I posted about a Bianchi road bike I just required. I thought components were like new, original but upon closer inspection I’m seeing stuff that raises questions. The cassette is Campy 12/23 eight speed, the rear derailleur is Mirage nine speed, the front derailleur is Shimano 105, the crank is Mirage triple and the ergo shifter clicks for a nine speed cassette. Everything shows zero wear.

Here are my questions...Is there some special reason why the cassette might have been changed from 9 to 8? Could this group set be a factory as sold group set? The chain had no connector link and I broke the chain during disassembly. I measured the pin length and it’s 7.1 mm, the chain matches the eight speed cassette. The chain measures zero stretch and seems maybe factory installed. Any thoughts? will there be any compatibility issues to switch to a nine speed cassette on the existing hub? The rear derailleur has a long cage but I wonder if with the triple and a wider spread cassette the cage will be long enough.

im attempting to post photos for the first time.

I didn’t check if the indexing was correct before I disassembled the bike and didn’t notice the mismatch until reassembly. I’m quite new at this stuff.

Not sure how to proceed from here. If the Shimano 105 front derailleur is not part of the original group set I guess substituting more mismatched stuff is okay if it makes the Bianchi ride ready.

It’s been an interesting project so far.

Like Andy says, the FD should work fine. I would take the cassette off and look at the free hub splines. It’s possible someone, for some reason tried to use an 8 speed on it. There are at least two versions of Campy 8 speed cassettes and later versions will work on 9 speed hubs, which also have the same splines as 10 speed. I have a 9 speed Record hub running with 8 speed Ergo group.

In your place I would investigate changing out the cassette before anything else. Nice looking bike BTW, looks barely ridden.

I didn’t take the bottom bracket apart. The bike shop owner didn’t have he tools and told me he wouldn’t touch the bottom bracket. It felt too nice. I’m friends with another bike shop guy who I’ve helped out a couple times. He sold me the Bianchi for $350. He didn’t tell me but I wonder if he had discovered the mismatch and that’s why it was stashed in his back room. I’m happy to have the Bianchi and I’ve got a paid in full receipt with the serial number that has been no help in determining the year.

I thought measuring the chain was how you could determine group set wear. Don’t forget I’m new at this. I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills, it’s very hilly and I’m older and just getting back into this. My double century rides happened forty years ago. Having a 28 in back with that triple would probably get used.
Thanks for the info. I’ll try to post the info you requested to determine the year. The original bike shop sticker is still there and that shop is still in business a couple hours away. I’m going to contact them.

Thanks. After what you’ve written I’m thinking the Bianchi owner may have had a double, was having trouble in our hills and was in the process of converting to a triple. I’m enjoying this little mystery and learning about this stuff.

My assessment of the Bianchi road bike I’ve been posting about has changed after talking with the bike shop that originally sold the bike and after realizing I mistakenly thought the bike had a nine speed ergo shifter, it is an eight speed ergo.

It seems that the original owner bought it new in the mid nineties with eight speed Mirage and a double that matched up with a 12/23 cassette and ergo shifters. I’m guessing the owner purchased the Mirage nine speed RD with a longish cage, a Mirage triple crank (labeled Mirage Nine Speed) and a Shimano 105 FD. The shifters are the original ergo. The owner was likely trying to get better gearing for the hills in this area.

As recommended here I setup the bike as I purchased it. The eight speed ergo does seem to work with the Mirage nine speed RD. The FD ergo shifter has six clicks and doesn’t seem to move the Shimano 105 far enough to get all three chain rings. Maybe the Shimano 105 hasn’t enough stroke to reach all three. Not sure.

I’m still learning this bike wrenching stuff so I’d welcome any input about what to do next to best address the chain ring shifting problem. Is there a different FD i should try?

Thanks.

I used the old 8 speed Ergo shifters with a triple front for a long time. It finally wore out about two months ago! It definitely has more than six clicks. I use a Campy Racing Triple front derailleur and it shifts flawlessly across three rings.

That depends on the model. At some point they introduced a different mechanism on some models that doesn’t do the sort of microratcheting that most ergo have.

There are some expensive ways to fix this problem, but I try starting with what’s cheap. Make sure you have the cable to the front derailleur as tight as you can get it while still allowing it to get the chain on the small ring. Make sure the limit screws on the derailleur aren’t stopping you short. If it still doesn’t work, post a picture of the way the cable is attached. Different placement on the bolt will give you very different rates of movement.