Campah and Shimano

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 10:57:36 -0500, Matt O'Toole
wrote:

I don't know enough about the failure modes, not having
dissected any failed STI units. But while STI
failures are ridiculously common, RF+ failures are practically unheard of.

The original push-push Rapidfire units from the early 90s were garbage,
but since then the push-pull RF+ have been bulletproof. People worry
about them, but in practice they just don't break.

That makes sense -- they've killed off thumb shifters in favour of
RapidFire and twistgrip even in the Tourney line now, and the
ultra-high-volume, low-cost groups should, if anything, be more reliable
than the high-end stuff, at least across its expected lifespan, which is
more years and a lot less miles.

Jasper

Shimano apparenly had some quality control issues. If the STI's don't
fail within the first thousand miles, they'll probably last a long time.

However, they cannot be rebuilt (a few exceptions from newsgroup readers
that tore two apart - one for parts and one to repair; they said it
wasn't easy).

Campy will probably always have problems with the G-spring carriers
breaking. So, they not only CAN be rebuilt but they often MUST be
rebuilt as well.

It really boils down to feel and preferences. I LIKE the Campy thumb
button! I can hold the tops along the stem when climbing, and up-shift
as the slope levels off a bit. I have compact cranks; when I shift to
the small ring, shifting the 3 cogs on the back is done instantly.
Finally, I just plain like the feel of the thinner hood + the aesthetics
of Ergo.

Garry Jones wrote:
Probably the millionth time this thread has been started and I know its
on a par with Windows v Mac and usually a question of personal taste.

However, about ten years ago it was "common knowledge" / "often claimed"
that....

A) Campag gears didn't start working correctly until about 1000 miles.
B) Shimano gears would start giving problems after about 1000 miles.

ie that Campag gears was had a longer-life and that this was the major
selling point of campag.

Now I am trying to answer a thread on a local Swedish cycling group
where someone is claiming that Shimano have successfully tackled the
earlier problems they had. It is claimed that Shimano components now
last longer..

As this is just based on hearsay from one person I would like to know
the popular current wisdom in the cycling world on the length of life of
Campag vs Shimano components.

Garry Jones
Sweden