After weeks of being bogged down with midterms, studying, and movie marathons, I finally have the second review for all you Campy fans-

THE LAST FEW MONTHS

First let me fill everyone in on the last few months. The weather here in Jersey has been 
crazy. Until recently, the weather has been anything but pleasant; there was actually snow here this year and plenty of ice and freezing rain. In short, great conditions for testing this workhorse Veloce gruppo. In spite of the weather, I've been racking up plenty of hours in the saddle. It's a good thing too because the "all you can eat" atmosphere in college reeks havoc on fitness, ten pounds for me baby! Ouch. I still don't have a computer on my bike so I don't have a number for mileage. However in light of the fact that I have acquired this extra padding, it should be obvious that no amount of mileage would have been able to fight off the effects of dining hall food. Oh well, now I have to hold off on wearing my bike shorts in public. The world will be a better place for those few short weeks. 

Let's see what juicy gossip do I have to share before I get into the details of the test? Oh 
yes, I recently got a job at a very respectable bike shop in the area. It's a great place to work and the people there are a blast to hang around (Desperate attempt to score some brownie points? No of course not). Maybe, just maybe, with enough hours in the shop I'll actually know what I'm talking about by the end of the testing period. However, feel free to keep the questions coming, I promise I won't steer anyone in the wrong direction. Just don't ask me how to make cheap BMX brakes work, because I just don't know. What else? Glad you asked. While it baffles me that I lost the girl of my dreams, it's even more baffling that I got her back. How did I manage this impossible feat? Was it my good looks, my charming personality, my wealth and success? Feel free to laugh at this point, I am. No I'm afraid it definitely wasn't any of those traits that won her back. What do I think it was? I think girls dig bikers; that's what I think. I could be wrong; it's really the only thing I could come up with. Anyway all I have to do now is get this groovy chick on a bike; I think that life would be perfect then (though I wouldn't mind a Record gruppo). 

THE REVIEW

By the end of the first review I was very pleased with the performance of the gruppo, but I thought there was room for improvement. Now I am thoroughly impressed with the performance.  My two biggest complaints, besides the rear hub and BB, were the effort of shifting and the noise of the drivetrain. These annoyances have all but disappeared. At first I had both the brake and derailleur cables running in front of the handle bar. However, I decided to change that. It seems like the derailleur cable has less of a bend (where it enters the shifter) when it is routed to the back of the bar. This helped the shifting somewhat, but I think the real reason shifting has improved is because the shifters still needed time to loosen up after the first review. I don't think shifting will ever be as light as Shimano STI because of the shorter lever and cable routing, but it's close, and I don't think I'd change it even if I could. As for the chain, I still think that it could be a little smoother, but it runs much quieter over the cogs than it did in the beginning. So the shifting in the rear is good, in fact its borderline flawless. Throw anything at the drivetrain, mud, sand, forced shifts with full pressure on the pedals, it never misses a shift or skips. In fact it's sad, my road bike feels more solid than my mountain bike. I have cursed my 9spd Shimano parts for missed shifts, ghost shifts, and broken chains, but I have had no problems with Campy. Don't suppose I could request them to make an 11-32t cassette?

I received an email from someone who was wondering if I was having problems shifting 
to the big ring up front. Although, I wasn't having as much trouble with my gruppo as he was, I think the shifting up front could be a little better. The front derailleur can be adjusted, using the shifter, to eliminate rubbing so that you can run any gear combo. This is a nice feature, however, if the derailleur is starting from the point closest to the frame, it has to travel much farther to shift to the large chain ring. For example, if you're running on a large cog in the back and you shift up to the big chain ring, the derailleur has to travel much farther than if it was adjusted to run with a small cog in the back. This situation is not a problem when you're shifting from the hoods, but when you're in the drops, the long lever throw becomes a stretch. I usually push the lever twice to get it up to the big ring (if I 'm running on a large cog in the back). The throw of the lever is a little too long to get the chain up easily in one push. Don't get me wrong, it can be done, but I think it could be easier. Anyway, in this area, I think Shimano has the upper hand because its lever throw does not seem to be as long. 

I finally started to use the pedals now that I have some road shoes. I don't really have too 
much to say at this point because I'm still not sure how I feel about them. The platform is 
nice and wide, there's plenty of non-centering float, and they feel pretty good once you get your feet into the pedals. Even on the lowest tension setting, I have never had any unintended releases. While I have never had any trouble getting out of the pedals, stepping into them can be a little tough at times because it is hard to tell the difference between the top and bottom of the pedal. All you have to do to get into the pedals is turn them over with your foot (initially they are always facing down) and step in. However, because the pedals spin so freely, it is easy to spin them around a full turn and step onto the bottom of the pedal (which causes your foot to slip off). All that is required is a little extra attention when stepping into the pedals. I have been riding in traffic a lot lately and I think these pedals are not really suited for this purpose because of that. However, in most other situations I have found these pedals to be very good and I would highly recommend them to anyone who prefers a wider platform pedal. 

As for the rest of the components, I can't say that I ever really think about their performance; this is a good thing. But, I'll go through a brief summary of all of them anyway  just for kicks. The brakes have been working just fine, pad wear is good and the feeling at the lever is good. They work well, they do their job, end of story. In fact the same can be said about the two derailleurs. They have seen plenty of fowl weather and neglect and they are working without complaint. What about the cranks and BB? Same story here too. As much as I don't like the design of the BB, it doesn't creak, it's not loose, and it hasn't exploded- all good signs. The cranks are plenty stiff, shift well, and are oh so pretty. What about that rear hub I was complaining about in the first review? Well, much to my disappointment, it hasn't given me any problems what so ever. Fear not, I still plan to persevere and exploit the weaknesses of this sealed hub, but so far, the only thing I can complain about it excess drag. Oh and by the way, the front hub is rolling as smooth as it was the first day I put it on the bike. No surprise here though, its a quality user-serviceable hub, it should last years.

UPGRADES

Now, what would I upgrade if I had the cash? Well, I recently overhauled a year-old Chorus rear hub (not that it needed to be overhauled) and let me tell you, it's a damn fine piece of metal. It's light, its durable, it's smooth as silk, and it's extremely easy to service. So would I spend my cash on a set of Chorus hubs? No, but I would spend the money on some Daytona hubs. They're pretty much the same as the Chorus hubs but at a cheaper price and they're much nicer than Veloce. When the chain needs to be replaced, I'm going to spend the extra cash and get a more expensive chain, but I'm not going to upgrade it until I need to; its performance is good enough. Finally, I'm hoping that by the time I have to replace the BB, Campy will have come up with a new design that does not require a unique tool, that would be nice huh?

EMAILS

As I mentioned before I received an email about front shifting performance, which I did agree about. I also received an email suggesting that I upgrade to a nicer chain because  the performance is supposedly much better. Although I plan to do that in the future, I can't justify spending the extra cash now that the chain has quieted down (can anyone say cheap?). The rest of the emails were basically asking the same thing: Should I get the Veloce gruppo? My answer? Absolutely. Its performance is excellent, its durability so far is great, the price is fantastic, and it blows the competition out of the water. Sure it's a little heavy, and it's not flashy, but it works like a gem. If you have cash to burn, go for a nicer gruppo, if not, you won't be the least bit disappointed with Veloce.

Well, that's all I have for this review. I hope everyone enjoys the spring weather and gets 
plenty of good rides in, I know I will.

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