curiousabe

So Im having a custom frame made from Cicli Barco in columbus XCr tubing but am having a hard time deciding on a groupset. The bike vill look have a nice old racy look with quill stem and everything. Im not really up in arms on 10 vs 11 speeds per se, both works just fine. To me feel and looks are more important and Im not sure how a 20old chorus group will hold up against a brand new centaur group? I would however guess that spare parts etc will be available for longer for the centaur set.

Brand new Campagnolo Centaur 11s, silver, with a new nice looking crankset

Or

Old, probably 20 year or so but stunning, Campagnolo chorus 10s group, condition is decent enough

alcjphil

One advantage to a current Centaur 11 speed setup is the ability to have much wider range gearing. A 10 speed Chorus rear derailleur maxes out at 13-29 for the cassette and compact cranks are hard to find.
One of my bikes has a Chorus, Record components mix with Record brakes and shifters and Chorus for the rest. I originally had an Ultra Torque 52-39 crank(yes, they did make them for 10 speed) I wanted to go compact and couldn't find any. Eventually went with a 4 arm 11 speed crank which works just fine and looks acceptable with the rest of the black components

genejockey 

How about an 11 speed Centaur group with an old 10 speed Chorus crank? You'd also need to source an appropriate square taper bottom bracket. AFAIK, since Campy's front shifting is a simple ratchet, there's no reason it shouldn't work. I'm currently running an 11 speed Centaur crank in a 10 speed Veloce drivetrain on my Bianchi.

MPStoops

I'm doing this exact thing and it works great. My Scapin Columbus EL-OS steed has served me well since the early/mid 1990s when I raced on it, and I recently decided it was time to upgrade the groupset. I had been running an old but still very functional and trustworthy Chorus group (8 speed!!!) on it with the old Zonda 16 spoke aero wheels. I went with a new Centaur 11 speed group but had already replaced the crank with a Chorus 10 speed unit for other reasons, so I just kept that part to save a couple bucks. Also got the new Zonda C17 wheels so I could run an 11 speed cassette.

The shifting is fantastic, and the improvement of front derailleur shifting is amazing. But the new brakes are just phenomenal in comparison!

In short, go for the 11 speed Centaur groupset - you'll love it!

curiousabe

Thank you! Will go with centaur 11s excluding hideous crank and source a NOS or mint condition chorus 10s silver crank

alcjphil

Depending on the gearing you want, a silver Chorus crank may be difficult to find. If you need to go to compact gearing, a 50-34 chainring setup will be quite rare. Campagnolo did make them, but they were not very popular at the time, so they didn't make many. This is why I had to go to the later 4 arm cranks that the OP finds ugly. The advantage of the 4 arm cranks is that they accept all chainring combinations. The earlier 5 arm cranks have different bolt circles for standard and compact setups. I have a very nice Chorus Ultra torque 10 speed crank that I am not using anymore because the smallest inner chainring it will accept is 39 teeth

himespau 

Just don't fall down the rabbit hole of the Campagnolo 10 speed triple. Sure the shifting is great and the range is excellent, but stay as far away from that as you can. That extra weight of the chainring and the slightly larger FD will really hold you back. Don't go near it at any costs.

Gotta drive demand down as low as possible so I can keep affording the best groupset for retromodding vintage bikes.

squirtdad

if it does not have to be campy couple of other options

sugino 50/34 https://www.benscycle.com/sugino-xd2...kaAq5vEALw_wcB

rene herse https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...double-cranks/

curiousabe

Yea Ive found other compacts too but from what Im hearing the shifting is kinda sheit using a non campa crankset?

squirtdad

no personal experience but the sugino is ramped and pinned and the rene herse claims extensive for in making sure the shifting is good

my guess is they would shift well

rosefarts

Ill chime in too.

That big ol block of aluminum isn’t too sexy but unless you want to ride 53/39, you might be stuck.

Campy made carbon 5 arm compact cranks for 11 speed, I have one. I’m not aware of a silver one. Possibly Velo Orange.

eljayski 

^ ^ ^
I just purchased a silver Centaur grupo from Bike24 in Germany (I'm in Colorado). It doesn't have the cachet of the Athena silver but it will look good on my new Sella Ronda by Bertoletti, just the same.

Sy Reene

Here's a CX silver campy option:
https://www.lafobikes.com/products/c...32820019134510

alcjphil

It appears that the OP is looking for compact cranks. Too bad, I have a pair of Chorus crank arms that I would gladly give away. No chainrings or bolts however. These were one of the nicest looking cranks ever made

curiousabe

They are good looking, so good looking that I scored these nos locally today

MPStoops

This is the exact set I'm running with my Centaur 11sp group. No issues at all.

Germany_chris

Yea Campy 11 is new skool and ugly..I have no idea how folks run all this 11 year old campy on steel bikes

Germany_chris

This is some silly karma farming drivel..let's close, this isn't re**it

georges1

old speed 10 chorus for me for many reasons:
-nicer crank
-nicer ergopower
-nicer brakes
-nice seatpost