Bicycle Mechanics - Please. Can anyone confirm that 2011 Campy Veloce levers are triple compatible?

Hi,

I just installed a set of 2011 veloce levers (after having them shipped from Europe and waiting a unreasonable length of time for them to get through US customs).

The Web site of the retailer said that the left lever is double/triple compatible. The Campy instruction manual included with the levers says they are triple compatible. The Campy Web site says they are triple compatible.

So, I never even thought of physically checking before I installed them.

Now, to my aggravation, they really only seem to function as a double. Only 1 shift (3 clicks) up, and 1 down (1 click).

Am I missing something? Is there some conversion that needs to be done to make them function as a triple? Or am I the victim of some misrepresentaion?

Thanks in advance if anyone can shed some light on this!
Mike

Nevermind, I called the Campy distributor in California and relized that it was the non-Campy cable I was trying to use that was causing the problem.

I have a bunch of old cables lying around and have been trying to use them up. They worked on my older Chorus Levers, but apparently the larger knob was getting in the way of the second shift in the Veloces.

Problem solved.

There are two issues. The first is that you bought the new limited function powershift levers, so they will not have the 6 clicks that the 2010 shifters have. These shifters are similar to the '07-'08 Centaur/Veloce escape shifters.

The short answer is yes, they are supposed to operate a triple, read page 17 of the PDF.

http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/documenti/en/EP_power-shift.pdf

After reading your second post, be sure to use the Campy supplied cables and housing. Shimano 4mm housing will also work, with Campy cables.

Just a pain having to grind down normal cable ends to fit Campy's levers. And Campy's cables aren't even "slick", for what that's worth (mandrel-drawn cables seem to enhance brake cable performance at least).

Campy's cables also cost 7 bucks (just the inner wire!).

I'm having similar issues with the 2011 Veloce front shifter. I got the shifters brand new from PBK which included the correct Campy cables. From mech is Shimano 105 Triple. Rear mech is Shimano 105 9-speed. I got the rear shifting perfectly using the hubbub routing method. However I am having problems with the front. I can get the chain onto the largest chainring, but when I click the thumb button I was having either one of two problems:

1) Shifting from Large, clicking on the thumb button would shift the chain all the way to the smallest ring. Completely skipping the middle ring. I'd then have to shift into the middle ring.
or.
2) After playing with cable tension, I can now get it to shift from large to the middle, but there seems to be no more "clicks" left in the thumb button to get me down to the small chain ring.

Am I setting these up wrong? Seems like there's only one "click" on the thumb button. But there seems to be many clicks with the lever.

Again, I'm using brand new Campy cables.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Just a pain having to grind down normal cable ends to fit Campy's levers. And Campy's cables aren't even "slick", for what that's worth (mandrel-drawn cables seem to enhance brake cable performance at least).

Campy's cables also cost 7 bucks (just the inner wire!).
Jagwire sells very nice stainless shift cables that have two end fittings, Shimano on one end and Campy on the other, and you just cut off the unneeded fitting.

@idoru2005: Campagnolo and Shimano front mech have different cable pull. Some people use them without problems, other can't get it to work. Trying a Campagnolo front mech might be an idea? You could also try a Shimano MTB front mech if you have one lying around.

Yeah, I will definitely try to get a Campy front mech.

I eventually got it to shift flawlessly. Hopefully this helps other people trying to figure this out.

Basically, my error when initially setting this up was pulling the cable too tight when attaching it to the mech. I had it so tight that it was moving from the inner ring to the middle in one lever throw, and from the middle to the large ring using yet another lever throw. To make matters worse, I had my barrel adjuster screwed in all the way, therefore not giving any chance to be able to loosen the cable tension.

So here's what I did to make it work. First, set the barrel adjuster so that I have the ability to both loosen and tighten the cable tension. When i reattached the cable to the mech, I did so pretty loosely. This way, it took three lever throws to get the chain from the inner ring to the middle, and and another 2 or three lever throws to get from middle to outer ring.

Now, when I am on the outer ring, one press of the button will correctly get me to the middle ring, and another press of the button will bring me to the small ring as expected. All those lever throws appear to be pulling enough cable into the lever to allow all shifts from the big ring down, to work properly.

Shifting is working pretty much perfectly now. Again, I am running ShimaNO mech (105) both front and rear. I'm pretty please with the setup now!