Upgrading Campagnolo Centaur Triple

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Jack65
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 4:40 pm

by Jack65

Hi all,

I have Specialized Roubaix SL2 with Campagnolo Centaur Triple, setup mainly for the mountains. I would like to upgrade to 11-speed to be able to swap wheels with my son who is using 11-speed Ultegra and my other bike with 11-speed Chorus.

The other problem is that I'm overweight (nearly 90 kg) and over fifty and don't have the legs to achieve reasonable cadence on long and steep climbs like Passo dello Stelvio or Grossglockner. I wish, I could have 30x32 or maybe even 30x34 sometimes.

I currently have:
Centaur 3x left shifter
Centaur 3x10 right shifter
Centaur 52x39x30 10x crankset
Centaur 3x front der
Centaur 3x long cage rear dear

Which upgrade path would you recommend?
1. Athena triple
Don't know if i could keep my current crankset? Supposedly 10 and 11 speed are interchangable?

2. Wolf Tooth Road Link? Not sure, but seems that this one works only with double crankset?

3. Some mixed components? A bit of Chorus and Potenza?

I would like to keep 39 or 42 chainring as I use it most of the time on flats and easy climbs. Don't want 50x34 compact which I already had and it was useless.

by Weenie


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Miller
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: Reading, UK

by Miller

Your 10sp chainset will work just fine with an 11sp chain, don't worry about that. So you can keep the triple. Athena has the powershift thumb button rather than the Ultrashift button but I can tell you that it's perfectly nice to use, in some ways nicer than Ultrashift in fact.

reippuert
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 9:18 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

by reippuert

Jack65 wrote:
Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:24 pm
Hi all,

I have Specialized Roubaix SL2 with Campagnolo Centaur Triple, setup mainly for the mountains. I would like to upgrade to 11-speed to be able to swap wheels with my son who is using 11-speed Ultegra and my other bike with 11-speed Chorus.

The other problem is that I'm overweight (nearly 90 kg) and over fifty and don't have the legs to achieve reasonable cadence on long and steep climbs like Passo dello Stelvio or Grossglockner. I wish, I could have 30x32 or maybe even 30x34 sometimes.

I currently have:
Centaur 3x left shifter
Centaur 3x10 right shifter
Centaur 52x39x30 10x crankset
Centaur 3x front der
Centaur 3x long cage rear dear

Which upgrade path would you recommend?
1. Athena triple
Don't know if i could keep my current crankset? Supposedly 10 and 11 speed are interchangable?

2. Wolf Tooth Road Link? Not sure, but seems that this one works only with double crankset?

3. Some mixed components? A bit of Chorus and Potenza?

I would like to keep 39 or 42 chainring as I use it most of the time on flats and easy climbs. Don't want 50x34 compact which I already had and it was useless.
Cheap option (1)

11 Speed Campy casette (belive Miche's Super Light which also come swith Campy spline should be quite good and cheapr than any of Campys)
11 Speed Campy Athena right ergolever - or any pre 2015 NOS Chorus/Record /SR
Any 11 speed chain. best peformance+durability vs price is Wippernann (IMHO its better than the 11 speed Chorus chain and beats anything from shimano/SRAM. I use it on all my 10 and 11 speed bikes now. Best chain out there is Campy Record and Wipperman's Stainless)

your existing rear mech will work with above.
your existing crankset will work with above.

y'd proberbly also want an ergonomic matching Campy 11 speed left side Ergo lever for both looks and ergonomics.

I did have minor issues mixing Campy 10 speed last gen 07 right side Ergo levers and 1st gen 11 speed front mech.
Adjustment is tricky due to shorter lever throw and making it work with tripple would requre a very tight adjusment.

If you get new left side Ergo: get a matching gen front mech

- campy changed cable pull on the front mech with 10 speed, 11 speed and 11 speed r2 (chorus/record/sr +2015 & Potenza & Centaur 2018). 11 speed r2 does not support tripple in the left Ergo.

in terms of cable pull on the rear mech 10 and 11 speed is identical - It chnaged with 11 speed r2. (chorus/record/sr +2015 & Potenza & Centaur 2018)

(option 2)

Roadlink should not be a problem with tripple but your Ergo's and casette is still 10 speed

(opston 3)

Wont work with tripple. Campy's left side Ergo's from 11 speed rev2 is double only (+2105v Chorus/Record/SR , Potenza & Centaur 2018)

...on the other hand your Campy 9/10/11/12 speed wheels can be used with a Campy splined 11 speed castte on your sons Shimano 11 speed bike. Shimano/SRAM 11 speed casette spacing is identical to Campy 9/10/11/12.


Grossglockner & Stelvio - did both of them them in 2015 from north with 10kg bikepacking, weighted 10-15kg less myself back them.
- they are beats. Did them with 50/34-11/29. In 2016 i build a dricbrake gravel/climbing/bikepacking bike with 10 speed 50/34-11/36t for my bolognaReggio trip in the Appenines. Campo-Imperetore and Blockhaus are in the same league as Gro∫glockner & stelvio but i tild myselv i'd never do that again bikepacking without a sub 30 inches gear (meaning tripple or a MTB cassette)
--
mvh. Morten Reippuert Knudsen @Merlin Works CR, Chorus 15, Reynolds 46/66

Jack65
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 4:40 pm

by Jack65

@reippuert
Thanks a lot for detailed answer. Have to check pricing and analize it.

