Campy Athena front der woes

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Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

I have a 2015 Athena, 6000Km on it. Front started doing a few troubles (threw off chain off the big ring a couple times when shifting under power plus a bit of small ring- big cog rubbing) so I decided to redo the tuning.
Put it into easiest gear, loosened the cable.
Checked for 2mm space between cage and and upper tooth, cage parallel.
Adjusted inner screw until there was just a little bit of space for the chain as not to rub (first odd thing here, screw had to be almost completely loosened for this)
Pulled the cable up tight and tighten the screw.
It would shift up with 4 clicks so I unscrewed the barrel adjuster almost all the way out at which point it shifted with 3 clicks.
Shift to hardest gear, adjust outer screw.

Seemed to work fine on the stand...went out for a ride which revealed it is not fine at all, having a fair bit of cage rubbing here and there. Got back and redid all procedure, only to end up with no shifting at all. No matter how tight I install the cable, it won't shift up even with 4 clicks. Also the barrel adjust doesn't seem to have any effect at this point.

Any ideas? Thanks....

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bikerjulio
Posts: 1900
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Location: Welland, Ontario

by bikerjulio

I noticed this
when shifting under power


So, if I understand you now, pushing the finger lever does not do anything? No cable gets pulled?

If my understanding is correct, then you have buggered the shifter. It is no more. Dead.

The little pawl no longer wants to engage with the little teeth.

Solution is to get a new one and don't abuse it next time.
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

by Weenie


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Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

The chain throw off happened a couple times but hundreds of km apart. In the meanwhile it has worked, just not "as new".
That is why yesterday I decided the recheck everything. Right now pushing the lever does move the cage out with every click, but just not enough to lift the chain.

Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

I got it to shift fine (3 clicks) again: the outer limit screw was too tight. But now I am back to a bit of chain rub in the easiest gear, with the inner limit screw loosened to the max.

bremerradkurier
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:18 pm

by bremerradkurier

Remove the screw joining the two cage plates together and add a washer/spacer underneath it to widen the gap?

Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

Good idea, will keep this in mind in case it keeps rubbing on the road, but for the moment I just found another fix: I raised the derailleur a bit (from 1.7 to 2.5mm from the highest tooth) At the lower position, the chain was too tight in the shoulder of the inner plate (shoulder forms right above that upper hole)

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bikerjulio
Posts: 1900
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Location: Welland, Ontario

by bikerjulio

It's not the gap, it is that the inner plate isn't going towards the frame enough when in the small ring/big cog.

If it's not the limit screw and it's not cable tension, and the alignment is correct, then there's not much to do.
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?

One.

So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM

bremerradkurier
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:18 pm

by bremerradkurier

Chainline might be out of spec on the narrow side, but that would be pretty much the last step on a flowchart.

stormur
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Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:50 pm
Location: FIN

by stormur

R U sure that cable goes over small knob and then further to the screw plate over the bolt? Common mistake, as result there's not enough pull to move FD ... .
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Mark Twain


I can be wrong, and have plenty of examples for that ;)

Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

Yes, over the knob. First time I scratched my head about it, since cable would sit in much more nicely if under knob, but in that case it would rub on the derailleur body.

Anyway as I've said above, the no-shifting happened because of a too tight outer limit screw. I also seem to have fixed the easy gear rub by lifting up the derailleur a bit. I guess the tightest position (1.5mm) would work better with a smaller big-cog (i have 29)

But will see tomorrow on the road how fixed it really is :)

stormur
Posts: 1173
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:50 pm
Location: FIN

by stormur

I found Athena most demanding on adjusting cable tension, maybe not front, but on rear - no doubts. It take much more time than anything else from Campagnolo.
Lifting FD is VERY good idea. I usually keep all ( up to 2015 ) Campa FD's bit higher than it reasonably should be; lets say on the top of the range . Helps to not jamming chain ( and damaging FD ), shifts better, less rubbing.

But 1 thing : pawls in shifters are--- plastic, not steal ; it's easy / as already mentioned above / to damage thing. And no, there's no spare part for it; only new set of shifters is a heal ( but be fast, it's discontinued so stock is lower every day ) .
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Mark Twain


I can be wrong, and have plenty of examples for that ;)

bm0p700f
in the industry
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Location: Glermsford, Suffolk U.K
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by bm0p700f

@ OP The cage rub is odd. something is not set up right. Some bikes have chainstays that are too short. What is your chainstay legnth?

@ stormur EC-AT100 (R/H shifeter) and EC-AT101 and EC-AT200/201 and EC-AT200B/201b are very much in production. I buy these every week and sell lots of them. So stormur your info is wrong.

Athena RD's are only meant to be used with athena shifters. The spring in the RD is weaker than in the higher tier mechs as US when upshifting overshifts slightly and the stronger spring returns the mech to the right position. The PS ergo dont do this so a cheaper less stiff spring is used.

As a consequence setting up athena is not as easy as chorus but it is not hard either. Athena works fine. I use it.

stormur
Posts: 1173
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:50 pm
Location: FIN

by stormur

Athena ( Except triple ) disappeared from Campagnolo.com, avaialabilty at stores become very limited recently as well. IT IS discontinued. That some wholesales have it still in stock doean't mean it's current stuff. It's not.

Athena works fine unless pawl will give up and upshift become 3-4 sprockets at once. It happens definitely to often like for Campagnolo...
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Mark Twain


I can be wrong, and have plenty of examples for that ;)

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

The components have been dropped from the range but the spares have not. That what I was saying the shifter bodies are still available I gave all the codes, so a broken shifter can be fixed.

Shimano shifters go wrong all the time. I run a shop and see alot of broken shimano shifters. with SRAM the paddles drop off so I am not sure what you getting at.

Alexandrumarian
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

Stay is 415, I think that is on the long side. Looking for dirt and marks on the mounting clamp, the original factory install was still a bit higher than what i have now, probably at 3mm from teeth.

by Weenie


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