Chorus or dura ace 9000 ?

meds6974

I intend to fit a campag chorus group , but have seen discounted dura ace 9000 groups for not much more ? Any informed advice ? If its campag , i'm goin with the bullet 50 wheels , so if i go with d.a. what comparable wheels ?

Matthewfalle

Why not d/a wheels if you go with the d/a?

Vslowpace

Personally I'd go d/a, but then I don't like constant fettling

Irrespective of that you can bung on 11 speed campag or shimano wheels on each others groupset without too much trouble. So if you go d/a the bullet wheels will be fine.

I have boras on ultegra that required the tiniest of tweaks on the barrel adjuster to line up.

shortfall

Vslowpace wrote:

Personally I'd go d/a, but then I don't like constant fettling

Irrespective of that you can bung on 11 speed campag or shimano wheels on each others groupset without too much trouble. So if you go d/a the bullet wheels will be fine.

I have boras on ultegra that required the tiniest of tweaks on the barrel adjuster to line up.

Interesting. I've owned Record and Athena and found they didn't need any more fettling than the Shimano groups I've run. I love the more mechanical and tactile feel of Campagnolo and in my opinion aesthetically it looks better than Shimano. Saying that, Duraace has a well deserved reputation for reliability and functionality so it comes down to personal taste. A word on the Bullets. I have the 80s and they're stiff and they're fast in the right conditions. However they use crappy cartridge bearings that aren't very smooth when new and quickly need regreasing.

Vslowpace

I have bikes with Campag, Shimano and Sram. My experience is the Athena groupset requires far more attention than the other two. I compare it to a thoroughbred horse, when it works it's by far the best and smoothest, but it only lasts a couple of rides before it needs further attention.

On big days out it has always let me down. Function over form for me i'm afraid.

thegreatdivide

Vslowpace wrote:

I have bikes with Campag, Shimano and Sram. My experience is the Athena groupset requires far more attention than the other two. I compare it to a thoroughbred horse, when it works it's by far the best and smoothest, but it only lasts a couple of rides before it needs further attention.

On big days out it has always let me down. Function over form for me i'm afraid.

Get your Athena set up properly then.

tommytranquillo

I run Chorus 11-speed and am mystified by the "fettling" comments. This year I did a 1500 mile, three-week trip in France, no fettling required. And a one-week 500-mile trip in the UK, no fettling required. Set up properly, Chorus is a joy to use.

ugo.santalucia

Vslowpace wrote:

I have bikes with Campag, Shimano and Sram. My experience is the Athena groupset requires far more attention than the other two. I compare it to a thoroughbred horse, when it works it's by far the best and smoothest, but it only lasts a couple of rides before it needs further attention.

On big days out it has always let me down. Function over form for me i'm afraid.

Sounds like something is not quite right.

ALL shifters do the same thing, you pull a lever and they pull X amount of cable and click, that irrespective of whether it is thursday or sunday or it rains or it's sunny. The rear derailleur converts that pull into lateral movement that shifts to the next sprocket, again it does so in a consistent way any given day. Lack of consistency is typically down to a bent hanger, a ferrule misfit or an inaccurate indexing.

"smooth shifting" is down to the derailleur spring. Shimano and Campagnolo use a different spring design which means the feel is marginally different, but in essence the difference is f-u-c-k-all.

To the OP: Campagnolo cassette pricing is a bit steep and that would be my rationale to go for Shimano, so I can get a wider range of cassettes for a lot less money (105 or Ultegra for instance or even MTBike ones if they work). An 11 speed Campagnolo cassette is an investment and the range on offer is lesser than Shimano does. That said, you can run Campagnolo gears with a Shimano cassette/freehub, so not a huge issue anyway

pblakeney

Vslowpace wrote:

Personally I'd go d/a, but then I don't like constant fettling

Irrespective of that you can bung on 11 speed campag or shimano wheels on each others groupset without too much trouble. So if you go d/a the bullet wheels will be fine.

I have boras on ultegra that required the tiniest of tweaks on the barrel adjuster to line up.

