Bicycle Mechanics - Campy 9 speed woes

I'm new here, and I did search the forum before posting this. I've got a 3-yr old bike that came with Campy 9-speed components, after a lifetime of Shimano useage.
Aside from the maintenance learning curve (having the pawls fall out on the floor the first time I disassembled the rear hub, that sort of thing) it's gone pretty smoothly. A 9 speed hub still seems sort of excessive to me, but that's what I've got.
Except that Campy, and everyone else, apparently, is phasing out 9 speeds, and only 10-speed hubs setups will soon be available. Rather than switch out my hub, derailleur, shifters, etc etc, I'd like to hang on to the 9-speed setup as long as I can. (I'll spare you all the rant about speed inflation and resultant weaker wheels, fragile equipment, etc)

So -- my question is, can I use a Shimano or SRAM 9-speed chain with my shiny new 9-speed Veloce cluster? They're more readily available and 1/3 the price of the Campy chains, so I'd feel better about stocking up with 3 or 4 of them.

I have used SRAM chains for almost the life of my 9s Centaur with great success. And the quick link as well.

BTW, the hub/freewheel is the same for 9s and 10s - just the cassette spacing and chain change (as well as ders, Ergos, etc., of course).

I have used SRAM chains for almost the life of my 9s Centaur with great success. And the quick link as well.

I've been running a Sram 9s chain in my otherwise Campy 9s drivetrain too. Works just as well as the Campy one did. Don't worry about stocking up, as 9s is the current MTB standard, which will be supported for a considerable time to come considering that Sram still sells 8s chains.

Aside from the maintenance learning curve (having the pawls fall out on the floor the first time I disassembled the rear hub, that sort of thing) it's gone pretty smoothly.


Isn't that fun? Been there, done that and had a heckuva time finding out how to get it all back together without having to take it to a bike shop where I am not known in a sack so that they could do it while laughing their butts off at me.

Use a SRAM or, better yet, a Wipperman chain. They worked just fine on my Campy Veloce 9 speed and my Centaur 10 speed.

I'm not so worried about the availabilty of the chains, as having several to "cycle through." The idea being to keep, say, three or four chains, changing them monthly, to slow wear to the cluster. I appear to have bought one of the last 12-23 9-speed clusters in the US, based on how long it took the vendor to get it.

Once this one wears out, could I buy a 10-speed cluster, and use the gears on it with the spacers from the 9-speed and make it work? Or are the 10-speed gears made of thinner metal?

I'm not so worried about the availabilty of the chains, as having several to "cycle through." The idea being to keep, say, three or four chains, changing them monthly, to slow wear to the cluster. I appear to have bought one of the last 12-23 9-speed clusters in the US, based on how long it took the vendor to get it.

Once this one wears out, could I buy a 10-speed cluster, and use the gears on it with the spacers from the 9-speed and make it work? Or are the 10-speed gears made of thinner metal?

If you want to spend a lot of money, I guess. New 8s cassettes are readily available on eBay for a lot less than they cost new. I'm not too worried about the future availability of 9s stuff. I'd look at respacing cassettes as a last-resort kinda thing. Might be a pain too because most of them use aluminum carriers for the bigger cogs.

I'm not so worried about the availabilty of the chains, as having several to "cycle through." The idea being to keep, say, three or four chains, changing them monthly, to slow wear to the cluster. I appear to have bought one of the last 12-23 9-speed clusters in the US, based on how long it took the vendor to get it.

You must be looking in the wrong places.

https://secure11.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=reparto&BusType=BtoC&Count1=72261989&Count2=989402413

http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&SKU=FW9175