Tandem Cycling - Campag 10 speed on a tandem ok?

I'm a fan of Campag Ergo levers on my solos.
Does anyone have experience of a Campag 10 speed transmission on a tandem?
Was it up to the job of loaded touring?!

Thanks.

Digby Symons

I am running Chorus 10s levers with a SRAM X-9 9s RD and SRAM 11-32 9s cassette. The RD has a modified cable guide from DaVinci.

Depends on your load, your ability and your route.

For big long or steep climbs, camping loads and old folks Campy is tough. For racer studs Campy is fine. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

I am running Chorus 10s levers with a SRAM X-9 9s RD and SRAM 11-32 9s cassette. The RD has a modified cable guide from DaVinci.

My setup is similar - My bike is equipped with Veloce 10s levers and a SRAM 11-32 9s cassette, but it has a Campagnolo Comp Triple rear derailleur. You don't need to go with DaVinci's modified SRAM rear derailleur.


Depends on your load, your ability and your route.

For big long or steep climbs, camping loads and old folks Campy is tough. For racer studs Campy is fine. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

Huh? We have gearing from 30x32 through 53x11 using Campy levers and derailleurs - I think our Campy setup pretty well covers it all.

[QUOTE=swc7916;6824890]My setup is similar - My bike is equipped with Veloce 10s levers and a SRAM 11-32 9s cassette, but it has a Campagnolo Comp Triple rear derailleur. You don't need to go with DaVinci's modified SRAM rear derailleur.QUOTE]

How is the shifting?

Campy specs the max rear cog @ 29t.

Did you do the "alternate cable routing" at the RD attachment point (like Sheldon Brown does)?

Full Campagnolo 10-sp here with Chorus shifters and Race Triple RD. Other than the fact that our largest cog is only 29 teeth, it's been pretty smooth rollin'.

We have been using Record 10 speed [chains and all]. Never had a problem. I have to use a Shimano freehub so a Jtek was used. Very happy with the way it shifts. Although we only have about 1000 miles on it I cannot offer any advice on durability. I have a Sram 11-28 cassette and have not had any issue with gearing [30-42-53].

How is the shifting?

Campy specs the max rear cog @ 29t.

Did you do the "alternate cable routing" at the RD attachment point (like Sheldon Brown does)?

It shifts great - and there is nothing special about the cable routing; it is a Campy shifter mated to a Campy derailleur, after all. I have to note however, that I have a 9-speed system, not a 10-speed. The Campagnolo 10-speed shifters work with the SRAM 9-speed cassette (Shimano spacing) but there is an extra "click" at one end or the other, depending on how it was set up. Because of this compatibility, DaVinci also uses a Campy 10-speed shifter with a SRAM 9-speed cassette, but they have modified a SRAM derailleur to work with it rather than use a Campagnolo derailleur. I just looked at Campagnolo's specs for their triple rear derailleurs, and they don't give a max cog size.

SWC as your neighbor a bit to the south, just curious, where you ride. I assume your somewhere over on the East side. Do you ride with ETC? We are off to ride in Port Townsend this weekend. Fort to Fort. Looking like it's going to be a wet one but the hotel is reserved and the entry fee paid. Need to put the fenders on tonight.

Aemmer: We got our tandem last September, joined ETC in January and have gone on 6 or 7 rides with them. Since we live only about a mile from the Sammamish River Trail (at the top of the infamous Winery Hill, one of the 7 Hills of Kirkland), our shorter evening rides are up and down the trail. Solo weekend rides have been around Lake Sammamish or Lake Washington. We're planning on doing the ETC Sedro-Wooley to Concrete ride tomorrow so I hope the weather co-operates.

We ride Campy Chorus 10sp shifters with DuraAce RD (with shiftmate) 11-28 Sram cassette. 53-39-30 chainrings. Shifts great, we only have about 1000 miles on it so far, but I like the set up. I prefer Shimano compatible hubs, but like the Campy shifters - shiftmate makes it all come together. If I had to do it again, I don't think I would change a thing.

Cool. I with I could get away with that.

The 32t rear cog helps when we are on sustained climbs where there are >15% grades that might last longer than a couple of switchbacks.

What front derailleur are folks using with Campy 10speed set-ups?

Thanks
KRhea

What front derailleur are folks using with Campy 10speed set-ups?

Thanks
KRhea

Campy Comp Triple

What front derailleur are folks using with Campy 10speed set-ups?

Thanks
KRhea

I don't think there is currently a Record triple, but we have one that is older model, black arm, says titanium on it. Actually not much lighter than Comp at all, but matches looks of other Record stuff a bit better ...

We are running Dura Ace triple - the entire set up is as follows:
Campy Chorus 10 shifters
Dura Ace RD long cage (with a shiftmate) 11-28 Sram cassette
Dura Ace Triple FD 53-39-30 Chainrings

I am very happy with this set up!

