dookie
04-16-2020, 09:25 AM
For the record, I'm a Shimano hater from my industry days 30+ years ago, when they OEMed their way into market dominance. Sure, good business. Sure, their stuff worked better. I still bear a grudge. So, it was Campy and Suntour for me.
My stable still has an 8s Record bike (Scapin) and a 7s XC-Pro bike (Paramount), but when 10s came around...well, I strayed. I blame the weight-weenie in me, supported by a Kenda team racer friend who positively gushed about the Red on his new rig. Two of my three primary roadies at the time were built with Red (the other Record 10) and the new FS mtb got X01. Then I had a kid and stopped all non-maintenance bike-related buying.
Don't get me wrong, Red was fine. I never could quite get fluid with double-tap and got one the wrong way, or two the right way too often to admit. But the shifts were clean when I managed the levers properly, and the authoritative upshifts were satisfying. Flash forward a decade however, and one of my first isolation projects was to de-SRAM and properly Euro-fy my Time. Let's see what this Campy 11 is all about...
I picked up a Record 11A mini-group and am running it with the existing S-brand freehubbed wheels, so the chain is an XX1 and the cogs 1170 (like to find an 1190 at some point). In any case...wow. I'm seriously impressed with the fluidity and precision, and I'd forgotten how much I love the two-thumb mash when rolling into a climb. The front shifting is so much more crisp than the Red (cranks/rings are also unchanged, 10s Zipp), and the rear is pure butter. To make a musical analogy, Red strikes me as a heavy metal drummer (plenty precise, hardly subtle) and Record 11 perhaps a virtuoso pianist.
So, Tullio...please forgive fickle transgressions. I've returned to your fold and have seen the light. Molte grazie!
My stable still has an 8s Record bike (Scapin) and a 7s XC-Pro bike (Paramount), but when 10s came around...well, I strayed. I blame the weight-weenie in me, supported by a Kenda team racer friend who positively gushed about the Red on his new rig. Two of my three primary roadies at the time were built with Red (the other Record 10) and the new FS mtb got X01. Then I had a kid and stopped all non-maintenance bike-related buying.
Don't get me wrong, Red was fine. I never could quite get fluid with double-tap and got one the wrong way, or two the right way too often to admit. But the shifts were clean when I managed the levers properly, and the authoritative upshifts were satisfying. Flash forward a decade however, and one of my first isolation projects was to de-SRAM and properly Euro-fy my Time. Let's see what this Campy 11 is all about...
I picked up a Record 11A mini-group and am running it with the existing S-brand freehubbed wheels, so the chain is an XX1 and the cogs 1170 (like to find an 1190 at some point). In any case...wow. I'm seriously impressed with the fluidity and precision, and I'd forgotten how much I love the two-thumb mash when rolling into a climb. The front shifting is so much more crisp than the Red (cranks/rings are also unchanged, 10s Zipp), and the rear is pure butter. To make a musical analogy, Red strikes me as a heavy metal drummer (plenty precise, hardly subtle) and Record 11 perhaps a virtuoso pianist.
So, Tullio...please forgive fickle transgressions. I've returned to your fold and have seen the light. Molte grazie!