Anecdotal story. A wheel builder fitted a Shimano cassette spindle to the hub when I wanted Campagnolo. When I pointed out his error he took the wheel away to be re-dished. They may be interchangeable, but not perfect.

flanners1

I don't like the actual feel of the Campagnolo shift mechanisms; the levers feel cheap and brittle to me in both form and function from my experiences up to and including Chorus, the pre 2009 old style levers felt more robust but suffered issues through usage. I much prefer and indeed have had less problems with SRAM Force, Red and Shimano DA, Ultegra whereas I have had two shift paddles snap off of Campagnolo shifter's and the thumb button dropping multiple gears when the spring mechanism starts wearing also; no such issues with any SRAM or Shimano over the years. I would not after this go anywhere near Campagnolo again when the stuff I have still got is beyond use.

shortfall

Flanners1 wrote:

I don't like the actual feel of the Campagnolo shift mechanisms; the levers feel cheap and brittle to me in both form and function from my experiences up to and including Chorus, the pre 2009 old style levers felt more robust but suffered issues through usage. I much prefer and indeed have had less problems with SRAM Force, Red and Shimano DA, Ultegra whereas I have had two shift paddles snap off of Campagnolo shifter's and the thumb button dropping multiple gears when the spring mechanism starts wearing also; no such issues with any SRAM or Shimano over the years. I would not after this go anywhere near Campagnolo again when the stuff I have still got is beyond use.

I don't think your experience is typical. The Campagnolo gruppos I've owned have been very robust but if you've had problems then it's understandable why you'd not be a fan. The benefit of owning Campagnolo is that items like ergo levers are fully rebuildable. The downside is that consumables are comparatively expensive.

galatzo

What frame is it going on ?
Vain as I am some groupsets suit some frames more than others.
I left Chorus a good few years ago (after about 10 years on Campag) and went on to Sram Force which has a similar positive action but is loads cheaper in the first place and also for cassettes as mentioned earlier.
I also found Chorus was often clicking, not quite shifting accurately and generally needed more tlc which not being much use with mechanics and the prices Mercian charged was a pita. Force in comparison really is fettle free, gears just stay in place.
There are some ugly chainsets out there at the moment which make me wonder what to go for when wasting time at work !
Really though its just personal preference on which shifting action you prefer and which looks best on the frame you have. None will give you an edge over your mates compared to good wheels.

Tiesetrotter

I actually run SR as it came with the bike, but as the only difference between the three top Campagnolo mechanical groupsets is materials and their price then the comparison will be the same. I also run Ultegra with disc's on my other bike.

Firstly I don't buy the fettling thing. They need about the same except when you don't replace your cables. My old Centaur system did need a fair bit of fettling, actually a lot. But then I went on a club ride the other day: 5 x Ultegra, 3 x Campag, 2 x SRAM, probably bad luck but 3 of the Ultegra's had issues from fettling and another was a mess.

But basically I think there is a big difference. The dual levers v the buttons. On Campagnolo you press the button and you've changed gear, it's instant whether that is 1, 2 or 3 clicks/gears. Use the internal Ultegra lever - schwing, click, release, have a cup of coffee and change, then repeat and repeat again. Also the amount of time you peddle before it clunks into gear is a lot more than Campagnolo. Perhaps DA is better, but the difference for Ultegra is there.

Just get on Campag and ride along, press the buttons all the way down and then swing the levers ...... you change down and up without changing ratios, instantly. Then you can do just two on the way down and you have moved one ratio. Fast and flexible. Ultegra is fine, but it is not close to the top end Campag's IMHO.

napoleond

I haven't fettle my Athena set up on my ribble in over 3 years!

Matthewfalle

Tiesetrotter wrote:

I actually run SR as it came with the bike, but as the only difference between the three top Campagnolo mechanical groupsets is materials and their price then the comparison will be the same. I also run Ultegra with disc's on my other bike.

Firstly I don't buy the fettling thing. They need about the same except when you don't replace your cables. My old Centaur system did need a fair bit of fettling, actually a lot. But then I went on a club ride the other day: 5 x Ultegra, 3 x Campag, 2 x SRAM, probably bad luck but 3 of the Ultegra's had issues from fettling and another was a mess.

But basically I think there is a big difference. The dual levers v the buttons. On Campagnolo you press the button and you've changed gear, it's instant whether that is 1, 2 or 3 clicks/gears. Use the internal Ultegra lever - schwing, click, release, have a cup of coffee and change, then repeat and repeat again. Also the amount of time you peddle before it clunks into gear is a lot more than Campagnolo. Perhaps DA is better, but the difference for Ultegra is there.

Just get on Campag and ride along, press the buttons all the way down and then swing the levers ...... you change down and up without changing ratios, instantly. Then you can do just two on the way down and you have moved one ratio. Fast and flexible. Ultegra is fine, but it is not close to the top end Campag's IMHO.

Seriously - 10 people and at least 3 didn't have bikes that worked properly? Does your club do any workshop sessions?