Veloce vs Athena

[Tin Pot]

£85 between the prices online at the moment.

I was set on Veloce, as my current bike is Veloce, but at the moment I'm thinking why not? If the quality is better...

Athena
https://www.merlincycles.com/campagnolo-athena-special-offer-groupset-2016-90632.html

Veloce
https://www.merlincycles.com/campagnolo-veloce-groupset-black-71988.html

Thoughts?

 

[Apollonius]

I have both and to use there is not a lot in it. The Athena might be a little lighter to use - more clickety click than clunkety clunk. My Athena is carbon, so I suppose they all are, while the Veloce is definitely alloy all round. i guess that makes the bike a bit lighter. Obviously the Veloce is 10 speed and the Athena 11, which doesn't seem a big difference, but it does help.

Just clicked the link and it is the alloy Athena in the offer. Not clear cut, is it. The Veloce is tough and reliable, but then that is why you buy Campag...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

if you can afford it, go for the athena if it's only £85 more…

 

[StuAff]

Athena. It's not the ridiculously good bargain it was before Campagnolo realised they'd basically released Chorus with more aluminium bits at a much lower price- multiple part downgrades followed (no Ultrashift, Power Torque crankset instead of Ultra Torque, etc) - but you've still got an easy upgrade path if you fancy some flasher parts on the bike later on.

 

[Apollonius]

Been out on the Athena powered bike since I wrote the above. Buy Athena.

 

[Tin Pot]

I'm getting the message

Shame there is no objective value though - if someone said "the components last longer", or I dunno..."less reindexing will be needed"...

I've just replaced the gear cable on my Veloce front derailleur and all of a sudden it's behaving better than it has in three years.

Argh! I'm trying to keep things simple but there is so much out there to learn.

Basically I want Athena because you get it on more expensive bikes. I only infer that it is better.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Athena. It's not the ridiculously good bargain it was before Campagnolo realised they'd basically released Chorus with more aluminium bits at a much lower price- multiple part downgrades followed (no Ultrashift, Power Torque crankset instead of Ultra Torque, etc) - but you've still got an easy upgrade path if you fancy some flasher parts on the bike later on.

ah, that explains why centaur has disappeared; essentially new athena is basically 11 speed centaur. as i've got centaur, i can vouch for the fact that it's a decent groupset…

 

[StuAff]

ah, that explains why centaur has disappeared; essentially new athena is basically 11 speed centaur. as i've got centaur, i can vouch for the fact that it's a decent groupset…

Having downgraded Athena over two or three revisions, they've now brought in Potenza as their challenger to Ultegra/Force. A role formerly taken by Athena....

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Having downgraded Athena over two or three revisions, they've now brought in Potenza as their challenger to Ultegra/Force. A role formerly taken by Athena....

i've always considered campag groupsets to sit in between the shimano ones in terms of the groupset food chain e.g. veloce is better than sora but not as good as tiagra…

 

[fossyant]

The Athena 'alloy' is great if you want a modern groupset on a classic bike.

 

[winjim]

Having downgraded Athena over two or three revisions, they've now brought in Potenza as their challenger to Ultegra/Force. A role formerly taken by Athena....

My initial thought was "dear God why", but I've just had a quick look and there's a few good points. 32 tooth largest sprocket with two rear mech cage lengths and self extracting power torque cranks.

 

[Viking]

I've got 2008/9 Centaur which is Ultrashift on one bike and 2013 Athena (Powershift) on another. IMO, the old Centaur is better but sadly no longer available. Given your choice I would go Athena because 11 speed cassettes, chains and chainsets are compatible across Campag. SRAM and Shimano. That gives you more choice on wheels and cassettes.

(The Athena chainset is a very poor design. It is easy to fit but a nightmare (or £100 worth of special tools) to remove.

 

[Tin Pot]

I've got 2008/9 Centaur which is Ultrashift on one bike and 2013 Athena (Powershift) on another. IMO, the old Centaur is better but sadly no longer available. Given your choice I would go Athena because 11 speed cassettes, chains and chainsets are compatible across Campag. SRAM and Shimano. That gives you more choice on wheels and cassettes.

(The Athena chainset is a very poor design. It is easy to fit but a nightmare (or £100 worth of special tools) to remove.

Really?

So I don't need a campag freewheel, if I use Athena?

Eg these are listed as shim/sram:
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WPPX2010CAR82101/planet-x-pro-carbon-82-101-wheelset

 

[StuAff]

Really?

So I don't need a campag freewheel, if I use Athena?

Eg these are listed as shim/sram:
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WPPX2010CAR82101/planet-x-pro-carbon-82-101-wheelset

Provided you stick with Shimano/SRAM cassettes. Campagnolo cassettes will need a Campagnolo freehub.

 

[Tin Pot]

Provided you stick with Shimano/SRAM cassettes. Campagnolo cassettes will need a Campagnolo freehub.

Okay, and any 11 speed cassette will do?

I thought there was very specific spacing on cassettes to match gruppos