A Road Bike Component Group Comparative: Campagnolo Chorus, Shimano 105 and Sram Rival

Coming from the top and working my way to the bottom and now at the midway mark, it’s interesting to see how the luxuries start peeling away. And you see it before you even crack open the catalogue. Campy is not as carbon fibered. Shimano finishes on the components are subdued. Sram is very monochromatic black with a hint of silver.

Here too are where the paths diverge as well. The technology employed in the Chorus seems to be more elite and quite advanced in comparison to Shimano, which has pretty near gotten butt-naked, in terms of fancy names for the tech in their component group. Sram and Shimano are down to 10 speed cassettes, as opposed to Campy’s 11, which is already not even footing, but it is interesting where they come on the scale. These are the groups, however, where the purists who rally behind the names of each of these companies say that the quality of their race horse shines.

But as I said in the first of this series: I started with the top of each and went across the board, plain and simple. And I’m going down the line of each maker to see how the #3 of each company matches up to the other two.

Interesting, to say the least. Take a look.