campagnolo / shimano / shimagnolo / scampy

[Brent Eastman]

I'm riding with a faster group lately, and while my superbe pro downtube shifters work perfectly fine, I am brifter curious.

My roadini is setup 3x9. 

ultegra 6603 front and 6500 long cage rear derailers.

Which Campagnolo brake/shift levers do folks recommend? And what would be an appropriate price range to expect to pay?

I would be happy switching to 2x9 if that gives me better options.

Also, if you have a set for sale, let's talk!

[Nick Payne]

I'm wondering why you're chasing Campagnolo shifters when your derailleurs are Shimano. It used to be that you could mate Campagnolo 11s shifters with Shimano 9s derailleur and cassette and get good indexed shifting (I ran that combination for several years from about 2010 onwards), but Campagnolo changed their 11s cable pull around 2015, so you'd need pre-2015 Campagnolo shifters for that combination to work. If you want Shimano 9s integrated brake/shifter levers, I think they still make Sora 2x9 and 3x9 shifters, otherwise you're looking at NOS or 2nd hand for the higher level stuff. Microshift also make Shimano-compatible 2x9 and 3x9 integrated road shifters.

Nick Payne

[Eric Marth]

Hi Brenton — The only brifters I've run are Campagnolo Ergopower Chorus 10-speed to Shimano 9-speed. If you're open to running an 8 speed Shimano cassette you could keep an eye out for Ergopower 9 shifters and you'll have more to chose from.

I haven't run the Ergopower shifters with a 3x. Given Campy's road racing pedigree I'm not sure they're designed to handle a triple. 

Ergopower prices are tough. To give you an idea, here's a set of 9-speed Chorus shifters in nice shape for $185 with 21 watchers. Veloce and Centaur series are often cheaper than Chorus or Record. Also, make sure you know what you're getting. The search feature on eBay has seriously degraded recently and search results capture far more than search parameters. "Campagnolo 10 speed shifters" will show you 8, 9 and 11 speed shifters. If you add quotation marks you'll get more accurate results. Search Campagnolo "10" speed shifters and you'll weed out the other stuff. 

People still like the Ergopower shifters, fair amount of demand. Because they're rebuildable, people often hold onto them for parts. A lot of the listings I've seen are in Europe and getting them is more expensive now with tariffs and international shipping being what they are (bad). I'd say hold out for a nice set, I often see them come up with lots of scratches. Saved eBay searches are great for this. I'd expect to pay $150-$200 for a set in nice shape, plus shipping. 

If you have a good local bicycle co-op you might do better. Or get lucky on local marketplace. 

Cheers!

[Brenton Eastman]

thanks Eric! I tried to bait you with “scampy”, and agree it should be the universal term for this eclectic mixing of groupsets. 

Nick, I haven’t found a decent looking shimano integrated shifter. the modern ones are all super bulbous and plasticky. the older ones i’ve found are all smashed up. but i’m open to suggestions!! 

On Jun 1, 2026, at 2:00 PM, Eric Marth <eric...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Brenton — The only brifters I've run are Campagnolo Ergopower Chorus 10-speed to Shimano 9-speed. If you're open to running an 8 speed Shimano cassette you could keep an eye out for Ergopower 9 shifters and you'll have more to chose from.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/y9Av2jmR5QE/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4fe5ce11-b2f3-40cd-9fe4-fe84a73ddb0dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Victor Meng]

Hi Brent,

I'm running Shimergo on my '04 Ram.  It's got a 3x9 with a Deore XT RD and Shimano 105 FD, controlled by a set of early 2000 Centaurs with silver levers and shifters.  I followed Ronnie Romance's YouTube video that Roman at Riv linked to on the page describing his Roadini.  IIRC, I got that set of Centaurs off of FB marketplace for ~$75 shipped.  I've also paid double that for sets of Centaurs and Records that were advertised as fully functional but could use some repair.  Branford Bike and South Salem Cycleworks were both very informative and helpful re spare parts for repairs.  I asked the sellers to click through the left brifter to help determine if it can handle a 3x up front.  Hope that helps!

