Touring - Campagnolo

Is it possible to configure a Campy group for long distance self supported touring? If not, is there a way I can retrofit Ergo Levers with a Shimano drivetrain? I am used to running Campy on my racing bikes.

Campy makes a 12-29 rear cassette. They also make both medium and long cage rear derailleurs that will shift with your current levers. Campy's front cranks will take chain rings down to 39 teeth (maybe less?), and a triple is available. So the answer to your question is yes. You can do a Campy tourer if you want. I've done it and find it just as durable as Shimano. Your money - your choice.

The slick trick for touring with Campy is to get a triple conversion inner chainring for your double crank which allows you to use a 74mm BCD chain ring (low as 24 teeth) which will make that 29 tooth cassette work for all but the steepest grades
Harris Cyclery and Yellow Jersey are two online shops that I know of who stock them. You will also likely need a longer bottom bracket spindle and a triple front derailluer.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/TRIPLIZR.JPG

After my wife's campy drive train imploded in Italy this summer (horror story to be told later), she ended up with a cheap old shimano MTB rear dearailer in place of her Veloce. It worked fine with her campy shifters. I know they're not supposed to be compatible, but that's what she's still riding today. So I guess what I'm saying is throw a shimano derailler on there and see if it works for you.

The Campy Record and Chorus triple cranksets come with 53x42x30 tooth chainrings, and you could probably swap the middle ring for a 39. Campy 10 sp cassettes come in a 13x29. Should work fine unless you're hauling camping gear up some of the grades I saw in the UK, up to 24% (and I've heard stories of 33% grades).

Try R&E cycles in Seattle. Your problem is common for tandem folks who want campy ergo shifters but who need the cassette range of a shimano mountain set (12/34). My understanding is that there are now 3 campy der. cage sizes and they use the largest in the back with a shimano front der, campy ergo shifting, and a shimmano mountain cassette. They use this specificly for the problem you are describing and are very successful with it. Another solution less expensive - which is not perfect, but gets at your problem. A number of years ago campy built a lower chain ring (24 and 26) for their mountain groupo's, this smaller chain ring is the same bolt pattern as the campy racing triple 9 speed. So I now have two bikes with campy ergo shifting, long cage campy rear der., running a campy triple (50/40/26 or 24) with the new campy 9 speed 12/28 in the back. This is a medium fix in my opinion, but much better than a 50/40/30 with a 12/26 in the back. These small rings come up for sale on ebay fairly often and I stashed away several some years back just for the situasion you are describing.

The Campy/Shimano mix by HubBub works great and is simple!

http://www.hubbub.com/ergoleverswshim9.htm

Campy shifters will operate any front transmission system. I use the Campy triple front mech with a Shimano LX and it works well enough.
At the rear, you could fit Marchisio cogs. You can set a Shimano hub to Campy spacing or use a Campy hub with individually selected cogs.

Maybe I am bit dense becuase I am not much on the gearing side of things in my biking life, but run it by me why you would want to go out for long tours with Campy?

I've got one of the Rodriguez touring bikes from R + E, with the Veloce Campy set up. It is a real pain in the ass if anything breaks. Even here in the Boston, I often have to wait a week for parts to be shipped in.

On the road, the folks in the small town shops will look at your and your bike with pathetic shrug of the shoulders. I'm still riding on an odd work around from when my shifter snapped off becuase I really can't afford to buy new shifters and figure I'll just get it all done with a major tune up before hitting the road again.

I will ride this Campy set up across the country this summer (becuase it is rare for drivetrain issue to happen) but I am then going to either get a new bike or swap out all this Campy for something different. I just don't like it all from a "I am stuck in a small town" perspective and it will be one less kooky thing to worry about.

Knox Gardner
www.bikenerd.blogspot.com

...but run it by me why you would want to go out for long tours with Campy?

IMHO the question is rather "why not?" Campy is just as durable as Shimano. There's probably no repair for a Shimano on the road either - you're going to end up replacing any defective part with a new one.

If Campy works for the OP, I say go with it. The worst that can happen is the Campy breaks and the LBS wherever the traveller is doesn't stock Campy. Then he'll have to switch to what's available at the LBS anyway.

IMHO the question is rather "why not?" Campy is just as durable as Shimano. There's probably no repair for a Shimano on the road either - you're going to end up replacing any defective part with a new one.

If Campy works for the OP, I say go with it. The worst that can happen is the Campy breaks and the LBS wherever the traveller is doesn't stock Campy. Then he'll have to switch to what's available at the LBS anyway.


Campy can be repaired. Ever have an STI lever die on you? I have. As for compatibility, I run Campy Chorus 10 speed levers on my LHT, coupled to an XT or Ultegra triple rear.

Front:

http://www.wolfenet.org/gallery2/v/Bikes/surly/img_1532.jpg.html

Rear:

http://www.wolfenet.org/gallery2/v/Bikes/surly/img_1533.jpg.html


The hubub works, but not as well as a Jtek shiftmate. http://www.jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm

Just got to make sure you have a long enough inner cable with a larger frameset. It has a stainless dual grooved pulley which changes the throw ratio. Easy to setup, and will probably NEVER break. All my road bikes have it now, and shifting is as good if not better than the full DA or Ultegra setups. I love my ergo's, and coupled with shimano derailleurs you have a pretty robust setup.

For anyone who wants to run ergo/sti shifters and are worried about getting stuck in the boonies, I'd much rather have the Campy's. You can carry the small parts to rebuild them in a little plastic bag or a film canister (do they still make film??)

