Upgrading to Campy one day at a time

[JWDR]

I am about to start upgrading to Campagnolo for no other reason than I've wanted a Campy equipped road bike since the first time I traded an unused mountain bike for a friends unused 600 equipped road bike. I currently ride an Ultegra/DA 10 speed set up.

I'm thinking I might as well go for 11 speed while upgrading. I think that wheelset, rear derailleur, chain, shifters and cassette will be the parts I just wait until I stumble across a really good deal and figured I would start with a new crankset (compact for English threaded), front derailleur (28.6 banded), and brake set (realize there is no release).

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best bang for the buck Campagnolo crankset, brakes or front derailleur? Or possibly things to watch out for while running the above Campy with Shimano?

[Llewellyn]

From memory, the consensus for best bank for buck Campagnolo group seems to be Athena. If you do a search in the forum you'll find plenty of discussion and recommendations on this and about which parts to mix and match.

Good luck

[FlashUNC]

Silver bits is Athena.

I've got an 11 SPD group of full Athena, save for some Chorus shifters. Works great.


Realistically, any Campy brake calipers will work fine if you're looking for an area to save money. The pre-skeleton calipers can be had for pretty cheap, and I think they look better.

[oliver1850]

Athena for the 11 speed specific bits. If you're patient you can build a group for way less than retail. It's not hard to find nice used stuff either.

You can use any calipers you want. NOS Veloce/Centaur dual pivots still turn up. I'd avoid the Veloce model years that don't have the orbital pad adjustment. Other than that they're all pretty much functionally equivalent. In the past I've picked up new Centaurs for $35/pr., but those days may be gone.

You will probably want to hold off switching the FD until you have the Ergo levers. Shimano STI is fussy about FD compatibility.

[fogrider]

start with the levers, derailleurs and rear wheel.

[weiwentg]

Originally Posted by fogrider

start with the levers, derailleurs and rear wheel.

OP, if you want to do it on the cheap and bit by bit, you can do this. Shimano brakes from the DA 7800 or Ultegra 6700 era will work fine with Campy (but iirc 7900/6800 and later will not as the cable pull is different - someone correct me if I'm wrong). In fact, you don't strictly need to change out the front derailleur either.

[biker72]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Silver bits is Athena.

I've got an 11 SPD group of full Athena, save for some Chorus shifters. Works great.


Realistically, any Campy brake calipers will work fine if you're looking for an area to save money. The pre-skeleton calipers can be had for pretty cheap, and I think they look better.

+1
Exactly what I have on my Titanium Seven.

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

"...............brake set (realize there is no release)."

The release is in the lever on Campy.

"................best bang for the buck Campagnolo."

10S, Centaur Chorus. 11S, Athena/Centaur. $250-$300 (on here, I've been able to do it, fwiw) for a used RD, Cassette, Shfiters and Crankset is very possible. Pretty cheap price of admission (imo) to get your feet wet.

I'll have some nice (previous shape) 10S silver Veloce (Shifters, RD, Crankset, Cassette etc. on the classifieds, shortly).

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by JWDR

I am about to start upgrading to Campagnolo for no other reason than I've wanted a Campy equipped road bike since the first time I traded an unused mountain bike for a friends unused 600 equipped road bike. I currently ride an Ultegra/DA 10 speed set up.

I'm thinking I might as well go for 11 speed while upgrading. I think that wheelset, rear derailleur, chain, shifters and cassette will be the parts I just wait until I stumble across a really good deal and figured I would start with a new crankset (compact for English threaded), front derailleur (28.6 banded), and brake set (realize there is no release).

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best bang for the buck Campagnolo crankset, brakes or front derailleur? Or possibly things to watch out for while running the above Campy with Shimano?

'Bang for the buck' is a moving target. If you want aluminum, hard to beat Athena. Nothing wrong with Powertorque in spite of some comments you hear here and there. Carbon Centaur also, less expensive chainrings. Lower end chainrings on Veloce also and aluminum. With Ultrashift shifters, yes you can use a 10s crank with 11s shifters. If you get Athena Powershift-gotta get a 11s crank and 11s front der. Brakes, don't matter-

[druptight]

If you want to start with brakes, these are a fantastic bang for your buck:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-sho...lack-pair.html

[JWDR]

Thanks for all of the responses. Since ultimately the lack of Campy compatible wheel sets was the biggest thing holding me back, I bought a complete 11 speed groupset, to include wheels, off the classifieds here.