Campagnolo Veloce triple

[BigFoz]

I tried this - I had some chain breakages. However, this was the start of my documented KMC chain issues, so having taken it off, I'm not sure whether the breakages were chain incompatibility or just bad chains.

I've swapped all the bikes back to 9spd, as halfway through upgrading them all, everyone jumped in with 11, so I gave up. 9 is nice, 27 is plenty, and chains / sprockets etc are more robust and last better

[Brucey]

Could anyone say if an 8 or 9 speed campag triple chainwheel would be compatible with a campag 10 speed chain?...

It'll probably 'work' but 10s chains are fractionally narrower internally so you will have no lateral clearance between the chain's inner sideplates and the teeth, so no tolerance for dirt or burrs etc., and potentially worse shifting. There is also the potential issue that a much narrower chain can get stuck on top of the teeth of the middle or inner chainring during a downshift. I think that 10s chain on 9s chainrings is going to be OK but 10s chain on 8s rings is more likely to be problematic.

cheers

[AM7]

Ah, that's good info!
Anyone know what happens if I run a Record triple (lower profile) with a Centaur 111mm BB? I'm assuming it would run perfectly as the Record Triple is supposed to run a 111mm anyway - my concern was whether it was asymmetric (i.e. possibly longer on drive side)? Can I run the Record Triple on a Record (102mm) double BB? (I have both options open to me...)

I run a Chorus triple chainset (same as Record) on a Centaur 111mm BB and it works just fine

[Mick F]

I did say earlier, that the 111mm triple BB is symmetrical and NOT asymmetrical as Mr Campag states.
The design of it makes it symmetrical in an English BB shell, but not in an Italian BB shell.

Italian BB shells are 70mm wide, and English are 68mm. This makes the Record, Chorus and Centaur 111mm BBs symmetrical, despite the Italians thinking it's asymmetrical.

[De Sisti]

I did say earlier, that the 111mm triple BB is symmetrical and NOT asymmetrical as Mr Campag states.
The design of it makes it symmetrical in an English BB shell, but not in an Italian BB shell.

Italian BB shells are 70mm wide, and English are 68mm. This makes the Record, Chorus and Centaur 111mm BBs symmetrical, despite the Italians thinking it's asymmetrical.

No idea what any of that means.

[Mick F]

Sorry!

A bottom bracket spindle of the square taper type, sticks out either side to allow the cranks to fit on.
So much is obvious.

The spindles come in a variety of lengths.

The cups screw into the BB shell from each side of course and engage with the bearings. If you have a wider BB shell, the bearings will fit differently. The RH cup will abutt tightly against the shell, but the LH cup will have to go further in or less further in depending on the width of the BB shell to get the bearings seated.

With Italian BB shells, the LH cup will be further out, leaving less BB spindle showing.
With English BB shells, the LH cup will go further in, leaving more BB spindle showing.

It just so happens, that with an English BB shell, the BB spindle shows the same length showing on the left as it does on the right - symmetrical.

Whereas the Italian BB shell has less spindle showing on the left making it an asymmetrical BB despite it being the self same BB spindle.

[simonineaston]

9s triple seems like a nice piece of kit; you can fit an inside chainring down to 24T (non campag chainring fits campag chainset) if you want which makes up for the limited range of sprockets from campag; IIRC something like 29T was the maximum available.

Quite a few tourists run 9s campag transmission but use shimano cassette hubs instead, just to get to use the larger sprockets you can get. Shame they don't last as long...

cheers

So, just so I'm clear about this, are you saying that the spacing Shimano use is the same as the spacing Campagnolo use? And if so, is this fact limited to the 9 speed cassettes, or does it extend to 10 cassettes? (I currently have a Shimano M771 11-36 10 speed fitted on my tourer.)

[Brucey]

shimano and campag 9s spacings are not quite identical and nor are the 10s ones, with shimano being narrower spacing in both cases, see;
http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo

If using a shimano cassette on a campag system the first thing I'd do would be to just try it and see, because the cumulative error is small, and the likely error is an overshift of some kind, which is less likely with worn parts anyway.

If it doesn't work quite right you have two main choices;

1) tweak the cable mounting at the rear mech a little or

2) respace the shimano sprockets slightly using thin shims (eg cut from coke cans)

cheers

[simonineaston]

Thnx, Brucey, both for the link which looks v. useful and the Coke can tip, too - just the sort of lo-tec tweaking me and my Clarke's tin snips enjoy!
I read the first sentence in the Rear Shifting article and thought, "Bingo!"
"...but sometimes you need to bend the rules, especially when you want really low gears on a drop-handlebar touring bike."

[simonineaston]

D'you know - maybe I don't need the triple after all!!

plenty!