Evening chaps,

I've spent about four hours tonight trying to set my gears correctly and it's driving me bloody mad.

I have campagnolo 11s all round, bike is fairly new so no issues with cable stretch or anything of that nature. I have set the rear mech fine and that all changes nicely. However, my frustrations lie with the front derailleur. Basically I cannot seem to set it so there is no chain rub when running it on the largest front cog combined with smallest rear cog, as well as running the largest front cog with say the third largest at the rear. If I remove rub by adjusting the cable tension one way, it then rubs when in third as mentioned above, and when I adjust cable tension (decrease it slightly) it then rubs when I change down to the smallest at the rear. Not sure whether the 11 speed block is the issue in that I'm expecting to much in terms of being able to use the large front cog with most of the gears. I tend to ride in third a lot (third being the third largest rear ring with biggest front ring) but then when going down a hill I obviously change it down so need to ideally eliminate this rub. It changes up in three clicks but again this doesn't seem to be that smooth for some reason. I've kindle figured how to adjust the number of clicks by which it changes but need a concise guide from start to finish on how it should be set because it's doing my f*cking head in now. I had ultegra before with no such problems as you were able to micro adjust the front cog by 'semi clicking down' the front derailleur if it was rubbing, whereas the campagnolo simply changes it straight to the smallest cog again with one click of the thumb lever and there are no 'midway adjustments'.

Apologies for the rant but really need some assistance as I'm at a wits end! I've read their website and the instructions are only for figment with in clear guide to setting and adjusting, plus I've searched already to no avail.

Thanks.

Anyone?

I had ultegra before with no such problems as you were able to micro adjust the front cog by 'semi clicking down' the front derailleur if it was rubbing, whereas the campagnolo simply changes it straight to the smallest cog again with one click of the thumb lever and there are no 'midway adjustments'.

Not sure what to say except that Campag 11s does have front mech trim...

Thanks for your reply wingguy. So do you mean that the thumb lever should take 2 clicks to fully change down to the smaller front cog, as that would explain it. Mine doesn't do that?

No, the thumb shift will only ever be 1 click down, but you can click the paddle back 1 to give access to small ring/cog combos, instead of the entire 3 clicks to shift back up.

As many said last time you posted about this, just have a shop who is competent with Campagnolo look at it.

My Athena setup uses a 10-spd FD, so it's not directly analogous. However, I have it set with only one position on the big ring and have plenty of clearance for all 11 cogs.

Since the 11-spd FD cage is narrower, it becomes even more important that the alignment is correct. Sounds to me like yours is off.

Also the limit settings are critical. The upper is set so that FD just barely clears the crank on mine.

Only make adjustments with tension off the system, ie thumb button all the way down.

Perhaps you should start from scratch.

1 thumb button full
2 release cable
3 check height and alignment of FD - carefully in your case.
4 set lower limit in small-big so that chain just clears.
5 grab the end of the cable and apply a little tension while attaching it to the bolt.
6 click it up to the big ring and check the upper limit so that the crank is just cleared.

Athena uses an escape mech which results in a trigger-like downshift. My setup has 3 clicks - 2 in the small ring position and the 3rd shifts to the big.

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dangerous curves ahead

going from the big ring to small ring (and vice versa) should take 3 clicks. there are 3 positions for the FD per chainring.

It might be useful to disconnect the cable and slightly re-align the FD. Get it the regulation distance from the big chainring, but then try to slightly re-orientate it a little - easy if it is a band-on clamp. Try doing this re-alignment on the big chainring and small rear sprocket.

No. Athena 2012 onwards is Powershift. It's an escape mechanism. One click down, 3 clicks up.

Thanks. That clears up that confusion. Should I be able to use all gears on the rear cog with the largest front chain ring without rub as that ain't happening! Appreciate the advice guys.

Also should it change up on the second or third click at the front? I'm assuming the third.

On mine, from the small ring, 1 click will give me access to my 13 and 12 (my smallest) in the rear. Click 2 will move the cage so the inside is now contacting the chain, and the final click will move the chain up.

When in the big ring I have access to all 11 cogs, but the cage is very close to the chain when at the ends of the cassette. I set the FD so the chain is just rasping the inside of the cage in the big/big combo as the tension when riding will remove the rasp. I assume your bike came with a KMC chain like mine. Be absolutely certain the chain is actually rubbing, because for me I've found this chain to be quiet through the cassette, but really quite loud when at extremes.

Hi,



No matter how many clicks you set the FD for it is always going to be the last click that will lift the chain onto the big ring.

It really can't work any other way if you think about it.

Ciao,

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Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

Yeah - I had the same frustrations with Record FD. I searched on Road Bike Forums and found an excellent detailed post on how to set up the FD. Basically 4 clicks and unless you get the cable tension correct that 4th click (to trim FD when in the smallest sprocket) will slip back to the third position hence the chain rub you're getting in the big ring.

In summary its down to cable tension and my guess is you need slightly more than you've currently got

If you read the OP's original post it's clear he has tried adjusting tension.

Unless the alignment is right, it's never going to work properly.

Athena is different to Record.

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dangerous curves ahead