Campy 10 speed quality issues?

[Plum Hill]

Two LBS employees mentioned quality issues with Campy 10 speed groups.
Both claimed this was documented in industry news.
Having two Record 10 groups and having had no issues, I wonder if I'm to believe them.

Any opinions?

[SPOKE]

What issues?

[TomP]

I've ridden Record 10, Chorus 10 and Centaur 10 for many years. Similarly 8 and 9 speed before then. I've never had any problems. An occasional rebuild to keep feeling like new, or to upgrade 8 to 9, or 9 to 10 speed.

[thwart]

Whoa. Time to get over to the classifieds and dump my 10 spd Campy stuff.

[Spin71]

Any opinions?

Find another LBS

[Dave]

Too vague. Where's the "quality" issue? One complaint with the '09 ultrashift levers was the light clicks on finger lever. It's not a quality issue, but a lot of buyers didn't like it. Late in '09 the clicks were revised to match those on the 11 speed shifters.

Other than that, I can't think of any issues. The 10 speed groups are just lower level, Centaur and Veloce. The chains wear just as good as Record and the all steel cogs last longer.

[AngryScientist]

Two LBS employees mentioned quality issues with Campy 10 speed groups.
Both claimed this was documented in industry news.
Having two Record 10 groups and having had no issues, I wonder if I'm to believe them.

Any opinions?

Be wary of people who talk in general terms, and quote "industry news" as a source. without anything specific to go with, I say that these lbs employees are just stirring the pot, or have other motives for giving such a vague, unsupported statement.

my opinion? i think campy 10 speed stuff is excellent.

[Aaron O]

Sounds like hog wash to me. There might be people who don't like it, but there are people who don't like anything. I've never heard of any widely reported problems; in fact all I've heard is how consistently awesome it is.

[saab2000]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I mean, many folks only have a decade on the stuff and Campagnolo continues to produce 10-speed groups and spares. It's total crap.

I'd go with Campagnolo 11-speed if I were you and stay away from the 10-speed junk.

Oh, and when you're selling it? Look me up. I'll take that junk off your hands for pennies on the dollar. I could use a rear der for a project I've got going.

[thendenjeck]

yeah, sounds like some car salesman BS to get you to upgrade to 11. find a new shop.

[Elefantino]

Oh, and when you're selling it? Look me up. I'll take that junk off your hands for pennies on the dollar.
Next in line!!!! :)

[ultraman6970]

U have to ask about what groups, some groups are harder to set up than others. For example u cant compare record 10 with the mirage 10. Mirage shifting works but the cable tension has to be kind'a ok all the time or wont shift super nice, record pretty much will shift no matter what.

The other factor is that some shop mechanics dont know any better than sora and ultegra because that's all what they see in the shop and when a campagnolo bike shows up they are not even able to figure it out what is wrong, between u and me u know how to set up one system the other brand is the same, is not rocket science. The other thing and maybe most important is the client service, is not new that campy costumer service sucks (im a campy guy) so pretty much if they have a problem the campy guy will leave them in limbo so some stores simply dont want to deal with the brand, shimano costumer service is good from what I know but I havent called any costumer service to figure it out what is wrong with a bike problem ever, so really cant tell if its a problem with mechanics that suck or what when I hear stuff like "campy is a PITA".

Saw the set up of campy electronic and with that thing u really have to be "re tar de d" to have a problem, more over... u can trim on the fly with the touch of the buttons if something is weird. I bet some stores will complain for that too...

I was the OP i wouldn't go to those stores no more, a bike mechanic should be efficient enough to work in any brand and some guys are not brilliant enough to even figure it out or use their heads to fix something. In those cases is better do the stuff yourself and save your money to buy other stuff or even a nice gift for your wife at the end of the year.

[oldpotatoe]

Two LBS employees mentioned quality issues with Campy 10 speed groups.
Both claimed this was documented in industry news.
Having two Record 10 groups and having had no issues, I wonder if I'm to believe them.

Any opinions?

Another coupla LBS employees who are clueless, imagine that. Lessee....they sell a bunch of spam and shimano bikesouttaboxes, wouldn't know how to OVH an ERGO lever if their very life depended on it, shove shimano der cables into ERGO levers, etc......

[Peter B]

Those mechanics are right. Campy 10 sucks. Ship all that crap to me.

[dbh]

Could be related to the dumbed down powershift 10 speed stuff that has limited trim in addition to lacking ability to dump multiple gears.

[tannhauser]

Ha. I think they meant SCRAM. *ducks*

[fogrider]

I've seen campy break and shimano break. i remember issues with shamino chains awhile back. but have not seen any issues with quality lately. for campy I've had G springs wear, and hubs crack, but this is more from heavy use than anything else.

if someone know of issues, they should say what the issues are.

[rustychisel]

I recall one specific Campagnolo issue in the last 10 years and it related to the first generation carbon cranks (on square taper spindle)... there were 'some' with pedal inserts which were not well bonded into the carbon, among them some of the first generation compact cranksets. My partner has a pair on her bike, and they creak a bit. IIRC a fix was initiated quickly. Nothing else.

[Ken Robb]

Ignore your personal experience and believe what anonymous posters have to say. I will buy your 10 speed Campy crap cheap before it self-destructs. :)

[R2D2]

I've heard some industry rumors there's a quality problem with some LBS wrenches. Some shops like the one Peter runs set a high standard.

[oldpotatoe]

I've heard some industry rumors there's a quality problem with some LBS wrenches. Some shops like the one Peter runs set a high standard.

Thanks for the kind words and yes, even here in the 'republic', we see some interesting things when some 'wrenches' work on Campagnolo.

