Ericoschmitt

I know 11s cassettes are compatible across brands, it will work and shift. My question is another.

I got a good deal on nearly unused Zipp Clincher 60 wheels, it comes with Shimano freehub and my bike is Campagnolo. I wonder if my Campagnolo chain will last as long if I use it on a 105 cassette, or should I bother changing the wheel's freehub body??

Considering I got 12-29 and 11-25 campag cassettes for another (light and shallow climbing) wheel, and want to use 12-25 in these, but wont be able to switch cassettes between wheels If i want it in the future, maybe it's a good idea to change the freehub body. On the other hand a 105 cassette is a fraction of the price of a new freehub body plus chorus cassette. I just don't want to save money here to find out my chains will last half the miles.

Would it be a better idea to run a shimano chain instead? That would involve changing chains whenever I swap wheels, a major PITA. But might make shifts smoother? I haven't actually ridden the wheel because it came with a new 11-28 cassette which I don't want to ride anyway. Will buy the shimano cassette if there's enough advice of that being the best option.

Thanks!

easyupbug 

I will be very interest to hear if anyone thinks the brand of quality cassette makes any difference in chain life. I replaced a Chorus cassette on my silver Athena 11 bike with an Ultegra w/o impacting the shifting and I was focusing on it both before the change and afterward. I used the original Campy chain with the groupset and since have used KMC and again nothing. Even if you got less chain life with the local prices here you might never cover the cost of a freehub body and Chorus cassettes. Why not a KMC or Sram chain and then you have no problems to worry about?

Ericoschmitt

Thanks for the input! Will keep shimano hub then! Simpler.
I just keep the chorus chain because I got 4 new of them (stocked from a sale, cheaper than 105 would be), and the other wheel is campy hub, got a chorus 12-29 and edco 11-25 for it.

Ronsonic 

I've been mixing and mismatching Campy and Shimano stuff since the 9s days and never noticed any difference in chain life. OTOH, much of my riding has always been the very silty dirt roads here and I change chains more often than most people anyway.

I've been using Campy chains mostly. They do seem to run and shift just a bit nicer. Using KMC links with them for convenience.