Campagnolo groupset

wine9555

Is Campy record carbon the lightest groupset available?I am riding dura ace now but I am getting ready to treat myself to a new dream bike in celebration of being done paying for my 3 kids college.I have always admired the style and look of Campy record
carbon

rustychisel

I think SRAM Red may be lighter, but wouldn't go there myself. Seek more info at Weight Weenies http://weightweenies.starbike.com/

magliaceleste

It's probably the lightest available groupset. Maybe SRAM Red will be lighter. You're not saving much in the way of weight either way, around 250grams I believe.

However I've made the switch from Dura Ace to Record and am very pleased. In fact I'm going to swap my other bike over to Campag too - but not Record!. The main reasons are that Ergonomics of the shifters are so much better for me (and I love the multi-change ability and thumb shifter), the excellent compact crankset and a better cassette range for compact drives (11-25). On a purely frivolous note, it keeps my whole bike Italian and yes it also happens to be lighter.

magliaceleste

By the way, I assume you are buying a complete new bike with said groupset. Otherwise you will also need need wheels or new Campagnolo compatible freehubs on your wheels as the cassettes have different splines.

Stwutter

SRAM RED will be lighter I believe, but the problem I keep hearing is that when you're in the lowest gear (biggest rear cog), and you push to check that you are, you shift up a gear without wanting to.

Having said that, Saunier Duval wouldn't use it in pro races if it were rubbish, but you can't really go wrong with Record. I have Centaur, and to me that's ace, so Record must be the muts nuts...

Smokin Joe

In the Comic's "Race bike of the year" last week, the one bike with a SRAM groupset got slated by all the testers because the gears were so irritating to use. Now SRAM's honeymoon period is over, that article and a few other comments I have read would make me think twice about the SRAM system.

I would like to know what Millar has to say about the shift system after he leaves Sunier Duval. The riders will only say good things about it while they are being paid to, the truth might be different.

blackhands

magliaceleste wrote:

By the way, I assume you are buying a complete new bike with said groupset. Otherwise you will also need need wheels or new Campagnolo compatible freehubs on your wheels as the cassettes have different splines.

No ....you can now buy Campag spaced cassettes with Shimano spline fitting. Ambrosio do cheaper quality ones (See Surosa Cycles) and Marchisio do better quality ones - also see Highpath Engineering.

Monty Dog

I believe that Red's not going to be available until next year and given the likely teething problems, it'd be best left along for year unless you fancy being an expensive beta product developer. The pricing will also put a lot of people off - it's going to be in the region of a grand for a groupset - at least with Record you can be assured of a well -developed and reliable product. I'm intriguiged to know why they want to charge a 300% premium on a Red chainset when an ostensibly identical Truvativ chainset can be bought for £100. For a Shimano-compatible carbon junkie, I can perhaps see the attraction of the shifters and gear mechs, but for a whole-bike purchase, I can't see how as late entrants they intend to take the top slot with an expensive me-too product.

magliaceleste

blackhands wrote:

magliaceleste wrote:

By the way, I assume you are buying a complete new bike with said groupset. Otherwise you will also need need wheels or new Campagnolo compatible freehubs on your wheels as the cassettes have different splines.

No ....you can now buy Campag spaced cassettes with Shimano spline fitting. Ambrosio do cheaper quality ones (See Surosa Cycles) and Marchisio do better quality ones - also see Highpath Engineering.

I stand corrected! Of couse Campagnolo wheels would match the groupset...;-)

aracer

blackhands wrote:

magliaceleste wrote:

By the way, I assume you are buying a complete new bike with said groupset. Otherwise you will also need need wheels or new Campagnolo compatible freehubs on your wheels as the cassettes have different splines.

No ....you can now buy Campag spaced cassettes with Shimano spline fitting. Ambrosio do cheaper quality ones (See Surosa Cycles) and Marchisio do better quality ones - also see Highpath Engineering.

Thanks for the Ambrosio link - that will get me going whilst I source my Campag wheels for my new build. I've also found American Classic and Wheels Manufacturing conversion cassettes - the latter seem to be the ultimate and come in DA quality and weight - however only in the US, so they would get rather pricey by the time you'd imported.

acorn_user

Have you seen the price of Sram Red? It is steep. The prices I have seen are in the order of $2500 for the whole set. That's around 1250 pounds assuming that they don't use the good old 1:1 conversion.

For that money, you could possible get two Chorus groupsets, or invest in some wheels. Or a nicer frame.

wildmoustache

I have read in some parts that RED is lighter than Record and in other parts that Record is lighter than RED. seems like there is very little in it ... if that's the case then you will get Record g'sets that are lighter than some RED g'sets and vice versa.

Both are substantially lighter than DA ... 200g+ ... about the difference between DA and Ultegra. But hell, I'd far rather have DA to RED.

Go for DA or Record. If you want very light and beautiful go for Record. If the looks and added weight doesn't bother you then save the cash and go for DA.

£1250 for RED... what a joke.

franklin pierce

I wouldn't bother buying a bog-stock group for a dream bike, no matter how posh the ad campaign is.

Of course, I like old, crappy french touring bits.

acorn_user

wildmoustache wrote:

Go for DA or Record. If you want very light and beautiful go for Record. If the looks and added weight doesn't bother you then save the cash and go for DA.

£1250 for RED... what a joke.

Or Chorus