Cheapest way to get to 11s
 

So I am planning on upgrading from Campagnolo Record 8s to 11s this winter. I want to be cheap, to keep my bike looking as clean (i.e. vintatge, its a lovely red Bottecchia Professional), and to get easier climbing gears (39x25 is easy as it gets now, NOT fun climbing from the valley to the Blue Ridge Parkway), i'd also like to use a shimano 11s cassette/hub so the wheels (after a cassette switch) are compatible with my CX bike. Here is what I am thinking. I'd love to know a) if it works b) pros/cons of compact crank vs. big cassette

Group
Shifters: Campy Athena 11s
FD: Campy Athena
RD: Campy Athena 11s med cag
Chainrings (on the old 8s crank):Stronglight Dural 53/39
Cassette: Ultegra 11s 11-32
Chain: Ultegra 6800
$451 delivered (Ribble Bikes shipping to the US)

This lets me keep my old Record Ti brakes and crank arms and BB. I am planning on building wheels from Bike Hub Store hubs laced to either Kinlin or H+Sons rims.

Thoughts? Will the campy RD work with 32 cog cassette?

Take advice from JC, and steal it one piece at a time.


A former coworker actually did this to get Di2 for her TTbike.

She was almost successful.

Campy doesn't call their derailleurs short/medium/long cage any more, so I presume that by "medium cage" you mean the "normal" Athena derailleur, as opposed to the triple compatible one.

The nominal rating for normal 11-speed Campy derailleurs is 12-29, but I have read (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/cam...te-309417.html) that they can clear a 32T cog. Nonetheless, you might have better luck with the triple derailleur.

You probably need a JTek Shiftmate to mix Campy & Shimano.

Using Campy shifters and derailleurs together, with a Shimano 11s cassette, a Shiftmate shouldn't be needed.

I ran across this a while back, frankly though it raised more questions for me than it answered.
http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/12/12/...e-your-wheels/

Yeah, that's a confusing article, but most of the info is correct.

Campy and Shimano 11s cassettes, work fine with the other company's shifter/derailleurs. I've seen this work well 1st hand.

If you can spin 39x25 up most of the hills you'll encounter and manage the rest you're not loosing anything with the full-sized crank.

If not, stick with a triple crank. You can even buy a nice 2002-2006 Record triple crank which looks like what you're running now.

53-39-30 x 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23-25 provides the same low gear as 53-39x11-32 but has tighter spacing which will feel better on flat ground than 11-12-13-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32.

Compacts only provide a low gear a bit over one cog larger (34x25 is like 39x29) with the standard crank, but the small end of the cassette works like one having a starting cog two teeth larger on the double (three with the triple if you use the same chainline limits) which leads to a lot more shifting in front. They only make sense if you have physiological issues which mean you can't tolerate the wider Q factor or you're a bike manufacturer looking to limit SKUs.

If you really need a lower gear the road triple will run a small ring down to 24T. Paired with a 25 big cog that's like 39x40 or 34x36 and that's not the limit.


FWIW, unlike most Campagnolo ergos made since 1992 current Athena Powershift units can only shift one cog smaller per thumb button actuation and the trim options are more limited. I'd upgrade to Chorus or stick with 10 cogs using older shift levers (I bought a set of NOS 2010 Centaur Carbon Ultrashift levers and 2010 Veloce Ultrashift levers as spares before the supply dried up).

Why?

Why don't you just make ten faster and make ten be the top number and make that a little faster?

Here's a totally different plan:

- keep your 8-spd Ergo shifters
- get a 110-74 triple crank (anybody's - doesn't really matter) with the chainrings of your choice
- change your rear wheel to a Shimano hub with an 8-9-10 freehub. I like the Ultegra 6500 version if buying new. The steel freehubs bodies work fine with individual cogs, unlike the alloy freehubs.
- build or buy an 8-spd cassette with the range that you like with the chain rings. If you can't find one you like, build it up from loose cogs. There's plenty of inexpensive 7 and 8-spd cassettes out there.
- and here's the key: Put Campy 8-spd spacers from Wheels Manufacturing in the cassette:

http://wheelsmfg.com/8-speed-conversion.html

I've done this for my wife's bike and it works quite well. She is now using a 12-30 cassette that I assembled from loose cogs.
Shimano cassettes have MANY more variations than Campy, teeth from 11 to 34, and the 8-spd cassettes can be built up in just about any combination you like, despite what Shimano might say.

...wait until 12-speed comes out? :p

These go to eleven.

Hmm. My front shifter is a double? And triples have always seemed fiddly to me. I guess I am still not grasping why people seem to think a triple is better than a wide range cassette

Most Campagnolo left ergo shifters can do either double or triple, no biggie as I understand it. Get a decent used triple crank in the $70-100 range (a bit more if you buy arms and new rings of your choice), a new bb (centaur for ~$60) and maybe a new RD (probably have to be used/NOS for 8 speed and pricing on that is hard to judge), but total you can get the range you want for ~$200-250 vs buying a whole new group. To me that's the big advantage. If you can get the same range for cheaper, why not? On the other hand, if you want shiny and new and 11s just to have it and if that'll get you riding more, that works too. Just going to be more costly, probably not have any more actual benefits and the parts will wear faster. But it is shiny and new and might make your bike feel to you like it's completely new, so there is that factor.

Not really relevant here, but that plays into something I've wondered about before. Shimano with the RSX series brifters (way old), the left was double and triple both.. I've often wondered if Shimano moved away from that design for practical or profit based reasons.

Something to check into...IIRC, Campy eight speed rear hubs work with Campy eight speed cassettes, period.​ Nine to eleven speed cassettes require a different hub, so you'd need either a new wheel or a new hub plus the work or expense of building it up.

Ride SOTR which is probably in your neck of the woods and you will see the need for the triple.

http://stormingofthunderridge.org/

I do that ride every year on a 72 Lejeune with a triple up front and 5 out back. I am a flatlander in Richmond that spends most of my time on the 52 ring. On that ride I need a triple AND a wide range cogset. Most of the ride is spend on the granny gear and the 2 biggest gears out back!
The main reason I prefer a triple is because you have to jump all around on a compact double and wide range cassette to find the right gear. On the triple, you just stay in the same 2 or 3 gears out back and shift the front when you need it.

I like smaller steps between gears, over the range needed for the riding terrain, my age/condition and loads carried. And there's the benefit of chains that last longer.

When I lived in Colorado and rode in the Rockies (and I was much younger), a double chainring worked fine. Here in the Pacific NW, the hills even within Seattle are much steeper, although generally not as long. Like many riders with a triple, the middle ring gets the majority of use, but when the road tilts up, there's the granny ring with nice steps between the gears. I've recently switched to a smaller big ring so that I will likely use it for more than just fast downhills.

I can't imagine touring without a triple, although people do it.

But if you think this sounds too fiddly, than my suggestion won't be useful.