palladio

Ok, so feel free to flame away at this CV sacrilege, but I'm thinking about converting my late 70's Colnago to indexed shifting. Currently I'm running Campy Super Record derailleurs with down tube shifters. If I want to switch to an indexed/brifter setup, what's a good option?

I'd like to stick with Campagnolo. I also want something that shifts well without being ridiculously expensive or blatantly "modern" in appearance (i.e. no carbon). What's a good Campy shifter/derailleur setup to look for?

Ex Pres 

Remember to think about the rear wheel, too, unless you want to try running an 8s freewheel.
8 speed is still probably the cheapest route in total, but it may take a little while to collect the parts at good prices. And replacement parts will continue to disappear. Used or new 10s Centaur is considered Campy's sweet spot value/price wise.

palladio

Good point. I haven't really thought this through yet. Are there 8 speed freewheels that are indexed compatible so I don't have to rebuild the rear wheel with a modern cassette hub? If so, would the 8 speed freewheel fit the spacing on my frame? Do I have to switch my front chainrings as well to work with indexed?

Sorry for my ignorance, but I've never done this sort of conversion before. I'd like to keep the bike as stock as possible in the process.

The other option I'm considering is switching from drops to bullhorns and trying to figure out how to rig bar end friction shifters and TT style brake levers at the same time. Not sure if this is possible though. I don't care about indexed shifting all that much. I'd just like to get a setup that brings the shifters off the down tube and makes them easier to reach. I could go with bar end friction shifters on the drops, but I have a bad back and hardly ever ride in the drops so this set up isn't really much better for me than having shifters on the down tube.

bluenote157

here is some inspiration...


https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...rly+crosscheck

dmp

This has been discussed on the forum numerous times. Your Colnago has 126mm rear triangle spacing (most likely- or could even be 120 depending on its age). Cold setting this is actually pretty easy and cheap (cost me about $50 at a custom framebuilder, or use Sheldon's do-it-yourself instructions). All of the indexed Campy systems will require a freehub with a 130mm axle, so you will need to either buy a new rear wheel or rebuild the one you have. The cassette teeth are optimized for the indexing, so you will need (as far as I know) to change. As far as I know there are no index-optimized freewheels. You can certainly use friction shifting instead. There are changes to the chainrings, too, but I believe this is much less critical since the front isn't really indexed anyway.

I converted my mid-80's Pinarello to a modern drivetrain and really like it. I miss the esthetics of the old NR and SR parts, which to me are unrivaled by anything since, but the performance of the new Campy 10 speed is really great. I found all of the parts gently used on ebay or craigslist and saved a ton of money. If you are willing to part with the vintage stuff to finance this conversion you will recoup a lot of your costs, too. A lot of this decision is related to philosophy- how do you view your bike? For me, I had both sentimental attachment to the frame and liked the way it rode, but was looking for "modern" shifting performance, greater range of gearing at the same time as narrow gear selection. I have only 1 bike and couldn't have both the vintage build and a modern build so I went with the combination. Now I ride my old Pinarello every day with new Campy Record components and am happy!