i have a 97 model bianchi trofeo which i have upgraded to mostly veloce 9sp. when the time came to buy a new crank for it i picked up a 10sp 53-39 crankset. it works fine, but i'm considering going to a compact crank (seems like i'm always cross-chaining) and making the drivetrain consistent is also a goal so i would like it to be 9sp.

i've been looking around on the internets for a while but i haven't come across a veloce or any other campy 9sp compact. does this exist? i know that compacts did not become popular til 10sp was out, but i'm hoping i can find a 9sp CT crank if they were produced. if there is such a thing, any help finding one would be appreciated.

the other option i'm considering is an aftermarket 50T outer chainring which would give me 50-39. i think i would like that more than 50-34 since the 39 is low enough for the cassette i have (13-26) and the flat terrain i mostly ride on.
the TA ring is found here
Specialites TA - 50 tooth pinned for Ergo 8, 9 or 10 speed compatibility for $ 90.00

If cross chaining is your concern, think about the actual change. You'd only get a 6% reduction in gearing with a 50T big ring, which is less than a 1-cog shift. If you're often in the 53/23, then you'd use the 50/21 and still not have quite as low a gear ratio. You'd probably still find yourself in the 50/23 quite often and at the limit of the recommended chain angle.

I have ridden flat terrain with my mountain-geared bike; a 50/34 crank, 11-25 cassette, 11 speed, that has the same 50/23 limit on the big ring. I hardly ever shift to the little ring, except when there's a hill of enough length that I don't want to handle it by staying in the big ring and pedaling standing.

You don't need a 9 speed crank. Any 10 speed model would work.

9 is the rear cog count. 2 0r 3 is the front.

nobody gets it, so this always comes up..

the only issues are if the chainring tooth
is thicker than the chain-roller sitting on top of it and the chain wont fit over a tooth.

so forget those 10x 1 drivetrains, with a track chainring.

10 is thinner than 9, so of course a 10 'speed' crank will workwith a 9 speed chain

thanks dave, that does put it in perspective. my cassette is this standard 13-26 - 13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,26
i find that in the 53 ring, i'm in the 16, 17 or 19 and i would love to have the 18t cog.
in the 39 ring i'm usually in 14, or 15 but sometimes i find myself wanting to crank it up to the 13t cog for a short time. not long enough to shift to 53-16 and back tho, so i just increase cadence in the 39-14. maybe that's lazy on my part.

sounds like the adjustment i need to make is the cassette. going to 13/23 - 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23 with the 18t in back will probably make me happier than having the 50T up front. that eliminates the gap that bothers me most.

on the 9sp vs 10sp.. i know the 10sp is just fine but my minor case of OCD wants me to have a fully consistent group on the bike. i went as far as replacing the avanti FD with veloce despite them being identical except for the name on it. now everything except the brakes are veloce or better.. record headset and BB, chorus aero seatpost. veloce hubs and drivetrain. the brakes are still avanti but i'm ok with that.

so just to satisfy my curiosity, is there a 9sp compact? or did they start with 10sp?

You'll cross-chain even more with the compact and shift much more frequently since it makes your smallest usable small-ring cog act like one two teeth bigger (34x14 is like 39x16).

The big ring won't be useful at appreciably lower speeds.

50x13 (Eddy Mercx dominated the spring classics with a 52x13 and you're no Eddy) is plenty - I used a high gear like that for over a decade in Boulder, CO.

That said, dropping from a 53 to a 50 makes your cogs work like they had one more tooth on the big-ring. 50x23 is like 53x24 which is not significant.

50x13 is like 53x14 which can make a difference in a few situations.

The real win is that with a tight cassette the 50 ring makes for one less rear shift when moving from your small ring to the next gear on your big ring which means only one right shifter shove.

With 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 39x14 is followed by 50x17 (3 cogs) or 53x18 (4 cogs).

OTOH, with 13-26 you move to the 17 cog because there's no 18 and it makes no difference.

You could run a 52-42-30 triple to get better chain lines - it splits the difference between the two rings on a double so the smallest cog is usable on the middle ring and the 42 makes cogs act like one cog smaller which produces a smallest usable mid-sized ring gear like 39x12 instead of 39x14. While that doesn't seem like much, it lets you put out nearly 60% more power out at a given cadence on flat ground before you need to shift up to your big ring.

All Campagnolo left levers will run a triple, although you'd need a new front derailleur and rear if it's a short cage.

You could also drop to a 13-23 at the same time since 30x23 is like 39x30 and pickup the 18 cog.

13-23 was my favorite in the 9 speed era, preceded by 13-21 8 cogs all because of the 18 with 16-17-18-19 feeling so good on the big ring. I've yet to decide about 10 cogs - 13x26 to accomodate middle aged spread, the 14-23 straight block with 18-19-20-21 cogs although the 22 is silly, or 12-23 to get a little more out of a 39 ring.

30x23 is like 39x30 which is more than ample.

great info, thank you for helping me think through this.

i'm going to get the 13-23 cassette to start with. i think having the 18t cog will make the difference i'm looking for. that will allow me to stay in the 53-16, 17, 18 most of the time, right in the center of the cassette. i doubt i would need to go down to 50T if i have the 18t.