Another Campagnolo Drama

[Valbrona]

So there I was installing my Athena Triple FD ...
got it working without the chain fitted ...
and then all of a sudden there was a c-clip sitting on the floor under the FD.

Exactly the same as the c-clips fitted to the FD.

Does the inclusion of a surplus c-clip fit the profile of Romanian humour, I thought? (I once had a friend who worked in a condom factory and used to put holes in them for fun). Like, you are supposed to wonder for hours where this c-clip has come from?

So ... I think there are only two c-clips on an Athena 11 speed FD. And my extra one is a rogue item.

What do you say?

Thanks.

[dj97223]

They threw in an extra one as an apology for giving you the wrong locking.

[bikerjulio]

Did you read the instructions? I'm sure they will help.

[Valbrona]

I needn't have worried.

My new Athena 11 Triple FD dunna work with my favoured 26/36/46 ratios. I did have my suspicions. The inner cage plate is too deep and hits the middle chainring as move up.

I am very reluctant to abandon my favoured ratios (I could just fit a bigger outer chainring), so I am going to try Athena Triple 11 Ergos with my old Record Triple FD.

I am hoping the likes of Bikerjulio and GFK will say something like 'That should work, but maybe expect premature wear of the springs in the LH Ergos on account of the mis-match'.

Please feel free to comment.

[ghisallo2003]

What is a triple?

[bikerjulio]

I'd like to help, but have exactly zero experience with triples.

If the cage plate on the Record FD looks to be different enough, then give it a try. With doubles I have used many combinations of years and levels and never came across any that didn't work. I've even had Shimano FD's working fine with Campy shifters.

[graeme_f_k]

I needn't have worried.

My new Athena 11 Triple FD dunna work with my favoured 26/36/46 ratios. I did have my suspicions. The inner cage plate is too deep and hits the middle chainring as move up.

I am very reluctant to abandon my favoured ratios (I could just fit a bigger outer chainring), so I am going to try Athena Triple 11 Ergos with my old Record Triple FD.

I am hoping the likes of Bikerjulio and GFK will say something like 'That should work, but maybe expect premature wear of the springs in the LH Ergos on account of the mis-match'.

Please feel free to comment.

There are two circlips, one on each pivot pin that allows the cage as a unit to be swapped over. Many moons ago on older designs there used to be a third which allowed the cage and spring assembly to be swapped between different clip size mountings / braze on mountings but that went out for the most part in 2009/10.

The Athena triple FDs are made in two variations, one for 52T outers, one for 50T outers. The cages are different. I suspect therefore that you are not going to get either to work well with those ratios - the tail of the cage is probably too far away from the tops of the teeth of the outer ring to correctly control the chain in either up-or down-shift and the lift ramp on the inner cage plate will be in the wrong place to lift the chain from a 26 or a 36, given that it's designed to work with a 30T granny and a 40T middle ring.

You could probably bodge it together to sort of work and you might have to use a set of UltraShifts that have been slightly modified to operate a triple (for which they were not designed) to give yourself some extra trimming options - but I'd say it may not be a very successful enterprise.

[bikerjulio]

dunna work with my favoured 26/36/46 ratios

This leads me to ask how you got this to work in the past? Was this with a Campy setup or something else? Or did you mean that you'd like to use the combo, but haven't to date.

[Valbrona]

Thanks.

So now someone tells me that there are two Athena triples. It would be nice to think that I have been trying the one for the 50 outer - not at home at the moment - but the fact that there are two is news to me.

I used 26/36/46 with a 10 speed Record Triple set up very successfully, the inner plate of the FD being quite shallow.

[evan326]

(I once had a friend who worked in a condom factory and used to put holes in them for fun)

Your friend deserves a punch in the dick.

[TheKaiser]

(I once had a friend who worked in a condom factory and used to put holes in them for fun)

Your friend deserves a punch in the dick.

I second this ^^^^!

[Valbrona]

We have the saying in the UK ... Sometimes things that people say 'should be taken with a pinch of salt'.

[evan326]

Poking holes in condoms is down right criminal. No salt required

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[Nefarious86]

Poking holes in condoms is down right criminal. No salt required

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

It's a joke dopey

[graeme_f_k]

Thanks.

So now someone tells me that there are two Athena triples. It would be nice to think that I have been trying the one for the 50 outer - not at home at the moment - but the fact that there are two is news to me.

I used 26/36/46 with a 10 speed Record Triple set up very successfully, the inner plate of the FD being quite shallow.

In fairness, it looks as if Campagnolo may have made a running change as on the B2B currently, they only list FD13-ATB3B.

Certainly on all the original technical literature, both were mentioned, ditto in the case of Veloce and Centaur triple and were certainly run that way as in this item from the clearance list:
FD13-CEB3B52 0105012 CE TR BLK 10s braze-on front der Z52.
I can check with R and D at the factory, but not until January, unfortunately.

Having just read your earlier post a bit more carefully (mea culpa) you suggest using the Athena triples with the Record Triple FD ... It "might" work but I think you might need to add FD-CE011, the front derailleur cable plate to extend the effective length of the actuator arm slightly.

You might see a bit of reduced service life in the LH lever as the spring tension on the FD in the case of the Record unit is probably higher than the "matching" Athena unit (TBH I don't have the figures for Record Triple vs Athena Triple FDs, only the RDs, so I can't give definitive advice) but you can probably help yourself a bit in that regard by making sure you have post Feb 2014 levers (where the cable bushing is white Delrin, rather than black nylon) and as ever with PowerShift, don't lubricate the levers once in use with mineral oil - this can cause premature ageing, softening and so eventually accelerated wear in the lever components. The Delrin cable bushes fix this problem for the cable bush and bodies with the revised cable bush also use a different material for the thumb lever but instinctively I'd avoid mineral oils in this area, where it's not specifically recommended.

If that doesn't work, there is a completely unofficial and DTTAHF workaround on a LH UltraShift lever (so that it will "hold" on the click stops that are there, but not normally used) which will give you some more options.

You could go all Andy-Hampsten-90s-retro and use a downtube shifter for the FD, if all else fails