Considering switching to Campagnolo: A bunch of questions!

[Lightweenie]

The shifting of my Shimano 7800-equipped bike starts to deteriorate and I am considering to (partially) switch it to Campagnolo. I have several thoughts/questions with regard to this, and would appreciate input from more experienced users.

Shifters/RD/FD: To my understanding the shifters, and derailleurs of Chorus, Record and SR do not differ in terms of performance but just very slightly in terms of weight due to tiny differences in the materials used and/or more holes in the RD. Is this right? This would make me strongly tend towards Chorus for these three components.

Brakes: I would like to keep my 7800 brakes for the time being and decide at some later time on whether I would like to get SR or Chorus calipers, or perhaps even make the leap to EE. Would this work? My understanding is that the pull-ratios are the same, right? Independently of that, am I right that weight and function wise, also here the Chorus brakes are a much better deal than the SR ones?

Crankset: This seems to be the area where it is worth it to go to SR over Chorus, due to larger weight savings and significantly improved bearings. However, since my bike has a new relatively expensive BB and I have a stages PM on my 7800 crankset, I am considering to keep this for the time being and upgrade later. Apart from the mix and match looks, is there a reason not to? Should I expect slightly worse shifting at the front with an 7800 crankset?

Cassette and Chain: Since all my wheelsets are equipped with shimano freehubs, I think the best choice would be to use a Shimano or Sram Cassette and also chain. According to my understanding the 11speed cassettes are perfectly interchangeable between the three big brands, and I have also seen several builds here on WW that run Campagnolo with a Sram red Cassette. Is that right? Also, which cassette would you recommend? The obvious weight-weenie option would be the Sram red cassette and I am considering this. But I have also read that it tends to be noisy, and since it is quite expensive, perhaps a Force or Ultegra 11sp cassette would be a more reasonable alterantive?

Are there other things I should pay attention to?

[beanbiken]

Not an experienced user but am currently building my "spare" F8 with a combination similar to use. Long time Shimano user and this will be my first experience with campagnolo. I've gone with Record levers and derailleurs, SR for the crankset because of the +'s you mentioned. I will be using EE's as my other Dogma has them and I am very happy with them. I set the derailleurs up over the weekend using SRAM red cassette and KMC chain....... no issues with shifting or indexing that I could see. Basically it would seem that from my limited experience you have a good handle on the situation.

BB

[jekyll man]

How old are your wheels, and what brand?

Its possible that they won't be upgradeable to 11 spd.


FWIW, Campag braking is more linear in feel than shimano, so i'd swap brakes, even if its to the non groupset level version for now.

[Lightweenie]

@jekyll man: Thanks for the information on the brakes, this is interesting!

The wheels all work with 11 speed - I have used each pair with a force-cassette on my other bike that runs Sram22. They are (1) 2015 Bora's, (2) 2007 Aksiums, and (3) a self-built set with 6800 hubs.

[MayhemSWE]

Independently of that, am I right that weight and function wise, also here the Chorus brakes are a much better deal than the SR ones?

As I understand it Chorus/Record/SR brakes used to be the same (aside from additional ti parts on the more expensive versions). When Athena was introduced in 2009, the brakes for Chorus got downgraded to use the same simpler construction.

Probably the primary difference is that Record/SR still use ball bearing pivots while Chorus and the other cheaper brakes use bushings. The Record/SR rear brakes are also available in a an alternate mono pivot version. The easiest way to identify which brakes belong to the same "class" is to look at the barrel adjuster.

[Madone69]

you should just stick to Shimano....80% of your build is Shimano in any case

[Stueys]

you should just stick to Shimano....80% of your build is Shimano in any case

+1, I had the same thought. No need to worry about compatibility then

[silvalis]

Chorus brakes have better clearance than Record/SR. There is a thread about it somewhere.

Chain - Campy chains are actually really good. I'd do either a Campy or a shimano chain over a kmc or sram.

[audiojan]

You'll be fine using either a SRAM or Shimano cassette, but from my experience, Shimano Dura-Ace or Ultegra cassette shifters slightly better than the SRAM cassette (and no idea why that would be, but that's my experience). As for the crank set, you'll be just fine using your 7800 crank. I use a Quarq with my Pinarello F8 (with Zipp Vuma bottom bracket to accommodate my BB30 crank). I would definitely use EE brakes for this build. I have them on my F8 and prefer them to Campy Super Record brakes (I do have both, but the SR are not relegated to my backup bike).

For cassette, use a KMC X11SL, shifts better than any other chain and has excellent life.

