ultraman6970

I noticed that is posible to grab a 10 record brifter and change it to 11 speed, it is posible to do the same to go from 11 to 10 speeds? Sold my brifters and need new ones, so far saw a pair of athenas at the right price but are 11, anybody knows if this change is possible?

Thanks.

HillRider

Have you considwered an 11-speed cassette and chain instead? It might not be much more costly.

ultraman6970

Yes i was thinking on it also but looks like I need to buy the RD also, and i read that for some reason the chainrings need to be 11 also.

Amazingly some 11 shifters are cheaper than the 10s, thats why i was asking.

interested

As I see it, it is no longer possible easily change between 11 spd and 10 spd systems. The internals no longer have separate spare part numbers, if something goes wrong you buy an assembly that consist of many parts. (look at their excellent documentation at their site).

Also, notice that Athena 2011 models are 11 speed, but uses a different internal shifting mechanism, called Power-Shift that doesn't allow for multiple up-shifts.

The new 2011 10 speed Power-Shift brifters are even incompatible with some "old" 10 speed parts. So it is mandatory to check out the cross-compatibility chart from Campagnolo before buying.
Another option is the jtek Shiftmate. It allows 11 speed brifters to be used with 10 speed rear derailleurs and 10 speed cassettes, or buy NOS 10 speed Ergo-brifters.

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Regards

HillRider

I completely forgot about the Shiftmate, which is unusual since I have used one for years with great results and often recommend them to make otherwise incompatible parts play well together. It's by far the cheapest fix.

It sounds like Campy has gone back to the 2007 - 2008 "Escapement" shift mechanism under a different name.

ultraman6970

Shiftmate? Ok i'm missing something in here, that thing was to use campagnolo with shimano cogs right? This could be the cheaper way to do it. Darn NOS 10 speed units are super expensive. Not going to pay 300 bucks for an old chorus. Even new 11 chorus is cheaper.

Anybody have a link to look into this shiftmate 11 to 10 trick???

I'm in the shiftmate webssite, didn't know it could work... awesome. Anybody is using it?

Thanks.

Drew Eckhardt 

Sure (for Super Record/Record/Chorus Ultrashift, not Athena Powershift), although Campagnolo stopped selling the index parts separately (EC-CE133 and EC-CE160).

You'll need an entire 10 speed Ultrashift sub-assembly (EC-CE100) which will run $90-$100.

Also note that Campagnolo still makes and sells 10 speed Record and Chorus second generation "Quick Shift" levers (Quick Shift is not escape although it was also used on those levers; it's just a change to the front shift ratchet so it engages sooner plus the subtly revised front derailleur); something like $220 for Chorus and $250 for Record including cables from the UK the last time I looked. That can be less expensive than used off E-bay plus a new cable set.

I bought a set of 2010 Centaur 10 speed Ultrashift levers before the supply dried up so I wouldn't need to deal with the mess if I choose 10 speed instead of 11 when replacing worn out 9 speed parts (2009 aren't desirable because they may have the vague index detents which can't be fixed without buying the replacement lever assembly).

interested

Well, it is a new design, though it is rather similar to Escape. Only 1 up and 3 downshifts at a time (down -> bigger sprocket, higher gear) while the new Ultra-Shift is 3 up 5 down at a time (as I understand the Campagnolo 2011 technical manual).

Still, even Power-Shift allows more downshifts than any other brifter shifting systems I know of. AFAIK Escape wasn't that bad especially compared to the competition, but first introducing it in the lowly Zenon series and then putting it unchanged in the high end series was a mistake. I like Campagnolo parts and think they are seriously underrated by many, but Campagnolo the company sometimes leaves me very puzzled on why they do things the way they do.


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Regards

ultraman6970

1+ interested

I dont understand some moves either. Personally I'm ok with scape because i'm not racing no more so go down 1 cog is enough for my riding, the main issue is that 11 speed shifters are cheaper than 10 ones, move still can't understand that well. What I think is going on wiht campy and being underrated has something to do with consistency, there is not consistency what so ever in their line up, changes here and there that basically boxed people out of to look other brands, lets face it too, campagnolo costumer service is pretty bad compared with shimano. U call for technical support and you are better figuring out yourself.

Too many changes in not long time, thats bad when u have components for years in a bike. Well thats life i guess, anybody with a set of brifters moving around?

THanks.

DaveSSS 

If bought from the UK, Campy shifters are cheaper than the other brands, which is hard to complain about. You can't change the number of speeds on the 2011 powershift levers. '09-'10 ultrashift can be changed, but you can't buy only the two parts needed, you have to buy a major repair assembly. The spare parts PDFs at the Campy website show all of this.

I'd changed '09 Centaur ultrashift levers to 11 speed, but I got the parts from a wreck damaged Record lever.

Campy still makes the old style Record and Chorus 10 levers, according to the spare parts PDF.

HillRider

All of the Shimano brifters I've used (8, 9 and 10-speed 105 and Ultegra) allow 3 downshifts with one sweep of the lever.

ultraman6970

Found a centaur carbon ultrashift for the right price, rather new than used so i simply played safe instead of going used record for example.