Campag veloce/Shimano 105..Which is best?

revvers
revvers Posts: 81
edited December 2010 in Road buying advice
Any views on the above, most welcome. Thanks

Comments

  • Wooliferkins
    Wooliferkins Posts: 2,060
    If you damage/wear out anything on the Campag spares are available. Shimano please replace whole item at great cost presuming it's not been superseded by something almost but not quite the same.
    Neil
    Help I'm Being Oppressed
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Functionally little difference. I'd buy on looks and price myself.

    A couple of years ago Veloce would have been an easy recommend but it's been a little dumbed down, whereas new 105 looks pretty nice.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • twotyred
    twotyred Posts: 822
    If you have small hands the thumbshifters on Veloce can be difficult to reach when you are down on the drops. I think this is the main difference between them.

    Gear changes in Veloce sound and feel agricultural compared to 105 but it changes just as quickly and accurately
  • Pork Sword
    Pork Sword Posts: 213
    I have both. 105 is a lot easier to maintain IMO... Veloce seems to need a lot of fettling to keep the gears indexing properly... and achieving 'perfect' indexing is nigh-on impossible in my experience. 105 is simple to maintain by comparison. I plan to eventually replace all my Campag stuff with Shimano eventually...
    let all your saddles be comfy and all your rides less bumpy....
  • cooper.michael1
    cooper.michael1 Posts: 1,787
    I have both, and prefer Campagnolo Veloce. They both shift well, both require little maintainence.

    The Main reasons are as follows:

    1. Reliability - Shimano STI levers break pretty easily, and once broken they go in the bin. Shimano 105 has a woeful record of shifter failures. Campag Ergos cost half the price and you can repair them, if a small part breaks.

    2. I feel that the Camag ergo levers are simply more comfortable. In fact for small hands they give much better access to the brake levers, and therefore seem to provide better braking performance.

    3. With 2010 Veloce you can shift 5 sporkets in either direction of the cassette. (they've taken this away from the 2011 version)

    4. The front mech is not indexed you can trim it exactly, so you never get any chain rub.

    5. Its European.

    6. From what ive seen it is marginally cheaper at the moment.

    ...I'll probably never buy Shimano again for a road bike, unless I have to. I'm keen to try out Sram, but at the moment i'm happy with Campag.
  • rozzer32
    rozzer32 Posts: 3,923
    SRAM Rival all day long!!!
    ***** Pro Tour Pundit Champion 2020, 2018, 2017 & 2011 *****
  • sfichele
    sfichele Posts: 605
    SRAM Rival clunks all day long!!!

    - fixed that for you ;)

    SRAM double tap lever system is really innovative, I do like the one lever approach, but I find the SRAM change a bit functional whereas Shimano 105/ULT is a lot smoother.
    BMC: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12749451
  • canamdad
    canamdad Posts: 165
    To Pork Sword re. poor indexing on Veloce. I had terrrible problems with my Veloce rear derailleur indexing literally for years until I lengthened the rear cable housing to get a better curve for the the RD cable. Might not be your problem I realize but afterwards my shifting has been perfecto! Might be worth a try if you think yours is too short.
  • GortonGaz
    GortonGaz Posts: 4
    105 system very smooth, brakes are really good, pretty much maintainance free. 105 is ideal for sneaky attacks on your friends or opponents. Veloce is excellent. If it is set up correctly, which can take you some time, they are superb. However shifts tend to be noisier due to there precise shifting which is very positive. If you are thinking of sneaky attacks forget it the shifts are noisy? Out of the two systems I favour the Campy, mainly because my bikes ae Italian and there are too many bikes with Shimano. You wont go wrong with either system. Still confused!!!!!!!
  • pianoman
    pianoman Posts: 706
    If you were comparing Dura-Ace to Xenon, it might be a closer run thing.................sorry you didn't really think you were going to escape the silly responses did you :P

    Incidentally I rigged up an old Giant to a turbo the other day, complete with antiquated Shimano Sora/Tiagra, and all I could think was how slow and clunky the gear changes were. I'm glad I've decided to switch to Campag, but I conceded that the thumb shifters are a bit difficult for people with very small hands.
  • andyoh
    andyoh Posts: 115
    I have Veloce on one of my bikes and the other will have Athena when the frame arrives from Italy. I have only ridden with Campagnolo and I've had no problems with mine. It took some tweeking to get it properly adjusted but after half an hour fiddling it was spot and has been since. I can't comment on the Athena as I'm still waiting for my frame.

    As someone said above it can be a bit difficult using the thumb lever when on the drops but you get used to it.

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