Campagnolo Rear Derailleur Issue

[Calnago]

Thanks, but nope, this isn't that. Pretty sure it's the cage/pulley assembly. It didn't work on the last setup, so I swapped it, then everything was fine. Saved it to test out on a brand new build, everything new, and sure enough, it fails on this one too. I'll be swapping it out for the original again and sending the "bad one" back to Campy. Trouble is, it's impossible to tell what's wrong just from looking at it.
But thanks ... sometimes it's the last thing you would ever think of, so I appreciate the input.

Your moral to assume nothing is always good. Or, assume everything and anything, then one by one eliminate them all. Then assume it was all a plan from the bike gods to piss you off.

[Butcher]

New means Never Ever Worked. Pretty common in the automotive field.

[davidw]

Update on my situation. Got my derailleur back from Campagnolo. Their solution was to pull the cage off and adjust the tension of the inner spring by moving the cage from the highest tension hole to the mid tension hole.

Now, this did seem to address the skipping/derailing issue but caused a whole new set of issues. Mainly, once cabled the chain would not drop down the cassette. Secondly, the cage body could not get anywhere near the 5-7mm gap that Campy calls for.

I threw the spring back into the high tension whole and now back to square one, skipping/derailing. So I don't really know what to say or what to do for that matter. I'm kinda fed up with messing with it at this point.

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[maverick_1]

@Calnago,
Any update from Campagnolo regarding this issue?
I ran out of ideas...mine had the same issue as yours since the beginning lol...

[Calnago]

@maverick_1: nothing specific from Campagnolo North America. However, I have a cage that I'm going to send to Graeme in the UK, just because I know it's a problem and I think if anyone would actually want to go through the effort to analyze it, it might be him. Thanks for jogging my memory on this.
But for your case, I would say that assuming your derailleur hanger is properly aligned, if you were to simply replace the pulley cage, all your issues would be solved. I was going to talk a bit about this in my C60 build, and I hope to still do that (I've been so lame about finishing that thread ) and some folks have pm'd me asking what's up with that, so I need to complete that before starting anything new. The trouble with this issue, is it's next to impossible to readily see it, even if you have two cages removed, sitting side by side and staring at them every which way. The tolerance is so tight that it takes just a little bit of a twist and the lower jockey wheel will want to run off the chain to the inside. And you can't really experience it until everything is all installed.

Feel free to pm me with any issues that may be specific to your setup, like short chainstays, etc. But even with short chainstays, I've never seen this happen with a "good" derailleur. It may very well be one of those production issues that got overlooked for small number of derailleurs and is all resolved now, but it's unfortunate for those that can't figure out why their derailleur doesn't seem to be working the way it's supposed to.

[davidw]

The only update I have is that I returned it all back to my LBS. Originally my plan was to take my Red 22 off my steel bike and replace it with the SR group so I could have a nice daily bike with Campy and a dedicated WW bike with sram. But after no real resolve from Campy North America and plenty of home fiddling and having my LBS mess with it, I just decided it wasn't worth my time or energy. It was taking away from actually riding my bike.

I genuinely feel that something got goofed at the production level and a small batch just aren't up to spec. I double triple checked my hanger, my stays are within spec, chainline spot on. I have a hard time thinking it was anything to do with my frame specs.

It's unfortunate and I hate to not have a resolution to the problem, but I'd rather be riding my bike than working on it.

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[maverick_1]

@Calnago,
Thanks for the update.
Will send you a PM one of these days, it's rather upsetting seeing that the "new" SR RD has such issues and there's no other work around rather than replacing the pulley cage out of our own pocket?
I have just gotten a brand new SR RD for another upcoming build, albeit the 2011 model which I think is more reliable.

@davidw,
Good point and I agree with you.

Cheers

[Calnago]

I don't think it has anything to do with whether the derailleur is the new (2015+) or older version. It's the cage itself. In fact, the cage hasn't changed for a long time and is shared by both pre 2015 and post 2015 derailleurs. While I was first troubleshooting the issue on my C59, I replaced the cage on my 2015 rear derailleur which was exhibiting the issue, with a cage from a pre 2015 derailleur. Worked fine. So I got a new Chorus cage (they didn't have a SR cage) and installed that and all was good and has been ever since. I saved that problematic cage off that first 2015 derailleur to test later. When I built my C60 I put the cage that i had saved onto the new derailleur. Same issue. I did that to satisfy myself that it was indeed a problem with the cage itself and not just an assembly problem at the factory. I really like the newer 2015 stuff a lot. This seems to be a very rare issue.
By the way, why don't you send the derailleur back to Campy for warranty. Explain the issue. Mine was warrantied. They would have given me an entirely new derailleur (without saying there was an issue), but I was so convinced that it was just the cage that I actually asked for just a replacement cage (Chorus) to prove to myself that it was in fact the cage.

