy gear which has required almost zero repair)
FWIW, the local talk is that a lot of SRAM gear breaks prematurely. Many local roadies and MTB'ers are waiting for the next gen SRAM in hopes they're built stronger.

~Sherry (wishing SunTour was still alive and well... )