I love Camp-granola, used to have a Specialized that was all campy (lost it in the divorce). It's G-R-E-A-T stuff but way to expensive for me now. I have Shimano now, a combo platter of Dura ace and Ultegra with some Zero-G brakes thrown in. Shimano is easy to find, and it's easy to find deals on it. Campy, at least around here, easy to get , but the $$$!

Let me decipher: "All campy" means Campy from front derailleur to rear. "Way too expensive" means things like $400 rear derailleurs and $800 cranksets. A "combo platters" (like fried shrimp and maybe catfish) means a selection of DA and Ultegra, like DA STIs (I'm doing it too now) and Ultegra cranks, or maybe Ultegra STIs and DA rear derailluers. It's a mix and match of parts. And Zero-G brakes are lustworthy superlight Ciamillos (which I must have, paired with Jawires and Nokons . . . dammit!). "Easy to find" means any LBS has Shimano parts in stock. Many (most?) LBSs don't keep too Super Record 11 parts in stock. It ties up a lot of cash to keep $3,000 groupos sitting around. Campy is "easy to get" if you ride from a large LBS, but typically LBSs are proud of their Campy.

Please don't turn TriFuel into a war of "Which is better? Campy vs Shimano?" And I do mean "versus". Fortunately very few tri bikes come with Campy because . . . I have no idea. It seems Shimano cornered the bar-end shifter market. Regardless, comparable groups will give comparable performance. Leave it at that and walk away and no one gets hurt. (Note that I didn't even committ in writing which groups are comparable. Even doing that could start a flame war at some sites so I won't even try to align groups.)

The difference is purely a function of what you came into this sport riding, what your aesthetics are (Campy uses carbon extensively, Shimano is all aluminum), mixed with a heavy dose of romance and nostalgia. When I think of Campy, I think of the Dolomites, the Amalfi coast, Isabella Rossellini, and Tuscan wines. When I think of Shimano, I think of faceless technologies traded on the Nikkei, dowtown Tokyo, and fishing reels. They both do the same thing. They both cost more or less the same. My $.02 is whichever you buy, go with the highest level you can afford.

campy has a whole range, from relatively inexpensive to super record. i think that most people's consensus is that it is a matter of feel (for road bikes, different shaped brifters, different shifting throws and ranges), rather than quality. that being said, i have campy shifters and derailleurs, zipp crank, and zero-g brakes on my tri bike, and all campy record on my road bike. my mtb has a shimano fd (mostly sram). that being said, i really don't like to ride shimano, for reasons similar to trisooner.