Campagnolo make rubbish components!

[ChrisC]

I bought some Campagnolo Centaur Ergopower Shifters 10 Speed (2008 Carbon on the 28/08/2008) and the left hand side gear lever has snapped!

Before this i had some Campag Veloce shifters and the right had shifter broke once i had it over 2 years. The ratchet mechanism broke, so when you shifted up gears i.e from 25 to 23, the chain would jump all the way to the 12.

In contrast i have some Shifters Sora shifters which have outlived both sets of campag shifters.

Anyway this is extremely annoying as i am going to France next Friday. Has anyone else had any problems with Campag shifters? Or am I an especially vicious gear shifter?

[CambridgeBloke]

I bought some Campagnolo Centaur Ergopower Shifters 10 Speed (2008 Carbon on the 28/08/2008) and the left hand side gear lever has snapped!

Before this i had some Campag Veloce shifters and the right had shifter broke once i had it over 2 years. The ratchet mechanism broke, so when you shifted up gears i.e from 25 to 23, the chain would jump all the way to the 12.

In contrast i have some Shifters Sora shifters which have outlived both sets of campag shifters.

Anyway this is extremely annoying as i am going to France next Friday. Has anyone else had any problems with Campag shifters? Or am I an especially vicious gear shifter?

oh behave, Campagnolo is the holy grail for road race bikes

[Dr Dave]

I bought some Campagnolo Centaur Ergopower Shifters 10 Speed (2008 Carbon on the 28/08/2008) and the left hand side gear lever has snapped!

Before this i had some Campag Veloce shifters and the right had shifter broke once i had it over 2 years. The ratchet mechanism broke, so when you shifted up gears i.e from 25 to 23, the chain would jump all the way to the 12.

In contrast i have some Shifters Sora shifters which have outlived both sets of campag shifters.

Anyway this is extremely annoying as i am going to France next Friday. Has anyone else had any problems with Campag shifters? Or am I an especially vicious gear shifter?

oh behave, Campagnolo is the holy grail for road race bikes

Not when you have just broken a component it ain't!

Chris, the UK service centre for Campag appears to be in York:

UNITED KINGDOM
WELD TECH
Unit B 12 Parkside Commercial Centre
Y0213 JP York
United Kingdom

tel. +44(0)7533 129 435 - 7533 518 445
fax +44(0)1234 712 942

Maybe worth a 'phone call - the Campag web-site advises that warranty queries be directed to the Service Centre.

Their website is helpful too. Eg

http://www.cycleweb.co.uk/weldtech/campag.shtml

Have you spoken to Fraz at Cycleworks - I'd guess that if any local shops will be able to repair a shifter at short notice it'd be them - but more seasoned members may know better.......

[Tullio]

My experience is the contrary. My Campag stuff just keeps going on and on with minimal maintenance whereas Shimano stuff is now more or less disposable and made out of a particularly brittle alloy compound. Try rebuilding/getting spare parts/upgrading your Dura Ace shifters.

Perhaps it's those testosterone charged rides you keep doing on a Saturday that are making you far to aggressive on your bike?

Anyway, as the Dr points out Weld Tech are now the importer and UK Service agent but they're based in Scarborough not York. You could also try the UK guru of Ergo shifters, Jeff at Mercian Cycles http://www.merciancycles.co.uk/campagnolo.asp he's a fountain of knowledge on them. I think I'm right in saying the warrantee is 5 years.

[Dr Dave]

Lots of people report Jeff at Mercian as the man when it comes to Campag shifters - it's Derby I know but may be worth a trip?

[ChrisC]

Thanks for the advice I am sending it to Jeff, and will see if it gets back in time for france.

Looking back through the mists of time my front mech has seized and i probably put some force through the shifter before i realised that the mech had seized. So i am partly to blame - having said that i have weedy arms and cant apply much force, plus they are designed for racing so the shifters should be vaguely robust.

[willhub]

oh behave, Campagnolo is the holy grail for road race bikes

TBH, it's personal pref, and I said I was going to give campag a go to some people here in mcr, but that's only cause they kept nagging and saying oh how much better it is.

I like the shifters of shimano better, but I also like the look of the SRAM shifters and they seem more Shimanoish to campag so I might try SRAM next time.[/quote]

[Dan]

I can recommend Mercian for Campagnolo. I was going over my bike last night getting it ready for the weekend and noticed I've lost a chainring bolt. A quick call to Mercian this morning and they have one in stock a will mail it for next day delivery.

Nearly fell of my chair when I found out the price, £15 + P&P for the front and back parts of the bolt!

[Andy J]

Ask Steve Savage about Campag, he had the missfortune of both front and rear carbon record mechs breaking in just one day whilst we were out between Langthwaite and Tanhill, my Ive had my dura ace groupset for 5 years now and it just keps on going.

[Rob]

To be fair to the Italians, having tried to help Steve bodge a repair that day, the synchronized disintegration of front and rear mechs was, I believe, caused by a damaged/bent side plate in the chain jamming in the deraileurs. One of the several examples that have fueled my suspicion of 10 speed chains in particular rather than Campag in general. I still run 10sp tho'.

You can add our family to the list of names that have run exclusively Campag for decades with no shifter problems. Am not evangelical about Campag btw, its just when you have a number of bikes it helps to stick to one brand to help with those ten-to-nine cannibalisation jobs.....

Watch my Campag shifter break in Withernsea tomorrow now...