[oldpotatoe]

Could be related to the dumbed down powershift 10 speed stuff that has limited trim in addition to lacking ability to dump multiple gears.

Not related to quality when they made Athena and below work just like....sram and shimano...

[SamIAm]

Two LBS employees mentioned quality issues with Campy 10 speed groups.
Both claimed this was documented in industry news.
Having two Record 10 groups and having had no issues, I wonder if I'm to believe them.

Any opinions?

Campy 10 as the epitome of quality. Have had at least 8 groups on various bikes over the past 8-9 years without a single, and I mean single, problem.

[oldpotatoe]

Campy 10 as the epitome of quality. Have had at least 8 groups on various bikes over the past 8-9 years without a single, and I mean single, problem.

Last one on this.

Been working on lever mounted shifting systems since the late 80s. Seen them all, have a pretty good idea what seems to be durable and what isn't.

9s STI, 7700 and 6500 had a terrible track record, saw more than a few not work outta the box. 7700 BBs, poor design. 7410 rear der top pulleys, bolt unscrewed. 7800/6600 much better but they 'eat' shift cables. 6700/5700/7900 VERY good.

Yep, 8s, 9s and 10s Campagnolo have shift springs wear out and 1998 and later had the post of the spring carrier break, strengthened, then they split. The 'Ultra' solved this but still see a few break. Good news is that you can fix them. bad news is you gotta fix them. 1997/8 9s freehub bodies, screwed in pawl carrier sometimes split the FH body. New one piece solved this. 2009 stuff VERY reliable.

sram, lotsa levers been warrantied from my shop. Maybe 2 dozen, broken levers, chipped shift cams. PLUS 4 rear ders, 2 cranks, numerous BBs, a few MTB shift levers, chainrings(early, folded some). sram did a recall on brake calipers. VERY liberal warranty policy. Essentially they will warranty anything for any reason(or none). Reminds me of Chevy truck gas tanks and the Ford Pinto. Cheaper to warranty than redesign.

Bike shop wrnches that mostly build bikesouttaboxes or service same have little exposure to Campagnolo. What they shouldn't do(like a certain MO outfit who shall remain nameless) is throw BS around about any one group maker in spite of the fact they mostly see new stuff from them. Makes them seem like hacks. I'm sure they get screamin good deals on sram, why they seem to love the stuff....then I warranty it.

[djg]

I recall one specific Campagnolo issue in the last 10 years and it related to the first generation carbon cranks (on square taper spindle)... there were 'some' with pedal inserts which were not well bonded into the carbon, among them some of the first generation compact cranksets. My partner has a pair on her bike, and they creak a bit. IIRC a fix was initiated quickly. Nothing else.

I've generally had very good luck with Campagnolo gear. Great consistent performance, IMO. I have it on all my bikes, except the TT rig (which came with DA -- I installed a shift-mate so that I could use Campy-compatible wheels). Very long life and low maintenance on the levers and gears, no worries with the brakes. The wheels seem to last forever (still have some old nucleon tubulars, my brother is still riding my old Eurus clinchers -- maybe 6 years old? -- and I was glad to pick up some NOS Eurus tubulars on this board). I'm in the process of moving 11 speed gear onto my road bike, and I've picked up a new kit for my next cross build. I did, however, have one of the cranks fail in this way while riding -- not fun -- and a second one is getting ditched because the sleeve in the crank arm seems to be coming loose a bit. These are older square taper carbon cranks, but not the first generation (which has a different looking carbon). It's a bit hard to chalk this up to bad wrenching -- hard to imagine something more straightforward than installing pedals.

These are my own personal experiences and I've no idea what the failure rate is on these things. I'm not trying to slam the company (see above), and I've no conviction whatsoever that the other guys have not had their share of problems. But these were my experiences. I'm not that anonymous -- at least a few folks on the board know me personally, I post under my initials, and anybody who wants my full name is welcome to send me a PM.

[Pete Serotta]

Ignore your personal experience and believe what anonymous posters have to say. I will buy your 10 speed Campy crap cheap before it self-destructs. :)


They are very very bad and thus Ken and I will keep you safe from them :banana:

Pete

[mcteague]

Had various Shimano over the years, no problems. Campy for the last 10, no problems. Just like the look and feel of Campagnolo better. I had an Avocet crank break at the pedal spindle hole long ago and, just last year, had 2 Time RXS pedal bodies crack in half. Bike equipment seems to be pretty reliable overall IMO. Of course I take care of it all myself so don't know what bike shops, and their attendant wrenchs, are like these days.

Tim

[Kontact]

I would like to know which system they are talking about. 10 has been around in so many groups for so many years that a specific problem is not going to be covered by "Campy 10 problem". That's like referring to the DA shifter problem without saying that it's the 7800 shifter that eats cables.

I've seen some problematic rear shifting on 11 speed stuff, but not 10. But current 10 speed groups aren't really very common in the US. All the people I know with newer Campy use Chorus or better. The current 10 stuff is mechanically different than previous 10, so there certainly could be an issue with it.

[El Cap]

I just upgraded from 9 to 10s. Love it. No issues so far (though it's early days)

[Seott-e]

I have the first gen 10 carbon Record from when was it, 99 or 01.
I have replaced the springs maybe twice. I know, I have to replace the rear cable once a year. I have a zillion miles on them and no issues.
As for the rest of the group, I put a Carbon cage on the rear der to replace the aluminum, Cuz you can with Campy. I have the first gen Ultra-torque crankset, I have replaced the bearings one time and chain rings. I have the first gen Skeletal brakes set.
No issues really, just Like the Campy we all know and love.