NatUp

The classic story: bought a cable set that said "Campagnolo compatible," but when it came the heads of the brake cables are definitely too large for the stops in the brifter lever body -- looks like they were made for Shimano. Of course we all know about filing down the cable head diameter, but I was looking at it and thought "Why don't I just rotate the cable stop cylinder in the lever so the cable enters it backwards and the large part of the head rests completely outside the cylinder stop?"

Not sure if that makes sense, but I tried it and the cable head appears to sit nicely on the stop and not interfere with the motion of the lever. So: why isn't this a popular simple solution to the cable compatibility problem? Is it dangerous in any way? I don't see how it could be, since the cable head could never pass through the stop, and since it's backwards, there's no way the head can get jammed in there, which is the reason using Shimano cables in a Campy brake lever is a no-no in the first place.

(p.s. thankfully the shifter cables that came in the set do fit in the shifters!)

dsbrantjr

A couple of clear, well-lighted photos would be extremely informative.

NatUp

Here's the cable installed with the lever stop rotated backwards:

FBinNY 

Uh? You have a gear cable installed into the brake cable pivot.

Gear cables go to the gear cable cam lower in the body, and a proper brake cable would have installed easily where you couldn't have installed the gear cable.

BTW- brake cables are universal (2 standard heads, but that's just about it) so there's no Campy compatible issue there.

BTW- you really don't want to ride with that cable who's strength is total inadequate for brake purposes. It can and will fail in an emergency situation, but probably not until then.

NatUp

No, sorry, that actually IS the brake cable. What you can't see is the narrow portion of the head, because it is inside the hole of the cable stop. I know it is the brake cable because A) it has a mushroom-shaped head with small and large diameter portions, B) the cable itself is thicker than the shifter cables, and C) I had to cut a standard mountain brake cable head off of the other end of the cable.

FBinNY 

OK, sorry. I based it on the general appearance of what I could see.

OTOH, I've never seen a brake cable that wouldn't fit Campy levers. Did you test the diameter of the larger part of the head by trying to put it into the pocket backward?

BTW- the pocket is shallow, and many heads stick out the far end when properly inserted. You'll typically see about 1/3-1/2 of the head sticking out.

NatUp

Here's the backwards installation with the cable head sticking out a tad so you can see the full head. A shifter cable head is alongside for comparison:

FBinNY 

I'll bet a beer against 2 that it'll fit if turned around.

NatUp

No worries. Yeah, first thing I tried is putting the head in backwards, and it won't fit at all. The pocket is indeed shallow, but the head just sits around its rim, so I assumed it's not the right size.

NatUp

Unfortunately, when I turn it around and install it "correctly"/forwards, it just sits there resting on the outer edge of the pocket like this:

HillRider

Based on my measurements that's not right, Shimano brake cables do have larger heads than Campy's.

I've measured Shimano compatible brake cables and Campy's cables provided with their brifters and gotten the following diameters:

Shimano barrel: 0.238"
Shimano shank: 0.140"

Campy barrel: 0.214"
Campy shank: 0.138"

So, while the shank diameters are nearly equal, the barrels are different enough to cause fit problems unless Campy drills their brake cable stop holes well oversize.

For the record, the shift cable barrel dimensions are:

Shimano: 0.173"
Campy: 0.159"

FBinNY 

I see that, and it's OK to use it as you did. But I'm curious, what brand cable is that. The diameters and shape of these brake cable heads have been standard for eons, so this is definitely an anomaly. Unless Campagnolo decided to go off standard out of boredom.

NatUp

The brand is called "Prorace." I had to search high and low for a full campy cable kit that wasn't significantly more expensive than a Shimano one. Ended up finding this one shipped from England of all places for cheaper than anything else I could find. You get what you pay for I guess. I think I'll just go Shimano in the future and grind heads or flip the cable stop backward and call it a day.

xenologer

Had a related thought to this : why bother with road cables at all? just keep mtb brake cables on hand, with the holder flipped around even a mtb cable end works. all bikes in stable w same cables....

rpenmanparker 

My only concern with the backwards installation is that the cable end device will fatigue unnaturally when not in its proper position. Think about how you have to tie the right kind of knots in fishing line to keep them from weakening the line. Same sort of thing. I suspect the security of the brake installation depends to some extent on the cable being installed the right way around.

Robert

zacster

I have Campy 10sp on my bike and I don't recall having any issues when I replaced the cables. They've used the same size for eons.

HillRider

Yes, but have you always used Campy's own cables or cables sold for Campy use? I don't doubt Campy has used the same size for a long time but I do know cable ends that fit them measure significantly smaller than Shimano's.

zacster

I can't really remember what I've used. I do know that the last set of cables I bought were modern Campy shifter cables, but for old fashioned Campy downtube shifters and they fit fine of course.

ultraman6970

Just dremel the heads so they fit, as simple as that. It will work just fine.

Good luck.

BikeWise1

The nice stainless, die-extruded Jagwire cables we use in the shop seem to fit everything. Of course, some people demand branded, i.e. Campy or Shimano cables, and that's fine, but we don't generally stock 'em....

ultraman6970

Campagnolo compatible cables work in shimano w/o modifications, the smart move for stores is to buy those ones all the time and they will be covered with both brands and no delay ordering crap. Duh!

NatUp

Obviously you can Dremel them, but the point is: why not just install with the stop turned backwards and do literally no work at all, especially when replacing during say a tour when no campy-specific cables or Dremel tools are available?

FBinNY 

I wouldn't try to reduce the size of a cable head more than a very minimal amount. Inside the head the wires are frayed apart into a floret around which the head is die cast. It's the shape of the floret which ensures that cables cannot come out. If you dremel the head you might hit the floret and cut some stands, maerially weakening the head.

In any case, the solution of simply reversing the fitting works fine, though the real solution is to use cables that fit correctly.

ultraman6970

Been using dremel shimano shifters cables for centuries just because nobody carries shimano around here, and when you mention campagnolo the guys just go white as paper and start doing faces and heart attack movements

You can do the trick in the brakes levers if you want thats not a problem as long as it works, in the derailleurs you have to file or dremel and the difference is so minimal that it wont affect the design of the cable head at all. Is less than a millimeter and using a round stone thing i a dremel takes you maybe a minute to get it ready? maybe less if you know what are you doing?

About not using tools, well... in a tour in a bike that was decently set cables would last a long time, heard nightmares about shimano users with cables snapping at the heads after 6 months. In campagnolo personally never had a single problem neither heard or read of campagnolo users with cables snapping so don't see why a problem replacing cables in the middle of a tour, that could just darn bad luck, I dont race no more and even back in the day never saw cables snapping at the heads in 1 or 2 weeks tours, IMO you have to have just too bad luck to have a problem like that.

No tools? easy, take with you a swiss pocket knife thing that has a file, like in 10 mins that thing will be ready to go. Second option if you have support in a car, just take a couple of cables already filed in the car, would be just too bad of a luck to snap two sets in a month for example.

Good luck