cpsqlrwn

I have vintage Record hubs on a 6-speed friction Battaglin. I need to replace the freewheel and I was eyeing a 6-speed Sachs ARIS on Craigslist. Would this be compatible? If the answer is "maybe", what do I need to find out to determine whether it will work before I buy it?

Another question, can I routinely use an 8-speed Chorus indexed rear derailleur in an 8-speed friction setup or are there some issues I need to concerned about before I make the switch?

Thanks!

unworthy1

Sachs will probably be fine on your Campy hub and IME they perform very nicely when new, but may not last as long as other brands (like SunTour).
Yes an 8S indexed RD in 8S friction mode should offer no problems.

Old Fat Guy

Yes and yes.

dbakl

I don't know; I'm still pretty much stuck in a 5-speed freewheel world!

Road Fan

Listen to Dr. Old Fat Guy.

Plus, I use a number of Sachs Aris freewheels on my bikes, and they are some of the best ever made. Friction shifting with them or any indexing freewheel makes me wonder why indexing is even necessary - all we ever needed was good tooth designs.

You will need to double check your rear derailleur travel limits after installing the Sachs. I can't say it will be different, but it could be different.

ldmataya 

It sounds like you are going to use an 8s shifter - just in friction mode? The 5-6 speed friction shifters don't pull enough cable for modern rears.

Old Fat Guy

I read it as using Campy Record DT shifters with a 6 speed Sachs, and an 8 speed Chorus RD in a different 8 speed friction set up with 8 speed (possibly indexed Synchro) shifters operating in friction.

cpsqlrwn

You are correct, John. I have a mostly Super Record Battaglin which is a 6-speed and I need to change the freewheel. The question about using an indexed 8-speed rear deraileur in friction mode pertains to a frame not yet owned.

Actually I have a set of 8-speed shifters that can be run indexed or friction. I think they might be the last of the Synchro era or the first of the post Synchro era between the Synchro era and when they started to incorporate the 3 spring design still used today in bar end shifters. These shifters have enough cable take up capability to run 8 speed friction. I have given up on using Synchro shifters in indexed mode. I have a 7-speed Bianchi Superleggera with Synchro on it and it's really crappy IMHO. I removed the shifters and just put the standard friction C-Record shifters on it. You can make the Synchro work and get used to it, but it's pretty pathetic if you ask me. It's like a hybrid of friction and indexed, not so good.

As recently as 2000, Campy sold indexed Record and Veloce downtube shifters as a standard part of their product offering. Beginning sometime in the 8-speed era, Campy incorporated the 3 g-spring design of their bar end shifters into these downtube shifters and they work very well. They offered these reengineered indexed downtube shifters up until 2000 which means that they also had 9-speed versions of these shifters. What's even more interesting is the fact that you can swap the 10 speed index ring from the bar end shifters (still currently made in 10 speed) and convert an 8 or 9 speed set of these indexed downtube shifters to 10 speed!

Look on page 20 of this pdf file (which is actually page 44 of the catalog) for an exploded view from Campy's 1996 spare parts catalog....

https://www.campagnolo.com/repositor.../spares96-B.pdf