Originally Posted by
Chris_W
I agree that Shimano and Campy cog spacing for the 11-speed cassettes is as close as to not worry about the difference - they are effectively interchangeable. This has been verified by Zinn, several other reliable sources, and my own experience.
Regarding wanting to go with this gearing combo to "maintain my bike's aesthetics" then have you seen the size of the 11-32 cassette? I just assembled a new bike with one of those yesterday, and the size of that cassette on a road bike is really quite striking. You may be able to keep a racy-looking standard crankset, but at the expense at having a dinner plate on your rear wheel. Personally, I would get a compact crank and a more normal-sized cassette.
I'd get a triple and one tooth jumps through the 19 cog where the Campagnolo 14-23 10 cog straight block has the best aesthetics and 12-23 10 cogs or 11-23 11 come close with just a little bulge at the big end.
For the same low gear the compact is only good for about one cog smaller (34x23 is like 39x26) and 34x28 isn't too much better looking than 39x32. Functionally the compact also gives up two gears on the high-end which makes a huge difference in how long you can stay on the small ring (34x13 as the fist usable small ring gear with a 12 starting cog is like 39x15) and shift frequency when running a tight cassette.
A short cage is actually in-spec for wrap on my current 50-39-30 and 14-23 10 speed straight block combination (While I upgraded to NOS 2010 Centaur Carbon Ultrashift levers, I passed on the move to 11 cogs) which provides a low like 39x30 although the long is right for 50-39-26x13-26 for mountains with middle-age spread and I'll take the functionality over the looks.
For range like 53-39x11-32 you'd want the same medium cage derailleur it requires to go with 53-39-28 x 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 which will obviously be a lot nicer for rides with flat stretches than 11-12-13-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32.
2002-2006 Record triple cranks (still available NOS for not immodest prices) don't quite match the aesthetics of C-Record doubles but far exceed a lot of modern parts like the Shimano standard cranks which resemble dead octopuses.
