Farby

so somehow the clamp portion of my 10 speed clamp on chorus F/D cracked. Only good thing about it was that i was only 100 yards into my ride shifting into the big chainring when it happened. If I take it to my LBS they are going to charge me like 130 for a new F/d plus labor to put it on.. I'm on the fence of either bringing it in or trying to do it myself.

I never work on my bikes other than cleaning and lubing the chain. What tools would I need to replace the F/D?? The chain has to come off and then i have to get the cable dialed in, right? anything else

Thanks in advance.

HillRider

You will need a 5 mm allen key and a small Phillips screwdriver.

The allen key will remove the clamp bolt and loosen the cable clamping bolt.

You do not need to remove the chain. the Phillips screwdriver can be used to remove the small bolt at the rear of the derailleur's cage. Gently separate the cage halves and slip out the chain.

Replace the new derailleur in reverse order.

Go to Park Tools web site for a tutorial on front derailleur alignment and cable tension adjustment. Also, you don't need a Chorus fd. Any of Campy's lower (and less expensive) models such as Centaur or Veloce will work just as well as long as they are also 10-speed.

Farby

Thanks so much for the info.

I know i need a 35 mm clamp F/D and i have seen a few on ebay, but they differ in that some are Q/S and some are non Q/S. Some say compact and others don't. I have a standard 53/39 in the front and i put this group was purchased in 2008. How do i know which one i need to buy?

thanks again.

canopus 

You need a standard double front derailleur, not a compact. If your shifters don't say QS, you can skip the QS front derailleurs.

Farby

Thanks for the info. I checked when I got home and do have QS shifters. It appears the 2008 model is for both compact and standard cranks. The prior years had separate models for each type of crank.

Now i am running into the problem of finding a 35mm in stock to replace it. i really wanted to stick with chorus but may end up having to go down a step to centaur or veloce.

HillRider

Another possibility is to buy a braze-on version of the Chorus derailleur and buy a 35 mm adapter clamp. The good thing about this approach is that the clamp is a one-time cost and you can change to whatever model fd you wish thereafter. Braze-on fd are less expensive than clamp-ons.

Incidentally, I have a Chorus fd on one bike and a same-year Veloce on another and I see no difference in shift quality so "going down" isn't too much of a sacrifice.

Farby

Thanks again Hillrider. I have a few emails out to some online places that might have the 35 mm in stock. If not I'm gonna look into finding the braze on and the clamp adapter or a centaur/veloce F/d. those seem to be in stock at a bunch of places.