Originally Posted by
briscoelab
There were some reported problems with the Centaur levers and older model rear ders. Something about the return spring not being strong enough, if I remember correctly. I can't remember all of the details, there are some posts on RBR and WW about it.
I never had any problems mixing and matching, but others did. That could be combining with a bit of cable friction issue to give you the problem dropping down to smaller cogs.
Thanks. Believe I found the excellent thread you speak of:
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho....php?p=2278850
'Many' reports of newer Campy shifters with older 10s Campy derailleurs...Record and Chorus having shifting balkiness. Seems that late model rear derailleur replacement almost universally resolves the issue and hopefully will be in my case as well. This thread is a bit older but again Campy likely smelled the coffee which they sometimes do a bit late in the game and opted to change their 10s derailleur to clone the new 11s design. Some report in the thread that even the 11s Athena rear derailleur works wonderfully with '09-10 Centaur 10s shifters...but beware the 11s rear derailleurs have a bit longer throw for the same shifter pull so will fractionally overshift...still better than trying to live with the older 10s derailleur with the new shifters which have more cable drag that older Campy rear derailleur can not overcome.
Hopefully this thread will help others trying to upgrade their Campy bike as putting the newer Ergolevers on a 10s Campy bike is a popular upgrade...just beware if you don't go for the new 2011 10s rear derailleur you may be in for poor shifting unless you get your cable fricton perfect.
Thanks again.
PS: Below is a pic of the redesigned 10s Centaur rear derailleur which is an all new design replicating 11s only with a slightly different throw. It is a very different design compared to 2010 and earlier Campy rear derailleurs.