[53x12]

OP, this video gives a good break down of the Campagnolo offerings and what would be the best option for your budget and plan.

https://youtu.be/QKWGhHgsLJM

[bm0p700f]

the op can use shimano brakes. there are cable pull diference that do affect funstion a biot but not enough to cause stopping issues. get the non series brakes if this worries you.

you will need new wheels if your are not 11 speed compatible. zonda's are fairly cheap or get some built.

Your chainset will be fine it will look off with all the campag kit but thats it. you may get some shifting issues but i use 10 speed campag chainsets with 11 speed drive trains and dont get issues.

you just need the shifters and derailleurs and your good to go and maybe wheels and of course a cassette and chain.

Chrous is the sensible choice. Got record and super record and really chorus is the better choice.

[Digger90]

To the OP: your selection of parts will be just fine, so long as everything is in good condition (i.e. not worn out) and you set it up properly.

There is a lot of voodoo talked about regarding mixing and matching components, with people saying "You can't do this, you can't do that" but in my experience you should experiment for yourself.

For example, being a long-time Campag user I hated the feel of the 105 shifters that my CX bike came with. So I swapped them out for some inexpensive Campag Veloce shifters - and while I was at it, I put a Xenon rear derailleur on. People said "Campy 10 Spd won't work with the Shimano 10spd cassette, and the front derailleur won't work properly either". Utter nonsense. It worked great. In fact, it worked so great it actually shifted better than the 105 shifters and derailleur did!

I also experimented with mixing 10spd Veloce cassette, rear derailleur and shifters with Record 11spd chains and frt derailleur - also worked perfectly. But the Interwebs say "Not good". Pah!

My best trick was turning my CX bike into a 1 x 9 for a 100-mile Gravel Race using Campag Veloce 10spd shifters, old XTR 9spd rear derailleur and a SRAM 9 speed 34 tooth cassette (therefore mixing Campag 10spd with Shimano & SRAM 9 speed). It ran perfectly... it changed into all 9 speeds on the cassette brilliantly, and yes there was 1 spare click on the shifters but so what, that's obvious, duh!

So.. given that all yours is 11spd, and the spacing on 11spd is so close as to be almost meaningless, I say go for it and let us know how you get on.

Regarding the brakes and the pull ratio of Campag levers with Shimano calipers, an inexpensive option would just be to buy some Veloce calipers. Here in the UK they are about £35 a pair... ridiculously cheap, and they worked just fine for me bombing down the Col du Galibier at 57mph!

[bm0p700f]

The sprocket spacing for campag and shimano 10 speed are quite different so over the whole range of the cassette mis shifting will happen. I am not an interdweeb either.

[silvalis]

I tried 10s systems in both directions (campy cassette/red shifters and ultegra cassette/veloce shifters) couldn't get it working smoothly enough for my satisfaction. I know others reckon they've done it, but hearing the chain trying to climb the cassette is just annoying.

As for X11 chains - I had no problems with shifting with it on an athena11 group, but when I chucked a SR fd on with the carbon outer plate, was a bit iffy about the chain. Sure, the outer lower right plate is rounded, but it's not beveled like shimano/campy chains are. Was wondering if, over time, it would damage/delaminate the carbon outer plate...

[Multebear]

I know this is not what your topic is about. But you should seriously reconsider moving from Shimano to Campy. Nothing wrong with campy in itself, but there are several disadvantages by doing so.

First of all you mention, that your 7800 gruppo starts to deteriorate. The logic thing to do is just to upgrade shifters and levers to lets say DA 9000. That way you don't need to upgrade the whole gruppo. You could keep chainset, BB brakes and wheels (if 11 speed compatible). That would be far cheaper and everything would still be Dura Ace, and therefore look decent.

Next thing, Campy sure is nice and looks bling. But you´ll quicly learn that selling and buying wheels will be far harder, since not many riders use campy. So you´ll find yourself missing a lot of good deals on gear, because you're limited to campy (both new and used)

Another drawback is, that all campy stuff has added 50-100 % on pricetag. New chorus 11-speed cassette is around 100 euros, Ultegra cassette is around 50 euros (roughly), and so on.

The way you want to do it, you'll have mixed shimano and campy components. Maybe you don't care about that, and you shouldn't. But I'm pretty sure at some point, it will hurt your eyes to see all those mixed components. And when that happens, the only remedy is to throw a lot more cash at your bike. And you might regret that.

All this said, you don't even mention, why you want to move to campy. What is the real reason for this?