What would you go for? Campag Centaur 10 speed with carbon Campag Centaur chainset and Campag Khamsin wheels, or Shimano Ultegra 10 speed with Shimano RS10 wheels?

The Campag looks lighter, and it works out to be about £15 cheaper, but is it that obvious?

I've always used Shimano on the mountain bike and my road bike, so am I just being silly?

I am a Campagnolo fan and have run it for years. I have Super Record 11 on 3 bikes and Chorus 11 on another. But in this case, I would actually go for Shimano.

Ultegra is a newer groupset and will remain current for longer. I can see Campagnolo ditching Centaur soon now that 11 speed Athena is out there. Also, the Shimano wheels will be better than the Khamsin. Much lighter, and less esoteric. And, carbon or otherwise, the Ultegra chainset is stiffer and lighter than Centaur.

How about Athena 11 with alloy cranks and Fulcrum Racing 5/3 wheels depending on the budget?

In the end there isn't much to choose. Both are good, but Shimano just edges it. In fact, it's so close that it's worth considering what frame you are putting it on and what just feels right. What's the frame?

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialedition.asp?action=showframes&sub=conf_SERC&type=RIBMO

Decent frame choice that.

Still think Ultegra edges it unless you can do the Athena option suggested above.

In order of impact:

Frame
Wheels
Groupset
Components

In this respect the better wheels on the Shimano option will make more of a difference.

Is it worth the £20 to Fulcrum Racing 7 Black wheels?

I don't think I really want to stretch to the SuperLeggera XL50 wheels, as its an extra £300, but otherwise I'll probably get the Shimanos and upgrade them later?

£20 over what? The Racing 7's are their entry level wheels. Not actually that great.

It's easy to get carried away with the groupset and components, but truthfully, the wheels make the absolute difference you can feel. I would even downgrade the groupset myself to get better wheels, but not the superleggeras. Get some better Fulcrums or Mavics. Unless your budget and Ribble's flexibility will stretch to a decent set of handbuilts (Ultegra hubs on Mavic Open Pros). These will be better than the entry level factory builts. Not as 'bling', but the better choice.

Never used Campag stuff so can't comment on that – but the new Ultegra 6700 is a great groupset and the older 6600 series was non too shabby.

I seem to prefer both the old and new Ultegra over the older DA 7800 series. It may all have been down to set up but for me the DA brakes had too much modulation for my liking, perhaps this is how they should be, but I always preferred the sharper feel of the Ultegra brakes.