[maverick_1]

@Calnago,
Thanks for sharing, will contact Campy Japan.
Hope to have this issue resolved soonest.

Cheers

[maverick_1]

Dear all,

Just an update to inform that the issue has been resolved after Campy replaced the RD under warranty.

Cheers

[Calnago]

Good to hear... the new derailleur solved the issue completely then? Hope so. But hope it didn't take from February until now to get it replaced.

[maverick_1]

Yup, problem completely resolved. Everything works as intended now.
It took a total of 3-4 weeks, which isn't too bad considering the long holidays in Japan back in April.

Cheers

[cmcdonnell]

Hi,
Does this SR RD (2015) look bent (see pics)?

I should have delt with this ages ago buit have been too busy with young children and 60hr weeks. The SR RD has always looked like it was angled inwards towards the wheel and I had assumed the hanger was bent on my T1. When I movet it to the Oltre it looked the same and the Chorus RD (2016) i put on the T1 was straight so not a hanger issue. It also looks twisted? Not sure what I can do becasue no shop near me service or even stock campagnolo.
Thanks
Chris

[alcatraz]

Hi,
Does this SR RD (2015) look bent (see pics)?
IMG_0094.jpgIMG_0095.jpgIMG_0096.jpgIMG_0097.jpgIMG_0098.jpgIMG_0099.jpgIMG_0100.jpgIMG_0101.jpg
IMG_0102.jpgI should have delt with this ages ago buit have been too busy with young children and 60hr weeks. The SR RD has always looked like it was angled inwards towards the wheel and I had assumed the hanger was bent on my T1. When I movet it to the Oltre it looked the same and the Chorus RD (2016) i put on the T1 was straight so not a hanger issue. It also looks twisted? Not sure what I can do becasue no shop near me service or even stock campagnolo.
Thanks
Chris

I can't see the upper pulley clearly. Make sure the upper pulley doesn't have excessive play. If it does then replace it.

Looks like the hanger is bent inward. Because the pictures don't show the upper pulley from below I can't say if the hanger needs to be twisted in any way.

Just compare a good condition upper pulley (little play side to side) with the cassette. They should be parallel both vertically and horizontally. (With the chain mounted and tensioned, aswell as the rear wheel properly in the dropouts and skewers tensioned properly.)

Don't be crosschained and try to stay around the middle of the cassette as to not pull on the derailleur cage sideways while you are doing corrections to the hanger. If you do adjust it make sure you do it with the skewer tingtened. (You can turn the wheel around to get more space for your wrench.)

[cmcdonnell]

Hi,
Does this SR RD (2015) look bent (see pics)?
IMG_0094.jpgIMG_0095.jpgIMG_0096.jpgIMG_0097.jpgIMG_0098.jpgIMG_0099.jpgIMG_0100.jpgIMG_0101.jpg
IMG_0102.jpgI should have delt with this ages ago buit have been too busy with young children and 60hr weeks. The SR RD has always looked like it was angled inwards towards the wheel and I had assumed the hanger was bent on my T1. When I movet it to the Oltre it looked the same and the Chorus RD (2016) i put on the T1 was straight so not a hanger issue. It also looks twisted? Not sure what I can do becasue no shop near me service or even stock campagnolo.
Thanks
Chris

I can't see the upper pulley clearly. Make sure the upper pulley doesn't have excessive play. If it does then replace it.

Looks like the hanger is bent inward. Because the pictures don't show the upper pulley from below I can't say if the hanger needs to be twisted in any way.

Just compare a good condition upper pulley (little play side to side) with the cassette. They should be parallel both vertically and horizontally. (With the chain mounted and tensioned, aswell as the rear wheel properly in the dropouts and skewers tensioned properly.)

Don't be crosschained and try to stay around the middle of the cassette as to not pull on the derailleur cage sideways while you are doing corrections to the hanger. If you do adjust it make sure you do it with the skewer tingtened. (You can turn the wheel around to get more space for your wrench.)

Hi alcatraz,
The last 2 pics are from underneath, not sure what other angles to try (not much ofa photographer!)? I have tried looking down along the inside of the seat stay and another from behind close to the rear jockey wheel

. The hanger is straight as the Chorus RD i have looks fine and this SR RD looked bent on my Litespeed T1 previously.
Thanks