Campy Veloce vs. Centaur

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Veloce or Centaur or Other?

Veloce
9
24%
Centaur
17
46%
Other
11
30%
 
Total votes: 37

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bikerjulio
Posts: 1900
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Location: Welland, Ontario

by bikerjulio

just to show you an example, here's a Ribble basket with everything except crankset and cups for $290.

You can easily pick up a Centaur UT set from Total, and be well under your $550 budget. More like $450.

Image

This thread started with a request for the best "bang for the buck" and I humbly suggest that this is it when it comes to 10-speed Campy.

ps the coupon code "xtra10" is only good till Tuesday 5th.
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

User avatar
SolidSnake03
Posts: 556
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:09 pm

by SolidSnake03

bikerjulio wrote:
SolidSnake03 wrote:Well this is getting a bit more involved than I thought :unbelievable:

Budget concerns have limited me to price of either of these groups which caps out at about $550 or so. A full Centaur group is about the most I'm able to spend at this time which is why the decision is between these two. With that in mind, most of the posts about mixing bits and pieces sounds interesting but I have financial concerns about it, I can see that going over-budget real fast.

Anyhow, I appreciate the input everyone, I'm really only interested in the functioning of the components and from that background I have heard both that the Centaur lever's feel a bit better in shifting action as well as that both are identical. Not sure where to go here :?:


You should listen to someone who knows what they are talking about. You appear to be not fully reading and comprehending what I have been telling you.

At one time there WAS a difference in the shifters. NOW the complete internal assy is the same p/n.

Suggest you do some further work on pricing. Go to the Ribble and Total websites and price out groups and then the individual items. If you can get an UT crankset within your budget, I'd suggest you do that. Yes the Chorus shifters are nicer, but I suspect not within it. The Powershift action works fine too.

Campy is very good at showing technical info and spares on their site. Suggest you look there and confirm what I have been telling you.

Just noticed that Ribble has an additional 10% off orders, but not groupsets. Sometimes it can be cheaper to pick & choose.



Thanks for the information and the basket, however the phrasing at the top there wasn't really needed was it? Listen, I'm relatively new to Campy and someone else in the this thread mentioned the difference while you said there wasn't. I have done more research and it looks like your right HOWEVER, how was I previous supposed to just know you were right?

You seem to imply that I should have known you were the "correct source" when it came to conflicting information regarding Campy shifters, sorry for my ignorance on the matter but how was I supposed to know this?

Like I said the help is appreciated, just trying to explain myself more completely regarding where I was coming from. Thanks
Looks like I made a new 90 Proof friend

by Weenie


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User avatar
bikerjulio
Posts: 1900
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Location: Welland, Ontario

by bikerjulio

after I took the time to tell you that some votes may have been made by people who were referencing an earlier generation of shifters, and the fact that there was a difference in that generation, but not now - you came back to say "some people say there is a difference".

well yes - and I'd just finished explaining the reason.

anyway, although in the past Campy parts have been considered elite & expensive, the current pricing is very competitive IMO and you should be happy if you decide to go this way.

and don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions. :)
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

fdegrove
Tubbie Guru
Posts: 5894
Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 2:20 am
Location: Belgium

by fdegrove

Hi,

Personally, (no offense to anyone involved) I still feel that TS should choose what feels right to him.
He now knows that there's little to no difference technically between a Veloce and Centaur gruppo in its current iteration.

This also applies for current iterations of Super Record to wherever you draw the line. The actual value being more defined by perception than performance if you like.
In this case, the actual difference between the two will always be small. No matter which way you look at it. :wink:

Ciao, ;)
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

User avatar
bikerjulio
Posts: 1900
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Location: Welland, Ontario

by bikerjulio

its a free world. OP came asking for specific advise - which would not be "buy whatever you want".

