I've read dozens of posts about putting Campy shifters on Shimano drive trains using the Jtek shiftmate. They all seem to be very positive. My 105 left brifter got slightly damaged when the woman talking on her phone in her SUV tried her best to run me over. No injuries, just a minor temper tantrum on my part. As a result, I've decided to drink the coolaid and ordered a set of Veloce 10sp brifters and the appropriate Shiftmate to go with my 9sp XT+32 speed shimano cassette. So the question is this.... Has anyone had any problems with such a setup? The Veloce brifters were considerably cheaper than new 105's, even less than Tiagras. So if it works well, it seems like a no brainer. Comments?

PB,
No experience with the Shiftmate, but I've read the same threads as yourself and the reports appear positive. As a fallback you could buy the modified SRAM RD from daVinci. We have a Campy/Shimano setup on our 9-spd dV and it works perfectly. I really want to transition to 10-spd either with a Shiftmate or the next-gen modified RD from daVinci, but Todd at dV won't work on this until winter - I believe there is some issue with the lighter-weight chain slapping the stoker's BB since the chainrings are 1/2-sized and the chainring BB is in front of the stoker's BB (for those not dV savvy)

I have Centaur 10 speed shifters with JTEK and Shimano drive train on my tandem and single.
Having been a lifelong Shimano user, I now prefer the Campy shifters even with the JTEK.
The reason I originally switched to Campy was lower cost, lower weight, better ergonomics, and repairable.
I would expect the Veloce shifters to work just as well.

This is pretty much the setup I used on our kids' tandem. Works fine. Of course you already know that you will have a ghost shift position beyond one end or the other. I found the Veloce equipment much nicer than the older Shimano I was replacing, but that could be partly the age of the Shimano.

I never used the JTek but did the cable wrap trick to use my Ergo 10's with a shimano 9s cluster. When the derailleur was worn - I went with the DaVinci modified SRAM X9 rear derailleur which is made to work with Ergo 10's and 9s rear cluster. Worked fine until I decided to go full Campy 10s. I've got the DaVinci X9 for sale - email me if you are interested.

The Jtek works superbly well on our Campy 10-sp -> Shimano 9-sp setup. Easy to install and trouble-free in sun, rain, and gravel-road dust. Can't say enough good things about this little gadget and its clever inventor.

There is a little trick that applies if you have a take-apart tandem. I'll elaborate if there is any interest.

JTEK works exactly as advertised . . .

Ok! So with these replies, it looks like there'll be no buyers remorse. Can't wait till the hardware arrives!

Could you elaborate on the trick. I went from a Shimano to a Campy wheel just to make this easier.

"There is a little trick that applies if you have a take-apart tandem. I'll elaborate if there is any interest. "


Please elaborate.

Once you install the Jtek, it is cable tension that keeps the cable in place in the sheaves of the pulley that it wraps twice around. Once you split the cable on a take-apart bike by unscrewing the two ends of the cable-joiner, the loss of tension causes the cable to unship off the pulleys, going haywire as it were. When you reassemble the bicycle, you have to bed the cable back into the sheaves and orient the pulleys properly...and you have to maintain hand tension on the cable while you find the other end of the joiner and screw them together. If you lose your grip on the rear half of the cable before making the connection you have to start all over again.

So what you want is some way to prevent the cable from straightening itself out of the pulleys when there is no tension on it.

Rummage through your loose-screws drawer until you find a small flat- or button- head bolt and matching nut -- M4 is fine. The ubiquitous M5s are too clunky and bigger than necessary. Shift the rear derailer onto the smallest cog. Then position the nut and bolt around the rear derailer cable two or three millimetres forward of the cable housing stop on the chainstay -- no more. Tighten it gently to hold it in place so it won't fall off. I filed a little groove in the underside of the bolt head to help it grip the cable. A small washer under the nut will keep the nut from trying to eject the cable as you turn it. Trim any excess length of bolt that sticks out past the nut. When you are happy with it, take it apart and reassemble with Loctite. Check to see that the bolt does not rattle or rub against the chainstay -- that's why small bolts are better, the smallest you can work with, really. But with the nut and bolt so close to the cable stop, they can't bounce high enough to hit the stay.

Now when you split the cable, it will back out only that couple of millimetres before the bolt butts up against the cable stop. The cable will stay on the sheaves and you won't have to worry about it when you assemble the bike.

In writing this, it just occurred to me that you could crimp a lead fishing sinker around the cable in the same fashion, although you might recoil emotionally at the idea of putting lead parts on a bicycle...
Or how about cutting the closed end off a cable end cap, threading it onto the cable before you pass it through the housing, then crimping it carefully in place? You would have to do this while installing the cable of course -- not as an afterthought like the nut-and-bolt method. Yet another suggestion would be to super-glue in the same position two or three of those little rubber donuts that are sold to prevent cables from hammering the bottom of the keel tube. Again this is best done at the time of the original installation and setup of the rear cable. (I think I'll try the donut method when it comes time to replace the cable, if I remember!)

Just remember that your cable stopper doesn't have to resist any tension beyond the tendency of the coiled cable to want to straighten itself -- all it has to do is not fall off or be displaced forward or back from where you put it.