Has anyone else felt that the parallelogram spring is just not strong enough to really work well for tandems? Fresh cables and housing, not so much of a big deal. Now that we have a few rides on the bike and put a little road grime on the cables, things are starting to gum up and that crispness is just not there anymore. (Note that I find this with both Campy and Shimano.)

I haven't noticed any problems with the FD spring, despite the fact that it's a QS derailleur.

We're running Race Triple.

Maybe I should clarify, I referring to the rear derailleur. We're having no issues with the front.

We've always run either Campy Record or Chorus and have never had a problem. Are your cable transitions pretty smooth including the all important "rear loop" directly into the derailleur? Just a thought.


KRhea

They are. That was the first thing I checked. More playing around to come. Ah, the joys of sorting out shifting on a new bike.

Hey dds, you two can have a go on our tandem at the tour of the cotswolds. We are going to do the 72 mile route and stop somewhere for a nice lunch, so if you do the 102 at racers' pace we won't have long to wait.

No campy though as I found the Ultegra 9 speed levers that ours came with perfectly fine. It's easy enough to change a Shimano bike to Campy with a Jtec Shiftmate if you really must.

Has anyone else felt that the parallelogram spring is just not strong enough to really work well for tandems? ... (Note that I find this with both Campy and Shimano.)

We're currently using a Dura Ace rear derailleur with Campy shifters. The Dura Ace works fine. (I think you can adjust the spring tension.) As has been said before, if you are using a Shiftmate be sure it is aligned correctly. They rotate a bit over time.

We're thinking of switching to a Record derailleur simply for the black color. Does anyone prefer one to the other?

They are. That was the first thing I checked. More playing around to come. Ah, the joys of sorting out shifting on a new bike.

What about your "b" adjustment screw?

You want the top pulley of the RD to be close to the cogs, but not so much so that the chain is being "pinched" when in the big cog.

Put the back in the big cog, and turn the screw to bring the RD up closer without the chain making extra noise.

Check Sheldon Browns page on RD adjustment.

Has anyone else felt that the parallelogram spring is just not strong enough to really work well for tandems?

Surprised that the spring feels like it's not strong enough on the tandem - versus a standard frame, the only additional strength needed should be to overcome the additional mass of cable and friction against one additional stop, which should not be significant.

My guess is that there is friction somewhere in the system that is slowing things down, either in the deraileur or cable system, e.g. a slightly crimped cable end, small burr on the cable, worn or sticking RD etc. Only way to find out is to take the system apart and ensure everything is silky smooth piece by piece moving everything by hand. A non-obvious issue can be the cable ends - in theory these should be ground to 90 degrees with a Dremel or grinding wheel after cutting to length if you are looking for perfection.

The other issue may be in the ergopower lever - if its helper spring is broken you will get similar issues to this, although this is not the problem if it's an issue on 2 different bikes.

Also you could try adjusting the spring tension as noted below, or alternatively do as tandemgeak does on the rear disc brake and add an additional 'helper' spring between the cable entry point to the RD and the cable clamp. This is probably not the optimal solution since excess tension will tend to overcome the Ergopower lever mechanism or at least make downshifting harder and upshifting easier.

All are interesting considerations. Out come the tools this weekend...

I'm using Campy chorus RD and chorus shifters with Campy triple FD...but...I have a 13-29 10 sp. in the rear and 50/34 double crankset. It works really well for us. We have 2200 mi on the shifters and derailleurs with no problems.

It seems my wondering about the strength of the rear derailleur spring was not correct. I discovered yesterday by pure chance that when the bike was assembled, two of the spacers in the rear cluster had been inverted. This threw off the spacing between a couple of the gears which was causing the chain to not settle on specific gears and shifting was far from smoothed. Pulled the cluster, moved the spacers around and voila, perfect shifting on this morning's ride with no other changes.

Thanks for the comments.

Does anyone know how well the "Escape" mechanism used on the Centaur shifters (and groupsets below) works with a triple chainset? Does it dump the chain straight onto the granny ring?!
If so I guess the Chorus shifters are definitely preferable. Is this right?

Thanks,

Digby

How old is this post? It need to be re-titled Campag 11 speed on a tandem ok?

Thanks for the comments.

Does anyone know how well the "Escape" mechanism used on the Centaur shifters (and groupsets below) works with a triple chainset? Does it dump the chain straight onto the granny ring?!
If so I guess the Chorus shifters are definitely preferable. Is this right?

Thanks,

Digby


It's weird. I had the 07 Veloce escape mech. shifter (since I wanted the silver look)... The RD shifter worked great. On my first crankset/BB combo the FD one worked fine. However upon switching to 107mm BBs and the DaVinci crankset, it no longer shifted properly. I spent hours trying to adjust it, no dice. I grabbed the 07 Chorus levers off of my solo bike, and they work perfect (bought some Record for the solo to make it feel less violated). I love the Chorus/Record shift mech. Also 06 and lower Centaur has the non-escape mech.

How old is this post? It need to be re-titled Campag 11 speed on a tandem ok?

Tandem? Is it OK on any bike? Too soon to tell.