[PaulDavisThe1st]

Have you ever ridden a properly built bike with a campagnolo group set? I've gone 15+ years on both my carbon tri bike and custom Ti road bike (both with Campagnolo Record) without ever tuning it (past the first 50-70 miles, thanks cable stretch).

[Lio]

Yes I have.

I have a couple of Campag equipped bikes and that’s not my experience.

Mechanical Campag is not as reliable as Di2 or Campag EPS IMHO.

There’s not a huge amount of tuning required but it is definitely still needed and you still need to replace the cable outers as they ware.

They don’t stretch by the way, that’s a myth. The force required to stretch a woven cable is massive. It’s just ferrels shifting on the cut ends of the outers.

[kleinsch]

Sure, but now you're talking about a group set that's more expensive than most electronic shifting sets. I had 15 year old bikes that were great, but I don't have the irrational hatred for electronic groupsets that most of the commenters here seem to have.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I don't hate electronic shifting. I don't like the innacurate disparagment of an older, simpler, generally more reliable technology, even if it is possible to name some benefits to the new stuff.

[ak217]

Is it really that hard to believe that mechanical shifters are less reliable than electronic ones? I've lost count of the number of cables my shifters have eaten over the years. We're talking about a clockwork-like ratchet handling a cable under many pounds of tension going through many twists and turns, moving hundreds of times per ride, and very hard to access for maintenance. To me it's pretty clear that regardless of Shimano's mistakes, electronic shifting is the way forward.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I've never had a shifting cable break on me (despite being an ultra-marathon and touring cyclist for 20-30 years, bike commuter for 15+ years, and more). I don't know what you mean by "very hard to access for maintenance" - the most maintenance I ever do is maybe add a few drops of lube inside any able housing once every few years. The cable and ratchet do not really interact with each other.

Electronic shifting involves non-user-repairable and definitely not-on-the-road maintenance, which for me personally is a negative (even though it is true that I would likely not be able to repair a cable issue on the road.

[caycep]

Ultegra and Dura Ace DI2 is expensive. Vs. the cost of Campagnolo Veloce/Athena/Potenza or even Chorus. And ironically, you could get Campy easier during the pandemic than anything Shimano....