It's kinda like defining yourself by wearing clothes made by a cool designer or driving a car that costs $100k and telling everyone, "If you knew better, you'd stop with the crap you have and start wearing the same clothes and driving the same car as me." -Just lame shit insecure people do to cover up for a lack of personal substance and identity.

Good points. They wouldn't ride it if it were crap.

I think you mean "esthetic value" (or aesthetics).

I didn't know that Campy wanted people to compare DA with Chorus. I'd arrived at that conclusion myself after using both group sets and paying a bit less for Chorus than DA. I figured Record was just snob appeal and not qualitatively superior to Chorus. After a year with Chorus 10-speed on my bike I prefer Chorus over DA, but it's not a huge difference to me and I'm curious whether Shimano improved the shift levers to the level of Campy's Ergo levers. If they did, they probably came close to closing the performance gap, although I have certainly observed that Campy parts wear slower and stay tuned better than DA has for me.

" I cant afford my "dream car" as it is over $350,000.00. I cant afford my dream house either...I can however have the best that there is on my bike."

Record, m'man. Here's a true story you'll like.

I was in LaBicycletta in Toronto one time drooling over over some Colnago's and Pinarello's. They are one of the highest end bike stores in the city. Off in the corner was a beautiful Colnago with Campy Record and all the top end goodies. It had a sales bill on it and was obviously waiting for the customer to pick it up. While talking to the salesman I asked him about the price. After the initial shock I commented on how much money that was to spend on a bicycle. He then gave me the big sales speel about if you can't have your dream car then at least you can afford your dream bike.

A bit later a new Porsche Carrera convertible pulls into the parking lot next to my well used mini-van. The guy walks in and asks "is my bike ready". He then walks out with his new Colnago. I watched thru the window as he removed the front wheel and placed the bike in the back seat of the convertible Porsche.

As he drove off I remember thinking "you S.O.B".

Poverty sucks. But I guess it's all relative.

A pointless waste of time !
Unless your a bike snob .
Dirtball !

Nope, itchyghost, I was precise in my language. I used esoteric and meant it. Owners of the latest and greatest Campy Record are a select and exclusive, or in my words. . .esoteric, group. While folks on both sides can argue the asethetic value of either Record or DA over the other, Record owners are decidedly more esoteric than DA owners, at least on this side of the pond.