Bicycle Mechanics - Can Campy and Shimano be used together

My bike has Shimano 105 front and rear (9 speed) with a FSA RPM triple crank. I want to replace the crank with a compact double. A guy on E-Bay has a Campy crank that he says will fit my bike with no problem. It's a 10 speed but he claims the Campy 10 speed and Shimano 9 speed are compatable with a proper bottem bracket.

What do you guys think?

Yes you can probably make it work well. It may be a little more difficult to get it "dialed in" because you're going from a triple to a compact double. The fact that it's a Campy shouldn't be a problem.

Al

Yes you can probably make it work well. It may be a little more difficult to get it "dialed in" because you're going from a triple to a double. The fact that it's a Campy shouldn't be a problem.

Al

agreed it shouldnt. correct me if im wrong but front derailluers/front shifter/chainrings on campy sram and shimano dont have any different ratios or spacing

Yes, mixing Campy and Shimano is fine - provided you make allowances.

Sheldon Brown, as always, has info on this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/shiftmate.html

I used the Shiftmate to match some 105 shifters and derailers with a Campy rear wheel/cogset. I was surprised at how well the setup worked.

Lennard Zimm has gotten SRAM to work with Campy:

http://velonews.com/article/73404/can-you-run-campy-shifters-with-a-sram-drivetrain-sure-why

As always, your mileage may vary.

Cranks are cranks, pretty much. They don't really care what kind of derailleur you use (provided it has enough capacity), what kind of chain, what kind of pedals, etc. They do care that the bottom bracket spindle is the right length.

In your case, you should be fine. 10sp cranks tend to have the chainrings closer together to keep the narrow chain from dropping between them. Since you will be using a 9sp chain, it shouldn't be an issue, and the spacing difference is pretty minimal anyway. FDs aren't as sensitive as RDs.

I used the Shiftmate to match some 105 shifters and derailers with a Campy rear wheel/cogset. I was surprised at how well the setup worked.
As always, your mileage may vary.
Yes, Shiftmates work great but, of course, they are only for mix-and-match rear shifting.

To the OP: you will have to get the appropriate Campy bottom bracket to go with the new Campy crank. Your 105 triple fd may or may not work well but double cranks are pretty forgiving since the limit screws are the real "indexing" stops.