Explain Campag to me….

…why do some people love / loathe it?

ffs, just buy a new bike 😉

wwaswas – Member
ffs, just buy a new bike

Its not about a new bike. I’m just interested.

Then start a “what training for my road bike” thread 😛

They’re Italian, therefore like everyone else, but subtley different, and better looking.

Shimano – big lever for big gears and brakes, small lever for small.
Campag – big lever does brakes, small lever does big gears, even smaller lever does small gears
SRAM – big lever does brakes, small lever does big or small gears depending on if you push it a long way (bigger gear) or short (smaller gear).

I’m just interested.

fair enough.

Campag wears in whereas Shimano wears out.

Campag wears in and…….

a certain bedding in period is also to be expected with Shimano.

People pay over the odds for a campag groupset because they believe it wears in.

Campag is nice looking on your niche euro frame. Well it is on mine. The reality seems to be that bottom bracket bearings wear out quicker and are harder to replace, gears are more difficult to fine tune.

People pay over the odds for a campag groupset because they believe it wears in.

have you seen the price of Shimano Chainsets and STi’s? Campag is far cheaper. Looks nicer IMO as well.

Yes the rear mechs aren’t cheap, but compared to Sram they are.

And don’t forget the £90 chain rings that have razor sharp teeth after a couple of thousand miles. ‘Wear-in’, my arse. Looks nice nice tho

It’s just a personal preference thing. I prefer the way my record gears work and are no harder to set up than anything else.

And the bearings are easy to change just different

Campag is slightly different in use so that some people will prefer it while others will prefer Shimano or SRAM. It’s a preference.

Some people believe that riding Campag is somehow more ‘real’ and that because it’s Italian it’s got more soul than Shimano or SRAM

Some people believe that Campag wears in. IMO, it’s just stiffer in function when new (eg shifters) but the drivetrain itself wears out about the same.

Some people believe that Campag looks nicer (read less industrial/functional/technical)

Some people believe that Italian bikes MUST have Campag. Interestingly Italians generally don’t believe this and have no issue putting SRAM or Shimano on a classic Italian frame.

There’s a lot of BS about it. By all means use Campag, just don’t kid yourself that it’ll really make any difference to your riding.

(Long term Campag user here, I just like the way it feels)

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy.
my 2p…

So is the little lever on the site of the shifter accessible from the drops? And what about this “special” chain tool? Is that needed by the day to day rider?

Other than that I agree it looks nice, but like everything road, its about “feel” as well?

“rattle, rattle, KER-CHUNK, rattle” – sound of Campag changing gear

Some people think that is a good thing

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy.

Really?

To me Delta brakes are the epitome of Campag – looked amazing but didn’t really work.

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy.

Only on the budget models (Tiagra etc.)

wears in

About the only thing on a bike that “wears in” is a Brooks saddle. And you could argue that technically that wears out, but just improves “feel” as it does so.

Nonsense is spoken about wearing in and wearing out. It’s just another product that allows you to change gear.

I went campag as i have hands like a girl and find the lever shape and hoods fit my had better than the flatter topped new Shimano

Also – most new STI’s from Shimano have hidden cabling now.

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy.
my 2p…

not for the last couple of years.

It’s been a while since I used Campag (I had Daytona) as I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I’d used Shimano before this (admittedly Dura Ace, but several years old Dura Ace). The Campag was awful – clunky, and didn’t survive wet rides very well at all, and the chainrings and mechs wore out in a flash. I didn’t get on with the shifters either for braking or shifting.

Very much a Shimano man these days, but as already mentioned it’s just down to personal preference.

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy

Shimano have rear-exiting cables down to 105 these days so like andy says, unless you’re buying towards the bottom, that’s not a distinction.

Very happy with Shimano though, not sure I’d go to the expense of changing on my current road bike as I don’t see how that’d help my legs get stronger which is my main problem

Isn’t there a strictly enforced law that states that you have to have Campag to match your Rapha top?

