I'm sorry I don't have time to read all the post, so if this is already covered my apologies.
Do you race?
If not, I would go with Veloce, it's a great value for a component system that people compare with Ultegra in smoothness but weighs more than Ultegra, and Veloce is the best bang for the buck in the Campy lineup with very little if not unnoticeable difference between Veloce and Centaur other than looks. If money is burning a hole in your pocket and you want a little more flash and have people say oooooh when they look at your bike get Athena .
Chorus and Athena have Ultrashift in the levers if you like the idea of jumping multiple gears which is something that Shimano can't do and it doesn't bother me that it can't. And Chorus and Record look extremely ugly! Athena is beautiful, in fact it's the best looking groupset of any of the other Campy stuff, and the best looking of any Shimano or SRAM groupset. Centaur is no longer made but you could still probably find last years supply. There is also Potenza, which is simply trickle down technology from Record and Chorus without all the carbon fiber, but I think it looks cheap but it doesn't shift cheap. Athena is 11 speed and Veloce is 10, and I bet you won't miss the one gear that is missing with the Veloce.
I had Athena, though it was a 2006 model, but I liked it, it looked great. But it wasn't any better shifting than the newer Shimano 105 groupset, Athena shifted a tad smoother, but not so much smoother that it made me silly with joy. If I had thought Athena was that great I would have transferred my 105 stuff off my Lynskey onto the Mercian and put the Athena group on the Lynskey! Of course than I probably would not had been able to sell the Mercian for what I paid for it new!
I know all that I said isn't much help, but you have to decide how much money you want to spend, do you want stunning looks and moderate pricing (Athena), vs better functionality but more money (Potenza), vs practicality and least amount of money (Centaur or Veloce). Since Centaur is no longer being made you should be able to find last year's model for less than this year's Veloce.
Do you race?
If not, I would go with Veloce, it's a great value for a component system that people compare with Ultegra in smoothness but weighs more than Ultegra, and Veloce is the best bang for the buck in the Campy lineup with very little if not unnoticeable difference between Veloce and Centaur other than looks. If money is burning a hole in your pocket and you want a little more flash and have people say oooooh when they look at your bike get Athena .
Chorus and Athena have Ultrashift in the levers if you like the idea of jumping multiple gears which is something that Shimano can't do and it doesn't bother me that it can't. And Chorus and Record look extremely ugly! Athena is beautiful, in fact it's the best looking groupset of any of the other Campy stuff, and the best looking of any Shimano or SRAM groupset. Centaur is no longer made but you could still probably find last years supply. There is also Potenza, which is simply trickle down technology from Record and Chorus without all the carbon fiber, but I think it looks cheap but it doesn't shift cheap. Athena is 11 speed and Veloce is 10, and I bet you won't miss the one gear that is missing with the Veloce.
I had Athena, though it was a 2006 model, but I liked it, it looked great. But it wasn't any better shifting than the newer Shimano 105 groupset, Athena shifted a tad smoother, but not so much smoother that it made me silly with joy. If I had thought Athena was that great I would have transferred my 105 stuff off my Lynskey onto the Mercian and put the Athena group on the Lynskey! Of course than I probably would not had been able to sell the Mercian for what I paid for it new!
I know all that I said isn't much help, but you have to decide how much money you want to spend, do you want stunning looks and moderate pricing (Athena), vs better functionality but more money (Potenza), vs practicality and least amount of money (Centaur or Veloce). Since Centaur is no longer being made you should be able to find last year's model for less than this year's Veloce.