Best,

Victor  

[Eric Marth]

I didn't get into the weeds with the Campy/Shimano pairing but as a rule of thumb, Campy shifters will move two fewer gears with a Shimano derailer: Campy 10 -- shifts Shimano 8. Campy 9 — shifts Shimano 7. 

If you use alternate cable clamping at the rear derailer you can add a gear: Campy 10 -- shifts Shimano 9. Campy 9 — shifts Shimano 8. 

You can get 1:1 shifting by adding a J-tek Shiftmate but I'd rather take the lost gear penalty because I don't like the way they look :0) 

[Brenton Eastman]

looks aren’t everything, but they weigh heavily on how i build my bikes. 

On Jun 1, 2026, at 6:49 PM, Eric Marth <eric...@gmail.com> wrote:

I didn't get into the weeds with the Campy/Shimano pairing but as a rule of thumb, Campy shifters will move two fewer gears with a Shimano derailer: Campy 10 -- shifts Shimano 8. Campy 9 — shifts Shimano 7. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/02dc18ca-04e4-45d9-b02e-18f896f52691n%40googlegroups.com.

[Ted Durant]

On Monday, June 1, 2026 at 10:13:44 PM UTC-5 brenton...@gmail.com wrote:

looks aren’t everything, but they weigh heavily on how i build my bikes. 

Hear, hear! There's another reason to favor Campy brifters over Shimano, in my opinion. When I tried Shimano brifters I was constantly hitting the front brake when shifting the front derailer. I gave them a fair amount of time for me to get used to it, but in the end I couldn't live with that, and felt it was possible I might not live with it. I think it's a bad and dangerous design.

On the other hand, Shimano bar-end shifters are fantastic and an excellent and less expensive alternative to brifters, and I wouldn't hesitate to use a bar-end shifter bike in a fast group ride.

Ted Durant

MIlwaukee, WI USA

[Steve]

Adding to Ted's barend comment - 

AND the RD shifter easily converts to friction mode with the FD barend in friction only (at least the 1980's and 90's models I've used).  And then, of course, there's the RBW Silver shift levers with barend mounts. 

Hmm...a full RBW drop bar shifting system will soon be possible

Steve. in AVL 

[Peter Bridge]

Thank you for reiterating that minus two guideline. 

[Mark R.]

My Riv Road was set up for many years with full Chorus 9 speed, the ones with the rounded hoods. They looked great, functioned great, and every 10k miles the shifting would get soft and for $10 and 30 to 40 minutes I could put in new springs. First time took longer, but it was doable.

I did have a spring carrier break, but since it was housed inside the lever, it didnt' affect shifting that much and was able to get home. 

For my Lighthouse, in 2014, I wanted to do a Shimergo set up. I had Dura Ace 7700 derailleurs, and bought a new set of 2011 or 12 Athena 11 speed levers, to mate to a nine speed rear set up.  Worked great! 

Not for long. The right shifter gave up the ghost in 6 or 7 k miles, no way to rebuild it, it needed all new innards for $90.  Called Campy, they actually were under warranty, and they fixed it for me (or gave me a new one, I forget)

In the meantime, I picked up a set of Chorus ergos from 2013 or 14, new, and they shifted great, but I only got 10k miles out of them before the shifting got vague in the middle of the cassette. Again, the innards needed to be replaced for $90. 

I then set the bike up with Dura Ace bar cons and rode it that way until a few weeks ago. I never had a Shimano STI set up, and saw a set of Sora nine speed levers on Ebay.  I find them to be awesome! Shifting is great, compatible with Gran Cru brakes I use. It did take me about

a week to get comfortable with use, but now it's instinctive.  The hoods and lever shape are super comfortable, easy to set up, and replacement hoods are available.

Mark R

SDCA

[Tom M]

I'm running a set of Centaur 10-speed Ergopower levers with a triple in front, and they work fine.

--Tom in Alexandria, VA