Light weight campag 11sp chain/cassette options.

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stevebax
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Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:10 am

by stevebax

Hey peoples. Just looking for a little help. I run 2013 campag super record group on my ridley helium sl.
Its that time for a chain and cassette replacement. Any suggestions for a WW alternative?? not looking for THE absolute lightest available, it must still be durable and shift perfectly. Thanks.

Edit: i also run Rotor Qrings, if that makes any difference :wink:

Edited: Lightweight = brand ;)

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bikerjulio
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by bikerjulio

I know this is WW, but the cassette is just about the worst place on a bike to try and lose weight. The Campy SR already uses a bunch of Ti cogs, and there's not going to be anything lighter that's got any durability in the aftermarket. The Chorus cassette is far better from the standpoint of durability.

For the money saved I'd bet you could lose weight somewhere else.

There's little to save with chains as well. You could look at the KMC SL but I doubt there's much difference from the Campy chain - just more convenient.
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graeme_f_k
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by graeme_f_k

I think you answered your own question, stevebax - if you want it to shift "perfectly" stay with a Campag-Campag combo - mind you, I doubt front shift is perfect with Q rings - in fact it's almost impossible that it would be, Q-rings by definition operate a long way out of the design envelope of the FD ... it was never designed to have the relative height of the chain and the shift plates changing by the height of the teeth plus *plus* any significant eccentricity in the rings during the shift.

95% of the FD failures that we see in FDs that are not attributable to poor set-up or that are not genuine warranty are with Q-rings or with Osymetric (worse ...) because of the way the front shift loads the FD cage outside of it's designed parameters. We also see lever failures, too as riders have to hold the LH shift lever over aggressively to get the shift to happen - again Osymetrics cause more issues than Q rings but they are still in that mix :-(

Chorus and SR, Bikejulio - overall on the cassette / chain, you should so no real difference in durability, if anything the Ti sprockets are slightly harder-wearing than their steel equivalents but they can take a slightly greater toll on the chain. It depends quite a lot on how the cassette is used (environmental factors, shifting pattern, etc).

HTH
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stevebax
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Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:10 am

by stevebax

Yeah thanks for the input guys, appreciated. But Graeme i gotta pull you up on your thoughts on the Qrings? have you ridden them? ive been a competitive cyclist for near 30yrs now and have had a mountain of different equipment in that time, and the shifting on the Qrings is just as good as anything ive ever had, including the super record PRE Qrings. ive honestly not detected any loss of front changing performance, and i fitted them myself. The stories of Bad shifting are just "that", Stories".
Again thanks for the thoughts on chain/cassette stuff.

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bikerjulio
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by bikerjulio

I've only got limited experience with Ti cogs, and I'm not about to argue with the pro, but only surprised at the durability comment because the "conventional wisdom" for as long as I've been reading the forums is that Ti is less durable.

This for instance http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/steel-alloy-titanium-cassette-durability-273799.html

Regardless of that, I still think that it's (SR cassette that is), a costly way to save weight unless OP already has the ultimate WW bike.
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

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ITTY
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by ITTY

Well, the hardness of titanium is significantly lower than steel. All other things being equal (they aren't) I'd expect the steel to be longer wearing. However, there are surface coatings and metallurgical "tricks" that can improve the life of both materials. It would be interesting to see a test as to just how much faster a titanium cog wears than an equal sized steel cog.

Anyway, for parts on the bike that wear out, I tend to favor price, performance, and durability over weight alone. If you are like me, I also suggest going with a chorus cassette and use the money you saved to take weight off somewhere else.
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rmerka
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by rmerka

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Denavelo
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by Denavelo

IMHO as I run Campy Super record... I'd just get a Chorus cassette and call it a day. I've been down the furious rabbit hole of trying to shave weight there and had nothing but reliability and shifting issues. Just stick with Campy x Campy. I used to rock the KMC SL11 chain and have since went to Campy Record. To me it's a quieter chain and for some reason I kept breaking links on the KMC. I used to ride SR cassettes, but the price versus the rear cog options, simply don't outweigh a Chorus cassette. I'm the anal Weight weenie type and I've seen the light, when it comes to daily riding. Don't' shave weight where you need reliability and daily riding strength. Sucks being stuck out there with a mechanical. If it's a show bike or weekend bling bike, then have at it. If it's a bike you put daily miles on and grueling weekend climbs, then stick with reliable stuff.
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drainyoo
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by drainyoo

For what it's worth, I have the Recon Aluminum for a Shimano setup and I love it. They make a Campy version. It's only 89g and the shifting is great imho. Never used a Campy cassette so I can't compare to it in terms of shifting performance. I check my cassette after every ride and I haven't seen any wear yet. In my opinion the "fear" that uber-light cassettes aren't reliable is over exaggerated. And it's not too expensive (half the price of a high-end Campy) so replacing it when it wears doesn't hurt much.

NiFTY
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by NiFTY

Steve I would stay with a standard cassette. I run Red and on the new xg cassette the largest sprocket is aluminium - it gets chewed up pretty bad compared to the other sprockets. Still shifts okay but I can see that being what kills the cassette.
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NiFTY
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by NiFTY

Also I run Q rings. Have done about 20,000 k of one set. They shift better than my old s works rings ever did. I think the issue with them is they are naturally less stiff than round rings, if you get the aero q rings (TT style) they shift amazing. I had the machined to death OCP3 rings and the shifting was not ideal.
Evo 4.9kg SL3 6.64kg Slice RS 8.89kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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