"You have more then you think" is the theme of this thread. I haven't posted much in recent months but wanted to give back a bit on a subject pretty important to every cyclist out there...in particular Campy fans. I am fussy about gearing as many are that are into cycling. I never fully embraced the huge gap between a std Campy compact 50/34 crankset. But...I love the design and performance of a Campy CF compact in particular with its minimalist outboard bearing UT design...the sweetest crankset I have ever ridden. Also, I didn't want to paste another triple on my bike as much as I love the choice of gearing and the 42t middle ring in particular for general riding. So...I dug in and started to survey different chainring options with the Campy compact with 110 BCD which btw aren't many if you stay in the Campy family. Well...Campy rings cost an arm and a leg...at least an arm and I wanted to see if I could find a more cost effective route and yet retain my beautiful Campy Chorus CT. I stumbled around the web and came upon some dialog between some racers that figured out a workaround...guys that are very particular about gearing and were sticking generic chainrings...inside ring in particular on new Campy Cranksets.

There is a dynamic to the whole thing that those that have been around the industry know only too well. Campy and others put a tweak in their compact cranksets that only allows them to be used with their chainrings.
This is done btw throughout many industries to sell company specific products. Dell comes to mind with their motherboards...lol. I digress.
Also Campy doesn't offer as many inner ring options as I prefer.

Here is the basis for this thread which is easy and its cheap...what most cyclists love. You can buy a garden variety Sugino inner ring with 110mm BCD for about 20 bucks. The integrity of the non pinned inner rings is basically the same as that of Campy...the only difference is the Sugino rings have more of a silver versus gold caste plating. Take a dremmel or small dia. round file...chainrings are soft aluminum...and open up the single crankarm chainring mounting hole 2mm outboard to accomodate that bolt. Its that simple. To maintain proprietary advantage, Campy has the crankarm bolt position (only) 2mm more outboard such that you can't simply paste on a generic 110 BCD chainring. BTW it will also work for the outboard ring if you are interested but a good pinned outboard ring is more expensive but not nearly as expensive as new Campy outer rings. I personally like the 50t outer ring and never liked a 53t big ring on conventional cranksets so until it wears out the Campy outboard ring is a keeper.

In summary, I now have the gearing that I like. If I go to the mountains, I would put back on the 34t inner ring...or change the cassette....very easy to change out. But for the kind of riding I do, I love the 50-38 with 12-25 cassette. A 12 tooth gap in front is so much easier to shift and I get more run out of the little ring whereas before I was always between chainrings. FWIW Campy inner chainrings are about 100 bux and you can find a much larger variety in generic 110 BCD inner chainrings for 1/5th of that cost.
Hope that helps. See below for pics:

FYI, TA also makes some Campy compact specific rings. They run about $40 for an inner and $50-$60 for an outer.

Good to know...thanks.

Those would be TA Nerius and are black or silver. Stronglight also makes CT2 chainrings specifically for Campy 110 compact. They appear to be about the same color as the OEM that comes on Record and Chorus (hard to tell from pics and I have not seen them in person). Ceramic coated - about $50 for a 34T.

I want to bump this thread for Campy compact users who like myself, never really enjoyed the gearing gap of a 50/34. Some opt for the Campy 50/36 but if you don't climb much steep stuff, a 50/38 is really superb. I have now spent a few miles on it and love it. The good news is...its cheap. The other guys in this thread mention $50 dollar plug and play alternatives to Campy's $100 compact chainrings but there is no reason to pay even that. The 38t Sugino $20 ring in replacement of the 34t Campy ring is transparent. It shift much better then the 34t ring and it is dead solid and quiet. It is also very friendly to cross chaining i.e. running on the smallest cog...negligible chain rattle off the big ring. The good news is I can now run up to a little over 20 mph in the small ring and therefore I have much more overlap with the big ring and hence much less shifting.
Some may ask, why not just buy a regular racing crank with a 53/39. Well one tooth matters in the small ring but mostly because I absolutely have no need for a 53. I normally don't descend faster then 35 mph and I never spin out in 50/12 and the smaller big ring is much more usable at again the speeds I ride, 17-25 mph most of the time.
A twelve tooth gap is great between small and big ring such that I don't have to shift four cogs to breach this gap any more.
So if you bought a compact for the reason that I did...don't like a 53t big ring however don't need a 34t for climbing, then for 20 bux, you have this nifty option.
Ride safe.

