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

[EckyH]

They beat up campagnolo and that's unforgivable!

To be honest: imho Campagnolo did a very good job to reduce their (after)market share themselves by uglyfying their components.
At the moment I see them on the level of SRAM - and Shimano sells less ugly stuff.

E.

 

[freiston]

I'm pretty sure that I would even dislike my local corner shop if I was privy to the depths of knowledge of the proprietor's ethics (even something as shallow, knowledge-wise, as voting behaviour could put me off). I used to use Ebay in preference to Amazon until I heard some nasty things about Ebay's dodgy doings.

Unfortunately, I reckon that whatever and wherever I buy, if I could delve deep enough, I would have ethical issues with it.

Saying that, without doing detective-grade research, I do have outlets that I prefer over others - in cycling, specifically Spa and SJS, plus a few other smaller/independent outlets - and I'm very happy being ignorant enough not to know one way or the other about them - they're not Amazon or Ebay, after all. I do avoid outlets that primarily treat cycling as a sporting activity, not just because I hate sport, but because I find that they're not really catering for my ilk - it's like going to a high-performance sports car dealer for a Berlingo.

With regard to Shimano, I've never been a "fan" - when I was a teenager, I was in love with Suntour derailleurs, Stronglight chainsets, Mavic rims and Mafac brakes. Nowadays, I like anything that works well at the right price and like it even more if it will allow me the set-up I want without painful compatibility anxiety. So I have a fair bit of Shimano on my bikes but I also have a fair bit of a mix of brands too. The closest I have to an all-Shimano bike is a 25 year old 2nd hand utility bike (Saracen Hy-Way) - and I changed the Shimano freewheel on that for a Sunrace one.

I really do hate XformerlyTw@tter though (FB not far behind)!

 

[slow horse]

I've never actually paid that much attention to the brand of components on my bikes. Turns out most of them are Shimano after all.

 

[Hover Fly]

Campagnolo started to lose the plot after their founder Tullio died. Until then they had made good solid lasting reliable parts, never going for the lightest, but a bit easier to adjust, a grade better in bearing balls than the others etc, “To finish first, first finish” as their adverts used to say. Then reliability started to take a back seat to performance as they started to play catch up with the other makes, squeeze another sprocket in, clipless pedals that didn’t work too well etc. Now they seem to be living off past glories. Who wants reliability? it won’t get you a KOM on Strava.
Well a plague on all their houses. If a brand made components that matched up to Campagnolo quality of the 80s but modernised with decent brifters, no more than 7 sprockets on 130 mm hubs, and polished instead of funereal black, they would get some of my money, until then I’ll make do with NOS parts, and if my few hours ride on a Sunday takes a few hours and five minutes, so what?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Campagnolo started to lose the plot after their founder Tullio died. Until then they had made good solid lasting reliable parts, never going for the lightest, but a bit easier to adjust, a grade better in bearing balls than the others etc, “To finish first, first finish” as their adverts used to say. Then reliability started to take a back seat to performance as they started to play catch up with the other makes, squeeze another sprocket in, clipless pedals that didn’t work too well etc. Now they seem to be living off past glories. Who wants reliability? it won’t get you a. KOM on Strava.
Well a plague on all their houses. If a brand made components that matched up to Campagnolo quality of the 80s but modernised with decent brifters, no more than 7 sprockets on 130 mm hubs, and polished instead of funereal black, they would get some my money, until then I’ll make do with NOS parts, and if my few hours ride on a Sunday takes a few hours and five minutes, so what?

This, above all else.

Manufacturers seem to be in a competition to see who can produce the most hideous looking groupset, and the modern breed of cyclist as to who can own the most bland looking bike.

 

[wafter]

I like and respect Shimano less than I used to.

Typically I've always liked them for their quality, reliability, performance and value - even on low-end gear.

Sadly this has become tarnished by the drive for constant "improvement" (change for the sake of sales), and with it the loss of cross-compatability and the credibility they once had as stoic and trustworthy.

 

[Big T]

I used to be a confirmed Campag man. Every bike I had from about 1978 to 2009, had a Campag groupset. But I found you couldn’t get spares, especially new wheel sets were very difficult to source. You could walk into any bike shop and buy a Shimano compatible wheel, but Campag ones were as rare as hens teeth. I bought a Shimano equipped touring bike in 2009, and every bike ive had since has been Shimano. I’ve never fancied SRAM . My son had a Sram equipped bike and just couldn’t get on with it. If I had the money, I’d have SRAM electronic, but it’s too much for me at the moment. Still on mechanical shifting on all bikes.

 

[roley poley]

I do like their hub gears ..click and shift for mr utility me on the commute they work fine ..low maintenance and seem what i need for the job nexus 8 on my genesis used each day on a five day week ...they seem to be forgotten in the scheme of things... I don't race and have no need for go faster posh stuff

 

[Smokin Joe]

I used to be a confirmed Campag man. Every bike I had from about 1978 to 2009, had a Campag groupset. But I found you couldn’t get spares, especially new wheel sets were very difficult to source. You could walk into any bike shop and buy a Shimano compatible wheel, but Campag ones were as rare as hens teeth. I bought a Shimano equipped touring bike in 2009, and every bike ive had since has been Shimano. I’ve never fancied SRAM . My son had a Sram equipped bike and just couldn’t get on with it. If I had the money, I’d have SRAM electronic, but it’s too much for me at the moment. Still on mechanical shifting on all bikes.

That was the same for me. IIRC Campag were cheaper than Shimano before the advent of the Euro when Italian currency increased in value. Now some of their prices are mind boggling.

It does not help that they rigidly stuck to their own indexing system when the rest of the world adopted Shimano spacing, which meant mix and match was a no-no and cassettes and wheels from other manufacturers could not be used out of the box.

 

[raleighnut]

That was the same for me. IIRC Campag were cheaper than Shimano before the advent of the Euro when Italian currency increased in value. Now some of their prices are mind boggling.

It does not help that they rigidly stuck to their own indexing system when the rest of the world adopted Shimano spacing, which meant mix and match was a no-no and cassettes and wheels from other manufacturers could not be used out of the box.

Yeah I was lucky when building my Campagnolo equiped 653 TT frame. (it was bought with a Campy headset and seatpost so got Centaur transmission) in that the wheels I wanted (Roval Classique Pave) came with either a Shimano or Campagnolo freehub 10 speed

 

[mickle]

I cannot tell you how annoyed i am that my beautiful Campag mech wont accommodate my 34t cassette and I've had to refit the brilliant, reliable, durable and smooth shifting Shi**no XTR. I just hope no one notices.

 

[TheDoctor]

 

[StuAff]

View attachment 747365

We didn't expect some kind of Spanish Inquisition…

 

[raleighnut]

We didn't expect some kind of Spanish Inquisition…

Nobody expects...........................................

 

[Alex321]

I cannot tell you how annoyed i am that my beautiful Campag mech wont accommodate my 34t cassette and I've had to refit the brilliant, reliable, durable and smooth shifting Shi**no XTR. I just hope no one notices.



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View attachment 747352

I think the pretty green bits will distract attention from the makers name