Advice: SRAM or Campag?

I’ve used all three, and
I’ve used all three, and currently have bikes with both SRAM and Shimano.

My next bike will more than likely be SRAM. Never had a problem with reliability on SRAM (unlike Shimano).

The downshifts work flawlessly even when you “run out” of lower gears on something stupidly steep, and I find the lever shape and shifting mechanism is much more hand friendly than Campag.

Ignore everything written
Ignore everything written here and go out and try them. They both work very well all the way through the range. It comes down to personal preference, the only way to know is for YOU to try them.

I’m honestly baffled by the habit of blind buying based on the opinions of strangers….

As you already have Campag, I
As you already have Campag, I would stick with it if you like it as you will be able to use wheels, chains, cassettes, tools, cables and any technical know how you have picked up along the way on all of your bikes. I’m migrating my whole stable to Campag because I like it, thanks to the wisdom of my friend, Old Cranky, who has been doing the same with Shimano for years. We could argue all night about which is *the best* but if you like something you might as well stick with it and benefit from the interchangeability of parts and your own personal knowledge.

The dreaded groupset
The dreaded groupset wars…

Quite frankly bringing Shimano’s low end thumb shift groups as a reference point against campag is ridiculous.

SRAM and Campy shift the same speed – campy feels smoother and wears in better.

Campag shifters feel more comfortable for me and many people – this is personal.

SRAM will need more TLC and I don’t trust it to last over the years like I can Campag. However, SRAM does offer the best cost to weight ratio.

One benefit on campag chorus, record and super record is that you can execute multiple downshifts with the thumb shiftier. This is a unique feature.

I personally have Force 22 on one bike, and Veloce/Centaur on another.

I’ve ridden 10 spd Centaur
I’ve ridden 10 spd Centaur and now have 10 spd Rival. It’s true that Campag’ equipment is the better engineered and the more durable. Rival is very good, although the 10 spd versions front mech’ is a criminally poor piece of kit that was replaced by a Shimano one almost immediately. The ability of the Sram rear mech’ to take an 11-32 cassette persuaded me to take the plunge, matched to a compact double hills are much easier. If you’ve managed with the ratios available with Campag’ I’d stay with it, if you’d like help on the hills I’d go for Rival.

I used SRAM once and hated
I used SRAM once and hated it. The gears seem to change on the release of the lever instead of the push which I found counter intuitive and resulted in some bad changes. Sure I could have got used to it in time (it was only a 5 mile jaunt) but was glad to be back on Campag.

P.s to those who have tried Shimano Sora & its thumb lever, Campag is much better & more ergonomic.

Campag centaur is really
Campag centaur is really good, had it on my 2nd bike for a long time (8 years i think), the best bit about campag is that you can replace springs, ratchets etc. when they wear out, instead of having to replace a whole unit with sram and shimano.

Having tried mechanical Sram,
Having tried mechanical Sram, Shimano and Campag on my own bikes, I prefer the double tap Sram system, then Shimano and lastly Campag with it’s daft little thumb shifters. But that’s just my personal preference and no doubt other people’s preferences would be the reverse of mine. These days they’re all going to be light weight and shift smoothly, so it comes down to your shifter preference and price more than anything. The old-farts who run my LBS and build custom bikes get all hot and steamy for the Italian brand just because that’s what was cool back when they were younger, but basing your choice on what others think of a particular brand is not a good idea.