Cycling UK Forum

I need a new braze on FD for a project I am building up and want either a Campag Champ or Comp as will be using a front Campag triple. They are pretty rare now and the only examples I can find are band on. Is it possible to convert a band on to braze on by removing the band on part? In the past I have done this vice versa by buying the appropriate band on accessory.

nope, a major engineering effort required there....

cheers

The bits were available once.I doubt you could find any spares at a reasonable price.

My first port of call for advice and spares, plus availability of older stuff would be Mercian.
They are very helpful and knowledgable about all things Campag.

Give them a call.
http://www.merciancycles.co.uk/contact-us

You remove the braze-on fitting from the frame.

That's all very well, but the band-on versions may not be the correct diameter.

I bought a braze-on Comp front mech because the only ones available wouldn't fit my 531c seat tube. I bought a band-on adaptor instead, so from now on, I'll be buying braze-on front mechs. I took the liberty of buying two of these in 28.6mm in alu to make sure I was ok for the future.

I see the 28.6mm aren't available.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... snagrsz200

How tidy do you need?
I have a clamp on Race Triple that I would swap but the bolt hole area where the cable clamp has been welded. The profile isn't original and the lacquer has gone a nice goldy colour. A bit of filing would sort the profile out. Clamp bolt thread is now recut and fine. It wore out.

Someone correct me ... but I thought Comp Triple and Champ Triple were original 9/10 speed format and so are cross-compatible with the whole range of original 9 and 10 speed Triple front mechs, ie. Mirage, Veloce, Daytona, Chorus and Record.

If you have another Campag band on front mech of any persuasion you can swap the band on and braze on parts, The finish may vary across the range but the parts are essentially the same. Record and Chorus versions may have screws rather than rivets but otherwise they're the same.

mattsccm wrote:How tidy do you need?
I have a clamp on Race Triple that I would swap but the bolt hole area where the cable clamp has been welded. The profile isn't original and the lacquer has gone a nice goldy colour. A bit of filing would sort the profile out. Clamp bolt thread is now recut and fine. It wore out.

Dont suppose you'd consider parting with it would you. I after a cheap campy triple 28.6 band on, for my winter bike build, 'post bottom bracket shell replacement'. Trying to put it back on the road, sourcing cheap parts from far and wide. it IS a challenge.

Although I don't often post on this forum I read it frequently and find the advice and comments very useful so many thanks to you all. Having looked at this again last night do think that could have used a new Veloce Triple but have now found what I am after.

Mick, when I was building up my Longstaff I purchased the band on part to which the braze on fixes (if that makes sense) from SJS as Ribble did not have any stock at that time either. Sorry do not know how to post the link.

I could have had the braze on mech taken off but want to keep the new frame as it was.

Also found a Campag Record Triple FD but the vendor wants £100.00 for it so think I will pass on that!

this is probably heresy to some but I suspect that there are other (non Campag) mechs that would work equally well... , although you might need to tweak the cable mounting (e.g. if you are using a LH shifter with not many clicks in it).

In fact some mechs will sometimes work better than a campag BO one; if you are running a smaller big ring for example, a BO campag one may not go low enough on the frame.

I have a small stash of BO front mechs that work well with 46-48T big chainrings/touring triples; they are hard to come by but when you need one, you really need one.

It occurs to me that if you scour a few bike jumbles/place a wanted ad or two, you may yet turn up the correct BO part for your mech; if you are running stock chainrings this will be a good solution.

BTW for anyone else who has a stripped front mech pinch bolt thread; IIRC many campag mechs have a helicoil fitted from new. If this drops out then suddenly the thread is 'stripped'. If not then a helicoil repair will usually work fine. In the meantime you can usually install a nut and bolt (countersunk and/or with a filed down bolt head for clearance) from behind. With a dome-headed nut the effect can be quite pleasing.

cheers

Sorry but I don't want to be without one so would 0nly swap. I used the but and bolt trick for a while but eventually the eye cracked, hence the welding.
All this was over a period of a couple of years and I am forever playing with the bike.
I did find that an old Record double mech worked except for the small, small combinations where the chain rattled.