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.

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?

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

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).

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