campagnolo - kinda like that gorgeous girlfriend (or boyfriend) we all once had.....she sure is hot and everyone looks at her, all yer friends want a date with her....but she was a high maintenance bich, who expects that you spend money on her, pay her way all the time, and couldnt suck a down tube for sheet.
Sorry, but that's BS, pure and simple. Like I said, I understand your frustration, but you're dead wrong extrapolating your personal experience into a generalization about Campagnolo gear. I am riding a 2009 Campagnolo Super Record, with no issues of any kind for six years now. Chain typically lasts 6k miles, SR cassette about twice that, and I'm still on my first cables. As I have said elsewhere, I'm not exactly sure when the last time was I adjusted anything other than the brakes to compensate for wear of the pads. I am certain I haven't touched my FD adjustment in the last two years, at least. The RD I only adjust when changing wheels: two clicks left from the Zipp to the Campy Shamal, or vice versa. As far as reliability, precision, and low-to-no maintenance is concerned, it simply cannot get any better than this, with any group I ever heard of, electric or mechanical.
I specifically remember my first ride outdoors this year, a couple of weeks ago, when, towards the end of the ride, I suddenly became aware of that well-nigh dream-like quality with which my group shifts. It almost feels like all I need to do is think of shifting gears, and the shift happens. Sure, it turns out that I really do tap my thumb paddles or move the shift levers, but all of this is completely automatic and precise,
every single time, with nothing but perhaps a soft "clack" from the cassette on the upshifts (downshifts are silent) and the gentle clicking of the shifters themselves. I really do not have the faintest idea what those guys with their electric groups could possibly be talking about when they rave about the "superior quality" of their shifting. I simply cannot see how you would improve on what I already have.
