Which Groupset?

#rep

Yeah get hope.
Super easy to service and reliable.

Hope are very well built, and a piece of piss to swap bearings With. I use them for my non-weight concerned bikes. Especially those that get dirty.

Hubs last forever if the freehub body is solid enough, and you change bearings.

6800/9000 weight diff comes down mainly to the £150 titanium DA freehub vs £30 Ultegra one which is another consideration when looking at spare parts etc.

They have the same cone spanner free adjustment now too which was the tech upgrade between 6700 and 9000 as well as the 11 spd thing.

My 7800 hub seals also seem to impervious to ingress of anything at all having been ridden in all weathers and every time I've opened them up the grease has been as new and that's 5-6 years ago I built them. Don't know how Ultegra compares.

Also angular contact bearings fo lyfe.

I have Ultegra 6800 hubs, the spanner free adjustment is very clever and the hubs are very nicely finished and perform well. I've not tried the 105 or the DA, reason I went for the 6800 was to match the rest of the bike tbh.

Forget it all, try out both Campagnolo and Shimano's hood shape to see which one you like the feel of.

Cheers Ed...will try and do that.

Ed's right. The best thing is to go and try a selection of groupsets and choose the one that you like the shifters on. They all work well, are durable, etc., so it comes down to personal preference.

Anyone know if 5800 11 speed cassette are available in 11-23 anywhere?

Want a flat course close ratio cassette, but they only seem to be available in 12-25, 11-28 or 11-32 everywhere I look

Don't think so, I had to go for 6800 for my 11-25

5800 only has 3 options you'll have to go Ultegra for close ratio

it looks like 11-23 is an option when you buy the whole groupset though....

Ed's right. The best thing is to go and try a selection of groupsets and choose the one that you like the shifters on. They all work well, are durable, etc., so it comes down to personal preference.

Exactly right. If everyone did this, then SRAM Red would not exist.

That said, to me the best-feeling shifters are Campag EPS, and I've seen them fail on group rides more than once.

Can't imagine trying groupsets (*can't quite get my mind away from the idea of trying groupsex) is an easy thing to do, in terms of a test ride?!? But i'm guessing what you're saying is to try and check out a selection of hoods and see how their shifting feels.

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Find a bike shop and test ride 3 bikes, all of which have different shifters?

Dont like to play in the rain apparantly. Which is me out.

Even playing With the shifters on the shop floor is informative.

Could do that. But I'd feel like a bit of a cunt as I'm only ever going to buy through my LBS - get them to order in whatever I settle on and install it, all paid via cyclescheme. I wouldn't know where to start with setting up gears, cables, derailleurs, etc but plan on watching closely to try and figure out what does what, what goes where and why. Give me something else to waste countless hours of my life messing with. I'm all but settled on the campag athena.

Now you can use shimano/sram wheels/cassettes that is at least one way Campagnolo can't take the piss.

Yes... paid £128 for a chainring last week :|

SRAM are my favourite hoods. Work much better for my hands than di2 DA on my other bike, or anything else I've used.

All the levers are very different between brands... just going in and getting your hands on the levers in the shop, maybe shifting up and down one gear and pulling the brake can help you choose. It's definitely a matter of personal preference as you can see on this thread :)

Definitely pull the brakes and rock the bike back and forth.........

Pro tip

Pick it up and shake it

Kick the brake levers until they bend so you've got an idea of how tough they are

I was in this place by chance at the weekend http://www.biciclettavelo.com

Perfect stop off point for the next Cambridge ride if anyone makes it. They're a Colnago dealer amongst other things and had a bunch of nags built up with a variety of GS's. The advice above was spot on...got to check out SRAM, much Shimano and the Campag. Loved the thumb shifters and that all could be reached from drops or hoods...didn't like the double tap alternatives - didn't seem instinctive. Sorted. Ta for the input.