Does anyone else hate Shi**no as much as I do?

[figbat]

I would claim ambivalence. I historically had Shimano on everything as that’s what they came with and I just got used to it. More recent acquisitions have come with SRAM and after a brief period of adjustment I’m OK with that. I still slightly prefer Shimano’s MTB offer with bi-directional trigger operation and I have found that SRAM 12-speed derailleurs are a bit more fragile, but I’m generally content either way.

I have no experience with Campagnolo.

 

[presta]

I use Shimano because they have a virtual monopoly. I want stuff that every Tom Dick and Harry keeps in stock so you can get spares if you break down in the middle of nowhere. That said, components are fairly reliable, so by the time they're worn out they've usually been made obsolete, with all the problems that brings trying to replace one part of a system that's no longer compatible with the rest.

 

[mickle]

Why dodgy business practices ? Do you think Coke, Nike, Cadbury’s etc haven’t all done things immoral / slightly suspect to keep them atop the pile. Do you actively shun all of those too….

Yes

 

[cyberknight]

Yes

Im glad you have found a product you like and kudos to you for sticking to your guns, now if someone wants to send me a set of super record eps for a long term test i will get back you wil an unbiased opinion

 

[mickle]

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-15-fi-44098-story.html

 

[mickle]

From Wikipedia:


" ..... In their early years, SRAM introduced the Grip Shift (or twist shift) gear-change technology to the road bike market in 1988. Twist shift gear changing was later brought to mountain bikes in 1991.[5]

In 1990, the company sued Shimano for unfair business practices, noting that Shimano offered, in effect, a 10-percent discount to bicycle manufacturers specifying an all-Shimano drivetrain and that few companies in the highly competitive industry would be willing to forgo such a discount to specify Grip Shift components. SRAM received an unspecified out-of-court settlement from Shimano in 1991. As a result of this lawsuit, all Shimano competitors won the right to compete in the lucrative OEM bicycle component arena.[6] "

 

[HLaB]

They do the job but I've no love for sh1tmano especially after the hollowtech crank fiasco (not admitting the problem existed in the first place and then when it happened to me they wriggled out again as it was a 2nd hand crank).

 

[Punkawallah]

I’ll stick with Suntour, thanks :-)

 

[Ian H]

Campag gears (mostly); SunXCD or TA or Spa chainsets; Campag or Shimano or VO brake calipers; Shimano pedals. Basically, mix'n'match ungroupsets to give exactly what I want. No SRAM, but not because I hate them or anything.

 

[raleighnut]

I certainly know when I've changed gear on my Campy equiped bike (Centaur 10 speed mech) and so does everyone nearby

 

[Jameshow]

Cannot see why the hate for Shimano...

There product likes are very stable compared to many tech products. Reliable and affordable. trickle down tech means we can have yesterday's pro kit at a reasonable price.

 

[tyred]

It's never been the same since Cyclo-Benelux.

 

[Bristolian]

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-15-fi-44098-story.html

If you'll excuse my scepticism, any company that gets screwed over by what is possibly the most xenophobic legal system in the world has my absolute sympathies not condemnation.

US courts are world famous for their protectionist rulings that (virtually) always favour domestic manufacturers and their complete indifference to other nation's laws is legendary.

In the 1990's I was involved in a case where my employer (UK) got together with our European competitors to bring a case against one of our US competitors for increasing their prices around the world so that they could sell to their US customers at a significant discount. We had amassed volumes of sworn testimony from end-users to support our case ... can you guess the result when it went to court?

At the end of the day, the cases you have pointed out to us were 35 and 20+ years ago. Even Leopards can change their spots in those timeframes.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I was always a Campag man but it didn't bother me that I ran a Shimano front wheel and front mech. For me the drive train was the main consideration and I much preferred Campag's thumb shifter for changes to the smaller sprockets, plus I thought the washing line cables the Shimano persisted with for years looked ugly. Even though I rode Shimano for my last few years of cycling I never really liked the combined use of the brake lever as a shifter.

I also have to say that over a fair few decades not a single bit of Campag kit ever let me down, where as in a much lesser time riding Shimano I had a rear mech give up the ghost and a pedal fall to bits.

 

[Gunk]

I’ve used Campagnolo in the past, but now I use a mixture of older Ultegra 6600 and Dura Ace 7800 2x10 speed on my Van Nicholas, and it’s beautifully engineered, the previous generation 9 speed Ultegra 6500 and Dura Ace 7700 IMO is even better, the nicest groupset I’ve ever used.

However I’m not a fan of the newer Shimano groupsets, they just feel a bit like they’ve lost that precision and quality of the earlier stuff.