Campag Shifters

big lewy

I am in the process of picking out my first proper road bike, having spent the last few years with my trusty Dawes Galaxy, which comes armed with bar-end shifters.

I therefore have no particular loyalties in the Campag vs Shimano (vs SRAM) debate. Looking at the levers in both groupsets, I had noticed that all the Campag shifters come with thumb levers, and I have a concern about how accessable these are, particularly when down in the drops. I have fairly short, wide hands and fingers, so had a minor concern about reach, and the adjustability of the SRAM levels is appealing.

Therefore, can anyone comment on problems with reach with Campag levers or the accessablility of the thumb levers?

Of those of you with small hands/short reach - do you have a preferred setup?

Thanks.

giant_man

Whatever you get you will get used to. I don't have massive hands but both Shimano and Campag are fine.

Wappygixer

Women and kids normally have smaller hands than adult males the they both cope with either.
As the post above says you will get used to what ever you buy.

Monty Dog

Bar shape is just as critical - if you have a deep drop bar it will be difficult to reach with any lever. A compact bar has a shallow drop and shorter reach - I can reach the down shift button on Ergos from the drops which is critical for sprints in racing.

simon johnson

Hitting the thumb levers from the drops is not really convenient- in fact I never really consider doing this in practice; although this may be easier (doable even) with compact/shallow drops. However, I don't find the lift back up to shift particularly troublesome. I think Shimano Sora also have thumb shifters, so depending on your budget it may be SRAM by default.

ps I have both Campag and Shimano shifters, and each have their advantages. SRAM, I don't know.