Campy 10sp or 11sp?

[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.