engo

I know this is probably a well covered topic, but with all the possible combinations of products involved, I'm just going to ask it anew.

The situation: I have a bike set up with an 8 sp. SRAM cassette, a Shimano 600 rear derailleur, and 7 sp. index shimano downtube shifters set to the friction setting. It works well, but I recently picked up 8 sp. ergo Campagnolo shifters that I'd like to put on the bike.

I know the easiest thing to do would be to pick up a campag derailleur and use the shiftmate, but in the short term, I'm thinking of using the ergo 8 with my shimano RD, and adjusting the spacing of the cogs on my cassette to accomodate the combination. This product (https://www.branfordbike.com/cassette/cog12.html) required the shifters AND the derailleur to be Campag, so may not be exactly what I'll need.

And so, the question: Has anyone here had success with this scheme before? If so, any hints or suggestions? Am I aiming for the 5mm pitch spacing required for a campag set-up, or something between this and the 4.8mm shimano requirement?

Thanks!

Neil

cs1

I love Campy but it's becoming harder to find 8 sp rear derailleurs. There is a shiftmate that lets you use Campy brifters with a Shimano 8 sp cassette and der. That might be the way to go. Good luck

Tim

engo

Yeah, I looked into the shiftmate, but wasn't sure if it could be used with campagnolo shifters and shimano derailleurs. I am going to try to find the correct campy stuff eventually, but if I don't have any luck, that may be something I get in the future.

Cheers,
Neil

Al1943

Something to keep in mind is that Campagnolo changed their shifters' cable pull and derailleur's throw ratio in 2001. For maximum compatibility you'll need a Campy 8-speed or possibly early 9-speed rear derailleur with the earlier throw ratio to match your shifter's cable pull. J-Tek may have a device for your situation, I can't say. Contact them.

Al

engo

thanks Al, I'm keeping my eye on this issue as well. I'm hoping to find a derailleur and cassette, but in the meantime, I'll be playing with spacers on my existing cassette to try and get something working.

I'll report back if I am successful!

Cheers,
Neil

anti.team

Look here:
https://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946

There aren't any combos that will work for S8 cassette using C8 shifters. You could use C10 shifters with a Shimano RD or a C9 (new) shifter with a Shimano RD (alt. cable routing). Otherwise you may have to use a shiftmate, or you might be out of luck.

Or, if you find an Pre-2001 Campy RD, give it a shot. For some people if shifts acceptably well just like that. I've never tried it.

Bill Kapaun

" And so, the question: Has anyone here had success with this scheme before? If so, any hints or suggestions? Am I aiming for the 5mm pitch spacing required for a campag set-up, or something between this and the 4.8mm shimano requirement?"

I've thinned spacers to make a fracansette
Mine was all Shimano, but I'm using EIGHT 7 speed cogs on an 8/9 speed free hub body to make my home brew 8 speed.
I did all the math, but it didn't work out. Fortunately, I needed to thin the spacers a bit more, so no problem, It's difficult to make them thicker again
1st- DO NOT use power tools! They are faster than you are.

I had a 100 grit emery belt for a belt sander. After destroying the first spacer, I took the belt off and laid it flat on the bench.
The Shimano spacers have the 3 holes that the rivets pass through, so you can use them for reference.
I started off with 20 strokes, rotate 1/3 turn, 20 more, rotate 1/3 turn and 20 more. MEASURE in 3 places to make sure it's not getting lopsided.
I did all the spacers, and when I thought I was getting close, I assembled the cassette onto the FH. Since I have friction shifters, my main concern was getting them even and enough to seat the lock ring properly.
After going through the first step with all spacers, you have a real good idea how much pressure to use and how much you remove per X number of strokes.
I had to repeat 2 more times, but I wanted to "ease in" to the right stack height.
When you measure, compare ALL the spacers. You'll probably find a couple thou variation, so you can adjust that in steps 2, 3...etc.
The spacers I had, had "ridges" on the flats, so the ridges sanded down quite rapidly, compared to the rest of the spacer. Probably .004" per side?

Just take your time and check often for parallelism and spacer to spacer consistency.
Conclusions-
Not ALL 7 speed cogs are exactly the same thickness. You might check your cog thickness. Both my "parts cassettes" were Shimano, but different quality levels.

I'm still probably about 1/2 turn from seating the lock ring "properly, but it seems to work fine enough, so I called it good.

BTW, standard SHimano 7 speed spacing is 5MM.

Also, maybe the alternate cable routing method may be of some use?
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html#alternate