Sram Red or Campag Record worth the expense?

[Bongo Bill]

Good morning all

I am thinking of getting some new rim brakes on my singlespeed commuter. Are the likes of Sram Red or Campag Record worth the huge expense and perform noticibly better?

 

[ASC1951]

The Law of Diminishing Returns applies. They are better, but twice the price buys less than twice the performance. "Worth" is entirely subjective. It's your budget/perception of performance/ability, so only you can judge if the extra is justified.

The lines on my personal graph cross one rung down from Record. As L'Oreal say, I'm not worth it.

 

[andyhunter]

campagnolo in general is supposed to be far better than shimano and super record is futher developed in terms of preformance than shimano and shimano i find is not very reliable thus i shall be changing when i get my new frame. But like anything cheap products do not last as long as very expensive ones and the dear the product the more it will offer.

 

[LazyLoki]

I must have missed when the age-old 'Shimano vs Campagnolo' debate was finally settled with Campag being 'far better than Shimano'! No you wont notice any difference whatsoever by going for Dura Ace/Red or Super Record calipers over others further down the line. You will notice a difference in using good quality brake pads though.

I'd go with either Ultegra, Chorus or Force level components but frankly even thats me still being snobbish. When it comes down to it, ask yourself if you 'really' need to have the same components on your bike as world class athletes? Are you going to be going as fast and braking as hard as they do?

As far as Campagnolo goes, the Chorus, Record and Super Record groupsets are completely mechanically identical and all your paying for as you go up is better quality finish and more use of titanium to cut weight - this is true of the whole groups by the way, not just callipers. With SRAM, the new 2010 Force brakes are virtually identical to the current Red. The same is basically true of the new Shimano Ultegra 6700 brakeset.

 

[Will1985]

I just typed out something about Campag brakes and then realised that LazyLoki covered it all.

+1

Not worth going above Chorus for brakes.

 

[Garz]

love the summary Lazy, vented but just!

 

[Wocce Racer]

SramRed/ Rival is a real bugger to re-cable. It has an intricate routing and even with 1.1mm inner cables (other systems use 1.2mm) it still can take ages to cable. It is said that 1.2mm cables can be used but how I do not know. It took me 25 minutes to do a rear gear for a customer.

Campag and Shimano are easier. I personally use Campag (have done since 1978 and still use friction levers and Nouvo Record rear gear on one bike) and it works great.

 

[GrahamG]

Cheapest shimano with koolstop pads - winner. As others have said, 'performance' is not strictly improved much at the top end, they just tend to be a smidgeon lighter. Anyway, contrary to many comments, I thought that it had been established for years that shimano brakes were better than campag throughout the range with the exception of the top tier.

 

[Proto]

Shimano, Campag, SRAM - they all work brilliantly. However, the one thing that Campag has over the others is the availability of spare parts.

New ratchet/gear/spring/etc for a 1992 Ergoshifter? Yep, Mercian have them in stock.

Damage your 2009 Shimano shifter and you'll be buying a new one.

Back on topic. Yes, Record is over teh top for mere mortals. So to Chorus. Centaur/Athena gives you all the features of the more expensive stuff, and for my second road bike, that is what I buy. However, nothing beats Record for the 'feel good' factor, and that's what I buy for my Sunday best ride. It's just lovely stuff!

Regarding brakes, in my experience even cheapo Tektro brakes work just as well as more expensive models from the big three.