monty dog":32w3fflz said:
Hi Johnny, All of them should work - I've never found a problem between inter-compatibility of 9/10/11 speed shifters and Ergos ever to be a problem, regardless of what the Tech Docs state - I've got various combos to work without issue. The Athena 11 would be my choice, particularly as it has the capacity to work with a 29 sprocket. If you feel the need for 34x32 on a CX course, its probably quicker to get off and run IME, but on the other hand I was riding my CX bike on the MTB trails at Glentress the other week and 24x29 was just dandy!
Ho hum
Campagnolo is no more complex than Shimano or SRAM, it's just the bike shops are familiar with Shimano so most, when asked about Campag will be less willing to commit as they don't see so much of it. There is, however, no great mystery or complication (or no greater than that with the various generations of Shimano, anyway).
There are a good number of posts here & elsewhere that you can search (a fair percentage of them by us) that point out that what works on one bike for one user is not necessarily true for all bikes and all users. The Campagnolo technical documents, whilst they are conservative in some respects, are correct. The information in them holds good for any frame that falls within the stated specs, which are not out of the ordinary but do have boundaries. The boundaries that Campagnolo use are broadly the same as those used by Shimano and SRAM. It would be commercial suicide were it any different.
9 and 10s are generally inter-compatible with no issues. There *are* some exceptions which are not around "will it work" so much as "how well will it work".
Before you commit your cash, though, please note that contrary to the post by montydog, the 11s RDs will not shift a 9 or a 10s cassette with any pattern of Campagnolo lever unless the RD is modified or some third party cable pull device is used. The physical dimensions and pivot placements in the 11s RD give a different amount of derailleur movement per unit of cable pull.
The cage on the 11s RD is also narrower than a 10s cage so whilst a 10s chain (which you can obviously use OK with a 9/10s FD and will run on a 9s cassette without issues) will fit through it, it tends to rub with any significant degree of cross-chain - its generally OK on the middle sprockets on both rings, but small ring to top 3 it can rub, ditto big ring and bottom 3. It *is* true that the longer the rear triangle of the frame is, the less this is the case for obvious reasons of geometry. Where the chain tends to be covered in muck as in CX, this can be worse and in any terms, is not ideal.
You *could* try and run the narrower 11s chain on a 9 or 10 cassette - the chain runs OK, but FD function will not be great as the chain is so much narrower than the gate of the FD that the ability of the FD to control up shift, and especially downsift, is not very good - you can certainly "finesse" the shift on the road but in CX generally you don't have the ability to be quite so careful in how you shift. None of that gets you around the basic geometric incompatibility of the 11s RD with the 9 or 10s ErgoPower though.
All the current 10s Veloce and Centaur RDs (i.e. the "new shape") will work with a 29T bottom sprocket, so long as the rear dropout is to Campag spec. Older steel frames often won't allow this as the hanger isn't always long enough, but anything made in the last 10 years ought to be fine. To be sure, measure from the centre of the wheel spindle to the centre of the gear hanger thread. It should be 24 - 28 mm, same spec as Shimano and SRAM. If less than 24 mm, you won't be able to use the 29 and might have to settle for a 27. If more than 28, you should be fine in all circumstances though upshift on the high gears is sometimes not as slick or quick as it could be but that is rarely a problem in CX.
So long as you observe the maximum sprocket size rules and the total capacity rules that you will find in the online tech docs, and set your chain length by the small-to-small method as given in the tech docs, you will have, with the caveats above, no shift problems, assuming all is correctly set up and the rear gear hanger is correctly aligned.
HTH, contact us off-forum if you need more help.
Graeme
Velotech Cycling Ltd
Campagnolo Main UK SC
