jerky1280

I have an older (mid-90s, I think) Santana tandem with Sachs Ergo shifters and a Shimano 8-speed XTR RD w/ a 12-32 cassette. The front is a 34-46-60. The 34-32 combination is great for hills, but there aren't any around where I live. I'm a bit unhappy about the wide jumps between gears on the cassette. I'm thinking of ordering a 12-25 or 12-26 cassette, and keep the 12-32 if we end up somewhere with hills. Anyone have an opinion or recommendation for 8-speed cassette combinations they particularly like?

I'm also pseudo-shopping around for a new single road bike. If that goes through, I might swap over the Veloce 10-speed setup over to the tandem... I'd love the 10-speed, but Campy has much less options as far as cassettes go. In that event I might do a Jtek adapter so I can use the Campy shifters and a shimano/sram RD. Could I use my existing XTR RD, buy a new shimano 10-speed cassette and use a Jtek adapter with Campy 10-speed shifters? If I change from an 8-speed cassette to a 10-speed cassette would that require a new freehub?

joe@vwvortex

Actually if you are creative and know what you are doing - you can make any combination Campy 10 speed cassette you want. Veloce cassettes are individual cogs. I run a 11-29 in the rear with a 26-39-53 upfront (FSA cranks) full Campy 10 speed with a long cage Campy Record Ti rear derailleur and Shimano Dura Ace triple front (came with the bike 7 years ago and no need to switch). This is a great range of gears, very little overlap, no real big gear jumps and plenty of low gears for sustained climbs. You could go with a 28 front or 25 or 26 rear if you don't need the low gear range. I tried all the adaptors and frankly - nothing can compare to the right levers, cassette and derailleur combination. Couldn't be happier.

rdtompki

I have Campy Chorus 10-spd shifters, SRAM Exact Actuation (10-spd) RD and Shimano cassettes on both tandem and single. This setup shifts fine without a Jtek. The tandem uses an X9 RD/11-36 cassette, while the single uses a Rival RD/11-32 cassette. I'm probably going to change out the Rival for an X9 on the single to give me the option of lower gearing for long rides with a lot of climbing.

We've probably got 4-5 thousand miles on the tandem with this setup without a shifting problem save for a hub adjustment issue which permitted the cassette to shift lateral position.

Note that the RD must be the newer Exact Actuation variety. The older generation of SRAM RD have a different actuation ratio and absolutely do not work with Campy shifters. Also, I tried SRAM cassettes and for reasons unknown these did not shift as well as Shimano. Similarly with chains, my LBS found in setting up the single bike that KMC chains shifted the best in this particular situation.

zonatandem

A 60T large chainring? If that info is correct, sounds like a TA crankset.

jerky1280

Not sure who the manufacturer is, but yup, it's a 60. And yes, we've spun out the 60-12 combo once (down a hill). No computer on board at the time, but by my calcs it was roundabout 50mph.