Can you replace the springs bushes and ratchets and things in Ultegra doof doof, like you can in Campagnolo shifters?
Well no, and my 15-year old Ultegra shifters are starting to get a little baggy...
My experience of shimano road gear is that it's extremely durable, so I'm not sure a lack of spares of sti's is a big deal.
The Pro Teams seem to use predominantly Shimano probably because of the reliability ease of use, although I like the look and image of Campag I am put off by the thumb shifter that I had on my first ever road bike Sora shifters and hated it and much prefer shifting using the levers. If I changed from my Smimano Ultegra 6700 it would be for Di2 or perhaps even Sram when they bring out there Electronic system thats currently in development.
Do Campag do shifters with the thumb lever though?
I ride an Italian fashion wagon (De Rosa) and it came with Campag. It was cheap so I was willing to give it a go- a full Carbon Chorus set up. I didn't like it. It felt cheap and a bit out of date, as though they were hanging on to old design principles for the sake of difference.
I also found it was much more sensitive to any cable stretch and the gears went out of line very easily compared to Shimano. Sold it an back on the most recent 10spd Ultegra which is much nicer.
I love Campy gear, I've been using 11sp carbon Athena/Record mix on my Ridley, as well as Campy wheels. Doubt I'd ever go back to Shimano for the road.
That said I've had Dura Ace on my cyclocross bike for 4 seasons and its sill works brilliantly. Horses for courses.
Oh and SRAM for the MTB. Spread the wealth.
[quote=flippinheckler ]The Pro Teams seem to use predominantly Shimano probably because [s]of the reliability ease of use[/s] they're paid to use it
I am put off by the thumb shifter that I had on my first ever road bike Sora shifters and hated it and much prefer shifting using the levers.
The cheapy Shimano Sora thumb lever works nothing like the Campag ones.
I've had 11 speed Athena on my road bike for the last 5 years or so. Prefer the feel and the look to Shimano and Sram. That and I've never gotten on with the hood shape on Shimano STIs.
Can't say I've had any reliability problems with it either. After the initial install I think the gears were tweaked once and that's been about it.
Given that Campagnolo Service and Warranty is a significant part of my company's income, I have an obvious bias towards Campagnolo - but we are also providers of neutral technical service on sportifs and races as well as offering an industry recognised training programme in all aspects of cycle mechanics - so I get to see all manufacturers kit in use, all the time - some of it well cared for, some of it not so well cared for and some basically neglected.
None of the big three make anything that is fundamentally bad or seriously flawed. In general we find that set-up and how (if?) kit is looked after has far more bearing on how well it works than any differences in technology.
In that respect, Campagnolo are often seen as being on the back foot because their kit is not so widely fitted at OE (although as the OP says, this is changing in the mid-market now) hence mechanics are not so familiar with it. This leads to errors in set up because Campagnolo do some things differently to Shimano and SRAM, who are more widely distributed at OE. This is natural - SRAM do some things differently to Shimano too, but it's not seen as odd or tricky because mechanics see it pretty frequently.
The old adages about Shimano wearing out and Campag wearing in are definitely dead and buried - in fact a Campagnolo gear system, correctly set up, runs as well as anything from Shimano or SRAM stright out of the box. It has done, in practiacl terms for probably the last 15 years or so. Where it is different, though, is in feel. Campagnolo have made forays into lighter action levers over the years but have always, through market demand, come back to the more mechanical feel for which they are known ... this and other differences are not there "for the sake of it" as some comments above imply but because Campagnolo's customer is not always Shimano's customer and Campagnolo products in general have a wider range of reverse compatibility. The current 2015 changes to the gear systems that make 2015 shifters and derailleurs from Chorus "up" incompatible with previous shifters and mechs are the first significant technical changes since the launch of 11s in 2009. 10s compatibility (with one or two technical changes) has remained the same since 2001.
Making a choice between groupsets these days is about liking the look and feel of the equipment, liking the technical support available (and Campagnolo are gradually rolling out a network of fully trained technicians in LBS - and interestingly "Campagnolo ProSho"p does seem to be an increasingly coveted status symbol from discussions we had with cycle shops at the NEC Show this year) and to some, aspects like where the products are made (over 85% of Campag production is still in Europe) and history / tradition ... choices that pro teams make on the basis of who will pay them to use what are also influential, as are to some small extent, who wins what on which kit - Nibali and Quintara both had Grand Tour wins on Campagnolo this year, Del Costs won the Worlds in one of the wettest races ever last year on Campag EPS ...
Obviously we'd love it if you bought into Campagnolo but the other makers out there build good equipment, no question.
