Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

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lune ranger
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Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by lune ranger »

My gravadventourer project is coming together nicely but I’m lacking a low enough gear for steep off-road climbing, especially with any sort of load.
The running gear is compact road, 2x10 Campag. 13-29 cassette and 50/34 rings. I don’t have any real options for a bigger cassette or smaller chainrings sticking with Campy and I don’t want to change the groupset wholesale as it had loads of life left in it and I’ve spent way more than I ever intended anyway. Hunt wheels and Paul Components Klamper brakes have blown my budget and marital good will :???:
I think a cheap and simple way to lower the gearing would be to use a Shimano GRX 600 10speed double chainset 46/30 and leave everything else as it is.
Reading here…

http://blog.artscyclery.com/science-beh ... atibility/

…It looks like the the Shimano 10 speed spacing is a little less than Campy. My reckoning is that I would get away with functional front shifting with this set up.
Am I delusional?
Anyone with any thoughts or experience with this?
If you are going through hell, keep going.
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ledburner
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by ledburner »

can you get an oval inner chain ring. my road bike was 11-28/50-34 (shimano) ,lots of long/steep hill in the pennines and out of shape. because it was 5 arm the inner ring varied between 32& 34 ovaliry, a 4 arm ring will be 30/34.
it worth a coat of looking, also oval ring even out the power out put so less slippage. I have black spire and absolute black rings on both bike. make sure they are not wide narrow ring else the ramp & tooth profiles etc are missing.
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
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Bearlegged
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by Bearlegged »

I don't think that link covers chainsets does it? The key thing for your plan will be the c-c spacing for the chainrings. A bit of Googling suggests Campag may be a little narrower than the 5mm "Shimano standard", but I wouldn't be surprised if this has changed over time/groupsets.
Another thing to consider, is your Campag front shifter indexed? The one time I had a bike that suffered from Campag*, it had a non-indexed ratchet. This would probably give you sufficient leeway in trimming the front mech to work with pretty much any double chainset.
I'd also wonder about the minimum chainring size the front mech is rated for, however IME I've always managed to get road front mechs to play nicely enough**.
Lastly, I'd also consider using a triple chainset with the outer ring taken off, e.g.: https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m8b0s109p20 ... chainrings
Something like this would give you a choice of inner in the 36-24t range, and outer of 46-34t.

TLDR: I reckon a mix and match approach using a non-Campag chainset will probably work.

*Bitter, me? (10 speed Chorus. The front shifting didn't bother me, but the rear was clunky as hell compared to the Sora it replaced. And don't get me started on the brakes...)
**Maybe not quite as good as a full groupset approach, but well within my bounds of acceptability
lune ranger
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by lune ranger »

Never had any issues with Campy. The shifting does have a tendency towards clunkiness but always works well.
Mine is mostly 10sp Centaur with a dash of Chorus from around 2010.
I’m getting the GRX double for a try out. The Campy Ergo releases all the cable for a downshift in one but ratchets the up shift. On that basis I think I should get it working if the derailleur doesn’t mind a chainring 4t smaller than was intended.
I’ve always found the Campy brakes fine. The dual pivot road callipers that came with the group worked as well as any. The levers mated well enough with Juin Tech hybrid disk callipers and with the Paul Klampers are vaguely exciting.
The GRX gamble is gonna cost £100 but I reckon I could sell the stuff on without too much loss if it’s a bust.
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javatime
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by javatime »

An interesting take on Shim- ergo

Before Shimano started to hide cables under handlebar tape on their cheaper shifters I ran a lot of mixed set ups - big Shimano cassettes and Shimano mtd rear mechs with Campag shifters and various tweaked chainsets to get the hill gears that I needed

My gut feeling is that you will be fine as I think you still have a 16 tooth difference (on memory, can't see the original post) but maybe check the comparative chain lines of campag / grx and if you are still running a square taper bottom bracket use spacers behind the shell if you have problems with the front derailleur throw.

I have also found that campag front mech cages can be swapped separately from the body if you find you need a triple style front derailleur to cover the range.

Have quite a few campag mechs, and cages so pm me if you need anything !
javatime
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by javatime »

Edit. Obviously GRX 600 isn't square taper !
lune ranger
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Re: Mix & match. Cam-ano gears

Post by lune ranger »

javatime wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:25 pm
Have quite a few campag mechs, and cages so pm me if you need anything !
:-bd Thanks for that.

Difference in teeth will remain 16 so that shouldn’t cause trouble.
I remembered chain line when I pushed the button on the GRX this afternoon. I need to look it up for both GRX 10sp and Campy 10sp chain line and hope they’re not too different cause it’ll be on a fixed position BB axle.
If you are going through hell, keep going.
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