# Veloce vs Athena



## NBFM (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi all i'm new to this forum, and what a good forum this and Bianchi one are, some useful posts i've been reading on here.

I'm currently the owner of a 2010 Bianchi Via Nirone Xenon and looking at purchasing the Infinito for my summer ride. The bike would be used for recreational rides of around the 50 mile mark.

The question is, besides having 2 extra gears, would i notice difference between the Veloce and Athena set up? I'm thinking if i go for the Veloce i could upgrade the wheels near enough straight away and transfer them onto my Via Nirone and then eventually upgrade the Veloce components if and when i fancy and transfer that onto my current ride as well. I assume the mix of components can be done as i have a mix of Xenon and Mirage at present?

Cheers

NBFM


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## Drew Eckhardt (Nov 11, 2009)

2011 Athena has been down-graded with "Powershift" so it can't shift more than one cog smaller. 2010 Athena still used Ultrashift

I don't know if your Xenon shifters are regular 3 bigger/5 smaller ergopower or Escape that only go one smaller.

Mixing and matching gruppos works fine and is a great way to get any real improvements from the more expensive lines without paying extra for better looks and more grey metal/black plastic.

I have a mix of Athena/Racing-T (good and inexpensive), Chorus (Record grease ports in the hubs, ball bearing shift levers, and a more heavily shaped front derailleur cage than the lower groups), Record (it's pretty and the used parts didn't cost that much) and will add Centaur (last of the Ultrashift 10 speed brifters) when I get around to the 10 speed move.


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