bigcheese wrote:So out of curiosity, I wouldn't be able to slap on a potenza 11-32 on my current Shamals with a 11sp Chorus or Athena set and expect it to work?
I do have a 29, and was told it'd struggle in the cage, but I have never have a problem, I mean I never go 50-29 or even 50-27, only times I hit them big cassettes is when I'm in the 34, but some steepy's would be nice to have the 32. And I'd definitely like an 11 now.
The issue is what has been tested and under what circumstances.
Campagnolo hanger length spec is 24-28 mm. At the "long" end, the top jockey may be far enough away with a bigger-than-29 sprocket for the system to work with the H screw wound all the way out - the question is not wholly one of chain wrap, or wholly one of max sprocket capacity in terms of what can be persuaded to work.
In cases like this, the question is about what has been tested across the range of tolerances built into the equipment manufacturer's spec, both in terms of the frame geometry and layout, manufacturing accuracy and how the materials involved change their performance with wear and tear - I'd be saying similar things whether I was commenting on Shimano or SRAM in this respect.
There are also considerations around (say) "well, it'll work fine so long as you don't use 53 x 32, 29 or 27" ... those sorts of caveats in consumer-land are very dangerous and manufacturers will generally try to avoid such statements and won't usually test comprehensively for the circumstance.
In this specific case, the problem then is that if the RD is adjusted to give a correct top-of-sprocket-tooth to top-of jockey-tooth spacing at the 32 sprocket end of the cassette, the path taken by the unmodified, stock RD may well not be close enough to the cassette by the mid range to get shifting of the accuracy / reliability that Campagnolo spec, given things like gear hanger parallel tolerance, wear and tear in the life of the system etc - and although the top jockey then gets closer to the sprockets again in the higher gears, it's still not as close as it should be, so shifting (especially to the smallest sprockets) may still be less quick / accurate than specified.
There are workarounds of course but these fall outside of Campagnolo's spec, and some frame geometries may show the effects more or less than some others - and some consumers are more or less sensitive to such things.
The aim of any manufacturer's spec is to allow the equipment to perform in a way that they can warranty - not just for materials and workmanship but also for functionality - so it's not that certain things "don't" work it's that certain things "may" work but then again, they "may not", as there are factors outside of what the manufacturer thinks it reasonable to specify, that can influence that working - and then there are questions around what users would view as acceptable performance or unacceptable performance.
A Tech-Reps work is never done ...
Head Tech, Campagnolo main UK ASC
Pls contact via velotechcycling"at"aim"dot"com, not PM, for a quicker answer. Thanks!