You can always get a 50T 135mm BCD ring too. FSA distributes them in Europe and TA makes them as well.

Thanx Campag4life (and others).
Much appreciated tip and suggestions for Campy chainring alternatives!

Yes but...if you don't need a 53t which I would maintain few recreational cyclists do and hence the popularity of compacts and triples...especially with 11t rear cassettes out there...then I believe best to opt for a compact and change out the less expensive unpinned, inner chainring to suit one's terrain. The other perhaps even bigger factor is you are seriously limited on minimum number of teeth with a 135mm BCD and therefore can't go small if you need to climb a bit more.

You're welcome. Just wanted to share my good fortune of stumbling upon this advice when searching for gearing alternatives as I have learned so much from this forum in all aspects of cycling. I had to try it because I just didn't want to abandon my Chorus compact. What a great crankset it is too as you know if you have one...smooth, dead quiet and not a hint of flex. I am sure the UT alloy CT Campy cranks are wonderful as well.
If anything the 38t Sugino ring is even more quiet then the 34t Campy inner that was on it. I was simply spending too much time in the outboard section of the rear cassette. I couldn't be happier with this inexpensive mod and easily reversible.

Personally, I'd rather have a 48/34. Still gives me a nice low gear. You really aren't giving up much with a 48/11 or 48/12 high gear on a road bike. Most of us should be able to pedal around 20mph without ridiculously high RPM's.


Tim

I may go to a 48t outer ring when my 50t wears out but its nice to have diversity
and it really depends on rider strength and elevation changes. I have considered for example a 25/11 in back because I believe it still affords reasonably close ratios and with the 11t in back, offers ample gear inches even with a 48t ring. With a 50/12 however...what I have now, I prefer the 50t for the speeds I descend when racing my friends....I would spin out in 48/12...but not in 48/11. I believe it all comes down to whether you are a spinner or masher, how strong you are and where you ride. The confluence of these elements determines gearing. I do know that a weaker rider or senior rider like myself needs to find the best gearing possible to derive the best performance.
At the end of the day, it maybe 48-38 w/25-11 or 48-36 w/25-11 that works best for me on the relatively flat courses I ride. A senior rider is both aided and cursed by having chainrings closer in size. I really don't want a 48-34 as you suggest because of the 14 tooth difference and constant shifting between chainrings right at the speeds that I ride the most. Also shifting up front is not as comfortable with a large chainring diameter difference. My goal is to have more overlap of gear inches at that speed to prevent constant shifting of the front derailleur. The point is, it is great to have inexpensive chainring options to find that elusive sweet spot which is specific to each rider.

I've got 2006 Veloce CT 50-34. Is this the same bolt pattern as Chorus and Record CT rings? I ask because I've read some say the Veloce is the std 110 pattern. Anyone with experience?

I am quite certain all Campy compacts are 110mm BCD except for the single crankarm bolt which is moved outboard 1mm radially for a BCD=112mm in the case of Record and Chorus. Below is a pic of your crankset. Note that unlike the Chorus/Record compacts, there is no spider spoke under the crankarm...all five spokes that support the chainrings are on display. So it is unclear if they are all 110 BCD or not...but it doesn't matter if one is moved 1mm radially outboard or not to maintain usage of Campy specific chainrings as a generic 110 BCD chainring can be easily altered to accomodate.

If your Veloce compact doesn't have this 2mm BCD change I would be surprised. In any event there is no reason why this workaround shouldn't apply to Veloce and Centaur cranksets be it conventional square taper or UT.

Non UT Campy compacts, under chorus level (That aren't carbon) use standard 110bcd rings. Centaur Carbon from 06 uses the campy specific bolt pattern, but not the alloy ones.

Interesting comments.
I ordered a 2007 Chorus FD & UT compact 34-50 with Centaur RD 12-25 on my PF ZX3.
Unfortunately only got to try it on a couple of rides before being snowed in for the winter, so I can't objectively evaluate or comment whether i"ll also be mostly on the outboard section of the rear cassette or not.
Will have to wait for next spring or summer to really know for sure.
Regardless, I've kept this page in my bookmarks just in case...
When the time comes, I'll post back with my comments as necessary.
thx again,
ezee