Campy Ergo woes & spares

[john]

Been having a few issues with getting the shifting to work on the merckx. Originally thought it was my slightly unusual setup - 8 speed ergos, mavic mech, 8 speed freewheel (shimano 8 spaced). Tried loads of things including new mechs, freewheels and finally shifters. Turns out the shifter is at fault as far as I can tell. Partially stripped it down to find a clearly broken metal part.

So, anywhere in the UK do spares? Supposedly this is the big thing with campy, right?

 

[Stick Legs]

mis match trick

John.

I am running campag mech, shimano ultegra 8 speed dt levers, maillard block (shimano spaced).

This did not work for s**t.

I tried putting the inner cable on the 'wrong' side of the clamp bolt and it worked miraculously!

This trick is an oldie, I got it from www.sheldonbrown.com lots of other cool and wired stuff on there.

Apparently it raises the pull / swing ratio of the mech.

Hope this helps, would love to buy sheldon a drink!

 

[BigC]

Hmm, no personal experience, but I have heard that these people may be able to help:

http://www.italiancycleproducts.co.uk/ They link off to the complete list of spares from Campag, thus leading me to believe they should help.

Would it help shifting if you also bought a set of campag spacers. You could them blow apart the cassette and rebuild with campag spacing?

Not sure if I've helped,
C.

 

[P20]

These boys used to doi all campag spares, but not sure if they still do. Should be able to point in the right direction though

Select Cycle Components
The White House
Main Street
Newton
Notts
NG13 8HN (open map)
01949 829029
01949 829039
rosafio@selectcyclecomponents.com
Distributor

 

[ededwards]

John

The Sheldon Brown remedy apparently works, lots of anecdotal evidene after the fact (see also Chris Juden advice on Shimergo on the CTC site). Best and most retro solution is obviously downtube shifters, preferably Simplex, but you've probably already considered and discarded this option.

Spares wise, Mercian have a really extensive selection although at a Campag premium price.

Look forward to seeing the completed build, sounds very classy.

 

[john]

There are two issues with my setup

1. The shifter internals are bust - they'll never index correctly.

2. Campy 8 speed has 5mm c-c sproket spacing. The block I'm using has 4.9mm c-c spacing (shimano 8 speed). The cable fiddle might help with this issue. That said I've had no problem using 7 speed thumbies over an shimano 8 speed block which theoretically should be identical from a spacing perspective to running ergos over a shimano 8 block. Admittedly the shimano mechs have the floating top jockey though....

 

[cchris2lou]

Have you tried Sachs for the block ?

for the ergos , are the 9 speed ones much different ?

 

[john]

Have you tried Sachs for the block ?

for the ergos , are the 9 speed ones much different ?

Chris,

I couldn't find the sachs webpage you mentioned. Do you have a link perhaps.

I have a 7 speed sachs block which will be the same spacing as the 8 speed ergos. Spacing on the 9 speed ergos will be way off.

JV

 

[cchris2lou]

your best bet for Sachs is to ring them . they are on the french catalogue .

 

[Stick Legs]

best, not prettiest

John,

After some thought;
Mavic mech's use the same cable pull / swing ratio as Shimano.
Personally I'd buy some campy brake levers and some Ultegra 8sp down tube shifters. Not Dura Ace as the spacing is different.

Not the prettiest but very retro and it will work.