Oh yeah, I was at Strada Cycles the other day and got to play with a Super Record groupset on a bike build they were doing.
My initial toughts:
- Thumb shifters - They remind me of Shimano 2300/Sora shifters. You press down to shift into a lower cog (more speed.) Swing the lever shifter inwards into a higher cog (gear down.)
- The shifts are very mechanical - *Click click click click*. It has this mechanical accuracy that is very beautiful and precise.
- I like their hood design. Fits my hands nicer than SRAM.
Conclusion:
- Campy is too damn expensive
- Campy is a bastard child of Shimano and SRAM. You get a bit of both but on extreme ends, both physically and mechanically (i.e. shifters, hoods, shifting precision)
- Shifting up into a higher gear takes some effort, somewhere along the lines of Shimano, but shifting down is very effortless. I didn't like this as I felt it being inconsistent.
- Like anything Italian, their stuff is nice when new, but when it gets older, shit breaks like crazy and it gets expensive and time consuming.
- Campy sucks.
- IMHO, SRAM is the best compromise between Shimano and Campy
- I will own a Campy group set one day because I love shitty Italian garbage
That is all.