Would anyone else like…………

Fulcrum cranks?

i.e. campag cranks (which look infinately nicer than shimano) made by campag but without having to break the rules with missmatched brands?

Isn’t there a strictly enforced law that states that you have to have Campag to match your Rapha top?

Only in the home counties.

Isn’t there a strictly enforced law that states that you have to have Campag to match your Rapha top?

I’ve got some Rapha tops (OK, baselayers) and have 105 on the road bike and X9 on the MTB.

Andy

[edit] wrong thread

From my experience, the low end groups aren’t all that, but the higher end stuff is lovely.
Got Chorus carbon 11 speed on my posh bike and its spot on and pretty 🙂
CX bike has Centaur 10 speed chainset (ultra torque) and cheap mirage shifters and rear mech.
The new ergo lever hoods are much better than the previous ones which i find a bit too small.

Had a play with some SRAM double tap levers on a mates bike and quite liked them, but not really a fan of the shimano 2 lever set up however smooth the changing might be.

“So is the little lever on the site of the shifter accessible from the drops?”

As long as you dont have your levers set too high then yes.
Ideal for banging down multiple gears when sprinting/coming out of corners on the drops.
Note, this only works on the higher end kit as low end stuff only allows one gear at a time with the thumb shifter (like cheap shimano).

Campag allows for dropping multiple cogs and trimming of the front.
It has a more mechanical feedback when changing.
Campag freehubs remind you not to coast.
It looks nicer (maybe)

American frame and Italian groupset here.

Tested the Ultegra Di2 recently, and it is lovely (auto trims front)

djaustin – I can trim my front mech (it’s ultegra from a few years back). Can almost get the full range of gears in the big ring.

Campag is like shimano, only clunkier and with poorer parts availability.

I thought it was a shame that Shimano bowed to fashion with the gear cables under the tape – it increases friction and makes cable replacement more of a faff.

12 years of Campy stuff on the road bike tells me there might be a quality question here, and it looks great.

Campag was seen as the best kit until Shimano came along and overtook them with a bigger development budget in the 80s .I still love my 80s Campag Record large flange hubs though and my best bikr still has late 90s Campag 8 speed as does my tt bike .Just wish I could find an 11 /21 8 speed casette for it

Borrowed a bike with veloce to see if I could ride a road bike again and it came close to putting me off. Clumsy and agricultural, and was set up and maintained by a campag tifosi. going to 105 was bigger than performance gap between deore and xtr.

Higher end stuff might be better but it was awful.

Edit; I can trim my 105. It just doesn’t need it as much as the veloce did. Reminded me of old grip shift, if you need to put half a dozen steps in to change 2 or 3 rings you made it wrong.

Campag is like shimano, only clunkier and with poorer parts availability.

My understanding was that you could buy parts for campag (certainly could in the past) whereas shimano kit tends to be far less serviceable.

makes cable replacement more of a faff.

Makes changing outers a faff I’d agree. Inners I can change with no problem

There seems to be less between Sram/Shimano/Campag than ever these days.

I use Campag but thats just because I’m used to it. I have a 7yr old Record 10s bike that still works beautifully. When I got a groupset earlier this year I went for Record against going for Red/DuraAce since I’ve had great longevity out of my Campag, plus I never have to think about what I’m doing when changing gear.

I bought a Cycling Plus this week for the first time in ages and I don’t think that there was hardly a single Campag bike in it. Certainly Campag used to be more expensive but with the Yen exchange rate there isn’t much in it these days.

My understanding was that you could buy parts for campag (certainly could in the past) whereas shimano kit tends to be far less serviceable.

Legacy support for campag is awful! In contrast, you can still buy shimano 7 speed cassettes…

Clumsy and agricultural

My experience of Veloce. Put me off Campag stuff

I like the positive/agricultural (delete according to bias) feel to the Veloce shifters. I also like the look of the stuff but admit the Veloce brakes are sh1t.

But then I have a Bianchi, an Alfa Romeo and Fiat 500… maybe I’m biased?

I think mtbing could do with campag, we lack varying standards what with different sized wheels bbs headsets. ……