As for the chain, I always had great experience with any Campy chain. Though Record C10 seemed a bit better than the others. Never tried Wipperman, but heard mixed reviews. I'm currently using 11 speed Ultegra chain with my Chorus setup and Ultegra casette. I thought that using Shimano chain with Shimano casette should result in good performance. So far it seems to work ok.

It is difficult to buy single shifter so I would probably buy a pair. From what you have written, cheapest and best path would be to find Athena triple shifters/ergos matching cable pull of my rear der and front mech from the same year as Athena shifters/ergos. I would probably use some Shimano casette. Though I also have Zonda wheels with Campy freehub body. But most of our wheels use Shimano freewheel body.

Jack65
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 4:40 pm

by Jack65

Morten,

How can you compare your compact double with MTB cassette with triple and road cassette? On flats, of course tight spacing is important.
On 11-36 MTB cassette 10-speed, you have 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-36
On road Campy 13-29 you have 13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-26-29
So tight spacing in the lower half and 3 teeth jump on the top. Do you feel the difference?

I found some Athena 11-speed Ergos. Both new and used. Bike 24 has one set on sale. Seems like a proper one:
https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8; ... =1000,4,38

I would install 11-32 or 12-32 Shimano casette for the mountains. My only concern is rear der capacity which is 39. 52-30 + 32-11 = 43. Or 42 with 12-32 casette. Do you think it is going to work ok? On the other hand my friend has middle cage Veloce rear der and it works without any problems with 13-29 casette excedding official capacity.

I have plans to do the Zoncolan and Stelvio from Swiss side, which is a bit steeper than Prato leg, i completed. So i need lower gearing :)

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

How about changing chainrings of your big and small ring. 48/39/26 maybe. I'm not sure what the smallest supported ring is. Bcd 74 is it? Your fd would benefit from coming down a bit on the mount, sometimes it's already at the bottom.

Make sure your cassette is maxed out too.

Upgrading to 11s will mostly be costly. One good thing that could come out of it is the rear derailleur could support larger cassettes and more total capacity.

/a

Jack65
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 4:40 pm

by Jack65

@alcatraz
1. I have to upgrade to 11s anyway, to be able to swap wheels with my son. I never noticed, what Morten pointed out, that spacing between sprockets is identical in all Campy 10s and 11s cassettes and almost identical in 11s Shimano. This opens up many options. It means, I can upgrade to 11s relatively cheaply by buying 11s right Ergo or 11s pair. I have no problem with cassettes as we have few Ultegra 11s lying around.

2. As it is Campy crankset I have, I don't think I can go down much and cheaply. Not sure what BCD I have, but I'll check it out. From what I have read in the forums, one of the few cranksets allowing for smallest chainrings is Shimano 5700 Triple. Supposedly it allows to go down to 26 on the smallest ring. The problem could be with braze on front mech I have. Can't go down much. It could be same problem I had, with my sons setup for junior races. He can't have more than 46 at the front, so he has 46/34 and his front mech is a bit too much up, resulting with front shifting problems.

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

Rotor has fd mount extension brackets for large oval chainrings. I'm thinking this sort of thing could maybe be used the other way around too.

A 32t cassette and a triple crank starting from 26t would be an amazing combination.

I myself run a sram mtb derailleur on my weight weenie climbing bike. Currently 50/34 and 11-36t cassette. Looking to go down to 46/30t or maybe even lower with 44/28. (My crank has interchangeable spiders so it's possible to put an mtb spider on there and keep the road axle length.)

I know it sounds ridiculous but I absolutely hate to burn up on steep climbs. I'd rather keep cadence at 100 and power at my own choosing without running out of gears. Regardless if it's 150w or 300w.

/a

by Weenie


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Jack65
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 4:40 pm

by Jack65

I understand your needs. I also don't want to push hard gears. I had problems with my patellar tendon in the past. I changed crank lenght from 175mm to 172,5mm a it's much better. I may go down to 170mm if I find good deal. But what I would prefer not to do, is to have double cranksets. I like to have tight gearing and this is what triple delivers. It is difficult to keep your rhythm when you change one gear but it is 4 sprockets up.

I struggled with 30x29 on long steep climbs. My collegue who has 48/32 crank with 11-34 cassette kept much better cadence. I guess 30-32 could be quite good for me and 30-34 would be nearly perfect :)
I put my wheel with 11s cassette into my bike with Campy 10s triple. To my surprise everything seems to work very well. But on the repair stand. I will do some testing outside to see how it goes. Changing my smallest 30 ring to 28 would also resolve some issues. Unfortunately it seems like my inner ring BCD is 94mm so the smallest can be 30 and not lower.

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