rmartin166

Hi All,

I am new to the forums so please forgive me if this is something that is posted elsewhere.

I am working on a bike with a campagnolo cassette, ultegra crank and ultegra shifters. The cassette and chainrings are seriously worn out and I am considering replacing them both and the chain. But, I am not sure about a couple of things.

1)Can a shimano cassette go onto a campagnolo hub?

2)Has anyone had much luck with stronglight ct2 chainrings for durability and performance?

Thanks in advance...

desconhecido 

No, you can't put Shimano cogs on a Campagnolo cassette hub.

Actually, I don't know how you are getting the Ultegra shifters and (I assume) Ultegra rear derailleur to shift well with the Campagnolo cassette. Perhaps the hub has nonstandard spacers in order to give the Campy hub the spacing required by the Ultegra mechanicals? Campagnolo 9 speed hubs can be spaced to match Shimano 9 speed equipment -- a spacer kit is available.

So, you need to get sprockets designed for the Campagnolo hub. Note that sprockets for a Campagnolo 8 speed and 9 speed are not interchangeable.

Al1943

More information is needed. Exactly which components do you have? Brand names and group names are only a start.
What are the shifters, indexed or friction? How many cogs are on the cassette? What is the rear derailleur? Is the crankset a double or triple?

rmartin166

Thanks guys for the help. The original problem that my friend had with this bike was severe skipping of the chain under load ie hills. Having looked at it the front chainrings are heavily worn and the rear cassette also shows sign of wear. I am guessing that alot of his problems is also due to compatibility issues between shimano and campagnolo. Here is more information:

Shifter : Ultegra Flightdeck(indexed if I am not mistaken)
Front chainrings: Ultegra 39t and 53t
Derailleurs: Ultegra
Rear hub and cassette: Campagnolo

TLCFORBIKES

Sounds like a blend of Shimano 9 speed and Campagnolo. The cassette spacing on 9 speed Campagnolo and Shimano are the same (no need for 9 speed conversion spacers). The Campagnolo style freehub will only take Campagnolo cogs. Stick with orginal replacement Shimano chainrings. Cheaper and work better. You don't need any teflon coated chainrings. It will cost enough to replace the cassette and chain and chainrings. Save your money for more up coming repairs.

Al1943

No, the cog spacings are not the same and they are not compatible. Campagnolo 9-speed cog spacing is 4.55 mm, Shimano 9-speed spacing is 4.34 mm. Some people make the cross-combination work by aligning the rear derailleur over the center cog. But the error is cumulative as the derailleur moves toward either extreme.
The OP has not confirmed that the bike in question is 9-speed or something else.
It should be noted that the teeth on chainrings and cassette cogs have special shapes to enhance shifting. Sometimes these shaped teeth are mistaken as an indication of wear.
Chain skipping on the cassette could be due to the mis-matched Shimano/Campy spacing or it could be due to worn out cogs.

TLCFORBIKES

The OP said that he had Flight Deck Shimano -- so he has either 9 or 10 speed STI levers. Say what you want about Campagnolo and Shimano not being compatible but ever since 9 speed Campy and Shimano came around they have been compatible. Use a Shimano 9 speed cassette and the Campy Ergolevers/derailleur -- it works. Use a Campy 9 speed cassette and Shimano STI levers/derailleurs -- it works. Any way you look at the skipping problem -- the OP will be possibly spending a few dollars on parts and/or repairs.

Just to be fair I do believe that a bike with either all Campagnolo or all Shimano transmissions will work the best. As a store owner I will tell a customer the same. As a racer/mechanic and come across all types of racing mechanic issues at the race pit -- Campagnolo and Shimano can be adjusted to work together. Even 10 speed combo set ups will work. Been doing it for fellow racers for years.

Kimmo 

If you prefer Ergo like me then IMO the best shifting you'll experience is Ergo on Hyperglide. But then I have NFI whether Campag have improved on the crappy Exadrive of ten years ago.

I'd say get a Shimano hub on there, but not cause you're necessarily better off using all the same gear; because Shimano does a proper freehub and Hyperglide AFAIK wins.

If you can get your head around all the reasons why componentry may not be compatible and cover those bases, there's no reason you can't have a better, more optimised system than you'd have using parts from one maker exclusively.

Shimano do some things better than Campy and vice versa. If you can make each other's best bits play nice, you're in front IMO.

rmartin166

Thanks everyone for the help. Very much appreciated