Any one know if there is anything to be wary of when looking at campag 11 speed group sets? I've seen athena cheap at a few places and fancy giving it a shot on a steel road frame i've picked up. I am mainly concerned about buying a cheap group set then needing expensive tools to fit it.

Ribble have centaur 10speed cheap too, but I guess that is lower than say 105 quality?

Cheers, Dave

Centaur is as good if not slightly better quality (less plasticky parts in the lever) than 105. I think a chaintool is the only 11speed specific tool that you would need for the Athena.

Got Chorus 11 and used it for >a year and love it – no complaints here, changing all my rides to Campag 11 😀

No particular issues apart from the chain which needs a seriously expensive chain tool £150 IIRC. Use a KMC chain instead.

Sounds good, so you can get kmc 11sp chains? And shorten them with a normal chain tool and use the kmc quick links??

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=A1689 Take a deep breath and reach for your wallet!

I'm not sure whether you can use the KMC missing link with the Campy 11sp chain but I suspect you could.

I'd go straight to 11 speed. The Centaur 10 speed I've got has a really woolly click to the shift, 11 Athena I've tried is much snappier.

BB cups can be fitted with a Shimano external bb tool. You'll need a Torq key (T25 or T30, can't remember) to fit the ergo levers, ideally a screwdriver type one, not a L-shape as its easier.

And an extra long 10mm allen key to bolt the cranks together as its in the middle of the bb, not at one end.

Everything else is pretty standard allen key stuff.

And I think KMC do a missing link for Campag chains.

yes they do but there is no info on compatibility.

Been using Chorus 11 for more than a year now and really like it. There are downsides – the chaintool, if you buy it, is ludicrously expensive, but Park do a rivetting thing which is the important bit, for 30 quid or so. You can get away with running a KMC ten-speed link in an emergency – I carry a couple and a bit of 11-speed chain. It is slightly too wide, but it'll run and shift just fine fwiw. You can get Campag Chorus 11 chains on eBay for around £30-£35 squid.

Chorus 11-speed spares are ruinously expensive, dunno about Athena, but check the prices – Chorus cassette is around £120 or so… then again, road stuff lasts a lot longer. Campag have 11-speed spec crank bearings for some reason, but the standard 10-speed ones fit and work just fine and are about a million quid cheaper.

Overall I'm really happy with mine – clean, positive shifts, good brakes and I like the shape of the hoods. I used a socket set with an extension thingee to fit the cranks. Oh, for some reason, a lot of people try to stick the big bolt in the middle of the crank axle the wrong way round and are then surprised when it falls out, so think about what half the threaded one is and fit the bolt accordingly 🙂

Thanks everyone, looks like a goer