G-funk, I live in CT and love riding hills while I'm not all that great at them. I built this bike up as a training bike/easy bike. I have a 53/39 equipped cannondale CAAD9 for races in good conditions. I really like the frame and I actually wanted to use it so I built it up with stuff that I knew I could enjoy it with. I'm sorry about being snarky earlier, but it hasn't been the best day. First this happens, then I spend 11 hours in lab trying to purify proteins with no results... So, I'm sorry for being a little short fused earlier.

I love the superbe stuff, I honestly do, but I just can't climb well with it. I do a training ride that's 16 miles long with over 1600 feet of climbing, with the majority of that in 7 miles. The rest of the ride is just getting to the hills and back. I can't do that on a 42-26. More power to the people that can.

To everyone (including g-funk) who said go the ebay route and get a compact campy fd, thanks for the suggestion. I'm just going to get the new FD. That should sort everything out, hopefully. Turns out that the campy chain is narrower than the shimano chain I'm using so that can't be to blame. Unfortunately, there are no compact campy FD's on ebay right now.

I checked pbk and they don't have any compact fd's for sale. It turns out that the 2008 campy FD's are 'combined' with functionality for both doubles and compacts. Would this be a wise choice, or should I just look elsewhere for a compact veloce FD and a correct braze on adapter. I'm guessing my frame has a 28.6 seat tube, is this logical considering it's a vintage trek with 531P tubing? So I should get this braze on adapter right? PBK doesn't have one, I'll see if the LBS does.

Here's the FD for sale at PBK it says combined for 2008 meaning that it should handle compact and regular doubles: Link

Here's a picture of what's going on with my crankset:
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Chaindrag.jpg

Thanks for the help guys. I'm bummed that this didn't work out, but it was a good learning experience. The compact FD should solve the problem above right?

you should be able to get that derailleur at the bike shop pretty cheap. That chain doesn't look right though. Maybe get the lbs to lay a new campy chain in there when you are buying your front d. If it doesn't slip down like the shimano one, buy the chain too.

My guess is the campy chain won't work with the Shimano cassette next. But don't worry, I think Action Tec makes a Titanium Shimano freehub body to Campy index spacing cassette for like 856 bucks. I think the mechanic that told you everything would work together just fine lied to you.

As an addendum, I'm going to add that the campy compact cranks are going to be mailed back to performance tomorrow for an exchange. They've been a bit marred by this experience and one of the bolts is stripped, so back they go and I should get a new set in a week or two from performance.

If you guys think it's the right part, then I'll order that 'combined' FD from PBK and go to the LBS for the braze on adapter.

Sound about right?

Thanks for all your help guys, I really really appreciate it. I was so excited about this build and I'm a little bummed now, but I'm looking forward to things working out well.

I'm just really glad this problem didn't start while I was racing over the weekend. That could have been disasterous...

I had a feeling that the chains might not be compatible so I checked the width of the chains. The shimano chain is a little wider than the campy ultra narrow 10 speed chain that pbk has so the chain should be just fine.

I think the next thing this bike is going to get is a campy rear wheel, cassette, and chain so I can put an end to this nightmare!

Edit: I would try taking it to the shop except that the crankset has already been pulled off in order for it to be sent to performance for an exchange.

As a side note, I just put my cannondale on the trainer and was instantly amazed at how weird I felt on it. Something just didn't feel right on the bike. I felt like I might have been too stretched out, I don't know, but the trek just felt so much more 'right'. This is messed up... Hahaha.

The Campy Ultra-Narrow 10 speed chain I had was awesome, but a pain to work with... special pin, everything else. Get the KMC version with a connecting link and you'll be much happier. I think Performance markets a KMC-made 10 speed chain as well; probably the same thing.

How's the rear indexing on your setup?

EDIT: I should add that the KMC version is much much less expensive as well; this is the primary reason I chose it.

One of the bolts was stripped? You must have really wrenched them... are you sure that it wasn't just the whole crank bolt turning (i.e. you need the annoying crank bolt tool)? Did pbk say they would inspect the crank or are they going to replace without question. I hope you don't get a surprise and get the same crank back in the mail in a couple weeks.

It was performance, and I called and talked to a rep who told me that they'd just replace it if I wasn't happy. Replace they shall!

What do you make of the picture? Do you think the new FD will fix the problem? Do you think the 2008 'combined' fd should be fine or should I get the 07 compact?

Thanks!

Does anyone have a clue as to what was going on with the chain in that picture?

My guess is that the FD wasn't quite throwing it far enough on the shift and it got stuck. Sometimes it would work, but the rest of the time it was a big 'FAIL!'.

What's odd is that the chain doesn't fall onto the teeth. As if the teeth are too wide or the chain too narrow.

Sorry I can't help you further, as my experience with mixing 7/8/9/10 spd equipment is limited, and I won't get more insight until I finish one of my builds mixing 8 spd chain and cassette, with 9/10 spd derailleurs and crankset.

Thanks for the help that you could give though!

I sent the crank back to performance for an exchange for a new one and I ordered a new 08 veloce FD.

I think that should solve it, if not, then I'm going to look for the cable end that cracked a little when I was installing the cables. Though I'm not sure that was for the FD.

Update:

New cranks- Check!
New Veloce FD and Braze on Clamp- Check!
Installed- Check!

Proper shifting- CHECK!!!

Yay!

It turns out that my cannondale is a frame size too small. The shop where I bought it offered to move me to a bigger frame at no cost. Till that happens, the trek is my main bike. I can't stand riding a bike that gives me lower back pain for any ride over 40 minutes!

That being said, I love the trek. Did a group ride with it yesterday and it felt amazing. It was funny, I kept up and led the pack with a group of riders who always drop me like a bad habit.

See, steel is real!*





*But for some reason I don't get the same results. *gasp* *cough* *bonk*

To be completely honest. I love how the bike rides. I built it up to be a bad weather/grimey conditions road bike but I like it more than my CAAD9. The big part of the reason is probably fit, because there's about a 4 lb weight difference between the two.

I'm going to take both bikes with me when I go to the lbs (which happens to be 3 hours away since I'm away at college) and see if they can set the cannondale up to mimic the trek.

The trek has more drop, but less reach and is more comfortable. I have no idea what's going on with the fit...