Basically, I'm thinking of building a maximum bang for your buck road bike. I have always loved the standard geometry/straight tubes of Cannondale so I'm thinking of using a used Caad9 or 10 frame and then building it up as cheaply as possible. At the same time however, I don't want to sacrifice quality too much.

I have done a bit of thinking and after riding SRAM for a few years I would like to give something new a try so why not Campy? I don't have any extra wheelsets aside from the ones currently on my bike so that is not a consideration. Also, I have ridden Shimano before and just wasn't a huge fan, it worked fine but didn't like the feel of the hoods or level throw. The new Campy hoods on the other hand fit my smallish hands wonderfully, they really felt awesome on a few bikes I got to feel/examine at my local shop.

Anyhow, I'm wondering what/how big the difference in performance is between Veloce and Centaur for 2013. The weight really isn't a big concern and neither are looks or names. I simply want the best bang for my buck. I'm looking at the group sets online and it looks like Centaur is about ~$120-$150 more than Veloce.

So what do you guys think? Veloce fit my idea for a build better or is Centaur really worth the extra coin?


he got lots of good advice here.
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

Franklin
Posts: 400
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:09 am

by Franklin

fdegrove wrote:Veloce is fine but has entry level written all over it. At least that's how I think it is perceived by most people.


Now I might be out of the loop as I have Veloce 2008 on my winter bike, but it certainly looks fine. No carbon, but nicely polished Alu.

bikerjulio wrote:there are several responders who may be confusing the Centaur and Veloce of the last decade with today's models, and I'd not count those. There was a difference at one time (pre 2007).


Nope, even before 2007 there was no big difference. In 2005 functionally Veloce 10 was the same as everything up to Record (there was no Super Record). I'm actually remembering that during a few years (somewhere during the 2004-2008 period) there were a few carbon options (crank/Levers) even on Veloce? Could be that my memory is wrong here.

Anyways, functionally they were the same until the Qs differentiation came up. And even then it's hardly shocking. Qs works fine.

bm0p700f
in the industry
Posts: 5777
Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 7:25 pm
Location: Glermsford, Suffolk U.K
Contact:

by bm0p700f

I think fdfrove has it right. There is little difference so buy what feels/look right. If you do not have P/T tools then an older UT chainset would make sense as there are less tools need for install and removal. That the end of the advantage though. If you use a shop for maintance then it doesn't really matter at all.

JMT
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:16 pm

by JMT

PT removal is not that hard or expensive though. I got one of those puller thingies in a hardware store for around $15 (forget what they are called), unscrewed the crank bolt a little bit, put a few coins between the puller tool and the crank bolt, pulled, unscrewed the cap a bit more , put the coins back in between pulled a bit more and then I could remove the crank by hand. I have done the same procedure twice now and it hasn't caused any damage that I can see. You do not need an insanely expensive special crank puller or insertion tool.

User avatar
MajorMantra
Posts: 286
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:38 pm

by MajorMantra

Reckon one of these would work?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-PCE-HUB-BEA ... 0807843176

Easy enough to get, but it's hard to tell if the critical dimensions are right.

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Miller
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: Reading, UK

by Miller

JMT wrote:You do not need an insanely expensive special crank puller or insertion tool.


Indeed you don't. Nor do you need to buy Campag's lovely but expensive chaintool. The 10sp chain can be joined by a normal chaintool with care (read the chain instructions carefully) or a quicklink works perfectly well.

That Ribble basket of suggested parts is a good steer.

caviardreams
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 1:13 am

by caviardreams

Now that you've had plenty of time to make a decision, which did you decide to purchase?

BTW....I run Campy Centaur from 2009 and absolutely love it. It was the lowest in the campy lineup I could go and still get full carbon shifters with a full carbon crank (shifters are not carbon wrapped like new ones.) I also like that I can drop multiple gears in one fell swoop...a feature a believe they took away. Interestingly the brakes are also very similar to the top-of-the-line. They actually went back a step on newer Centaur and got rid of the skeleton breaks.

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