I saw this thread yesterday with an answer from The Fixer... where is it?

Anyway, you can use a Jtek Shiftmate (http://www.jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm) to mix Shimano and Campy parts.

Anyone has experience on fixing Campy levers on the road?

I saw this thread yesterday with an answer from The Fixer... where is it?

Anyway, you can use a Jtek Shiftmate (http://www.jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm) to mix Shimano and Campy parts.

Anyone has experience on fixing Campy levers on the road?

I'm sure it can't be too hard, looks like it only requires an allen wrench, and if you go through them before you leave, they shouldn't give you any troubles. Maybe carry a spare lever in case of a crash or something. Haven't had to disassemble mine yet.

Mark

Thanks Mark. I don't know anything about Campy levers except I like the ergonomics. Don't they have springs and other small parts that can break?

Another question: any problems about Campy levers and V-brakes?

Edit: OK, sorry I passed over your post #11. Thanks.

Thanks Mark. I don't know anything about Campy levers except I like the ergonomics. Don't they have springs and other small parts that can break?

Another question: any problems about Campy levers and V-brakes?

Edit: OK, sorry I passed over your post #11. Thanks.


Here's the exploded view. http://www.campyonly.com/howto/ergo_rebuild.html

I haven't done one yet, but they don't look hard. Before a long tour, I'd probably disassemble one and practice. I've got a spare 99 and earlier 8 speed set that needs overhauled anyway.

Mark

I carry a spare DT lever in case I run into compatibilty problems on the road. I know that if the rear mech gets chewed up, I can sling on any cheap Shimano SIS mech and get on the road again.
The lever is an old Suntour ratched on that is very sweet. Rivendell can supply new versions if your LBS lacks an old parts bin.
You do need a DT boss on your bike rather than the braze-on cable guide that modern bikes use.

Glad to hear everyone's positive experience about Jtek - Bought mine from Peter White and it's still sitting in my part box two tandem shops refused to install this summer. They were not convinced. Oh well I'll try it on one of my single bikes. I have three touring bikes - two campy ergo/racing triple 50/40/26 and another 9 speed durace bar ends/110 Sugino AT 48/34/24 - maybe I've been lucky but none have broken on the road with their shifters - I have barrell adjusters on all three to deal with cable strech, I carry spare chain, spokes, and assorted spare parts - but nothing for shifter repairs. That being said I take my bar end equiped bike on my longer un-supported tours - and that just because of all the books I've read say they are more reliable because of fewer moving pieces. Again I haven't experienced any of these failures with ergo shifters.

I'll admit to being inthe ShimaNO category, thus when I built my Spectrum Ti touring bike a few years ago, I carried over the Campy Euclid MTB crankset from another bike.
But you need to define for yourself what is "self supported touring." For credit card touring, the gear range offered by the current Campy triple cranksets might be adequate. With loaded panniers and more, I suspect you will find the gear range inadequate. You might try to keep the Campy drive train for the most part, but substitute an MTB (Race Face, FSA, whatever suits you) and go from there. Since your front derailleur is not indexed (is it?) slight variances should not matter. Only issue is to get a front derailleur that is compatible with the range of chainring diameters on the crankset.

...Another question: any problems about Campy levers and V-brakes?...

Yes. V-brakes require more cable-pull than Campy's brifters provide. You'll need "travel agents" (a device which mechanically converts a short cable-pull from the lever into a longer cable-pull at the brake).

Glad to hear everyone's positive experience about Jtek - Bought mine from Peter White and it's still sitting in my part box two tandem shops refused to install this summer. They were not convinced. Oh well I'll try it on one of my single bikes. I have three touring bikes - two campy ergo/racing triple 50/40/26 and another 9 speed durace bar ends/110 Sugino AT 48/34/24 - maybe I've been lucky but none have broken on the road with their shifters - I have barrell adjusters on all three to deal with cable strech, I carry spare chain, spokes, and assorted spare parts - but nothing for shifter repairs. That being said I take my bar end equiped bike on my longer un-supported tours - and that just because of all the books I've read say they are more reliable because of fewer moving pieces. Again I haven't experienced any of these failures with ergo shifters.

I got the model #2 and use it with Campy 10spd Chorus with 9spd shimano. Eventually when the 9 speed stuff gets scarce, I can change the pulley and just buy a cluster.

As for bike shops not installing it, I'd find another shop. How could they be "not convinced." I do everything but build the frame myself, so I didn't have that issue. :)

Mark,

I won't mention the two tandem shops because they are both pretty well known.It was an expensive event because I also bought new campy chorus shifters. I don't know that it matters, but tandems are touchy critters because they wrap up a lot of chain. In my case I was running a ultegra triple front, new xtr rapid rise, and a 11-32. Again, they told be it couldn't be done. I'll try is on the new touring bike I am building up.

Ultegra triple front, and XT rear work great with the Jtek. Most people see my mixed setup and ask how it can be done. When I point out the shiftmate and tell them it changes the ratio of pull to match the components, they usually want more info. :) Sheldon and Peter White don't sell the shiftmate for no reason, and it's not made for no reason. Some people (me) don't like STI as they've had issues and want to goto Ergo while keeping the cheaper but durable and light shimano drivetrain.

I've never used any campy stuff, and am wondering what exactly is the difference between ergo and sti?

Naw, you can't tour on Campy...just because Europeans do it every day doesn't mean you can. I'm be funny here of course. Of course you can tour on Campy just as the Euro's have been doing for years. In fact my touring bike I'll be ordering from Mercan next year will be Campy.