Campagnolo 12 speed cassette compatibility

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DaveS
Posts: 3913
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Location: Loveland Colorado

by DaveS

The Chorus RD should have a 39T wrap capacity, since it will wrap a 16T difference in front and a 23T difference in the rear. The higher level RDs might only have 37T of wrap. Chainstay length also affects the wrap capacity. The RDs must be designed to handle a worst case chainstay length, where 1 inch of chain must be added, just to get another 1/4 inch of wrap. They would never expect a user to have to put up with a chain hanging loose in the small/small combo.

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JoO
Posts: 439
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by JoO

I am curious if anyone has tried campagnolo 12 mechanical ergos and RD with sram force 12 cassette and chain.
Would make an relatively affordable 1 X setup

bikeboy1tr
Posts: 1394
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:19 am
Location: Southern Ontario Canada

by bikeboy1tr

DaveS wrote:
Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:00 pm
The OP came up with the same sprocket dimensions for Campy 12 that I did. Adding the sprocket thickness and space between gives you the center to center spacing of .137 inch or 3.48mm. Having the same two dimensions for the SRAM cassette would be valuable.

I've never read up on the exact difference in sprocket spacing between the brands with 11 speed, but I've read many reports that people think that all brands are close enough to be used interchangeably. I do know that Campy 11 spacing is a little larger. If the difference in the 12 speed cassettes is smaller, it would support the idea that the two are interchangeable. If the difference in spacing is only about .002 inch or .05mm, careful centering of the RD travel and adjustment of the limit screws should make it work.

As for Campy's 12 speed cassette design being hooey, I've never inspected a Record or SR cassette, but the Chorus 11-34 cassettes that I have are pretty slick. The last 3 sprockets are joined with no rivets or fasteners of any sort and they fit onto the same hubs that accept 9-11 speed cassettes. I can't complain about that. If you want to use a SRAM 12 cassette on a Campy wheel, all it takes is a Fulcrum XDR driver, that costs about 110 USD.

The SRAM chain is narrower, but it will work just fine with Campy cogs and chain rings, despite the .006 inch large diameter rollers on the SRAM chain. The SRAM chain follows the #40 drive chain design, while all other bike chains use the #41 drive chain specification, which are English standards for 1/2 inch pitch chains. You can convert anything to metric with multiplication by 25.4.

I've been using a SRAM Force chain on one of my Campy 12 bikes for several weeks with no problems. I've made several close visual inspections of the chainrings and sprockets and not seen any evidence of excessive wear and certainly no deformation of an aluminum chainring that one poster suggested. The little ring has the greater chain tension and I have a 32T little ring. It's the one to keep an eye on. I have two 48/32 crank and both were brand new a few weeks ago. I put the force chain on one crank from day one.
I am running the etap with a set of Campy Bora 35 wheels and Campy 11 cassette, also a Easton Aero wheelset Shimano 11 Ultegra cassette and I found that the etap and Sram Red chain run better with these combos than it did with the Easton Aero and a Red cassette. It was always slow shifting from 4th largest cog to the 3rd. Also I found the Sram Red chain was quieter and better shifting than the DA or CR.
I have in the past run 11 sp chains on my 10 sp shifters, and also 10sp chain on 9sp shifting. So my next thing is 12sp chain on my 11sp etap and preferably AXS.
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SandwichNP
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:22 pm

by SandwichNP

JoO wrote:
Fri Nov 08, 2019 8:20 pm
I am curious if anyone has tried campagnolo 12 mechanical ergos and RD with sram force 12 cassette and chain.
Would make an relatively affordable 1 X setup
thinking about doing this too. SRAM cassette and chain, campag 12 derailleur and shifters/brakes.

gorkypl
Posts: 526
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:31 am
Location: Poland

by gorkypl

I seriously doubt Campagnolo RD would have the ability to work with cassette big enough to make a sensible 1x drivetrain.

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DaveS
Posts: 3913
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Location: Loveland Colorado

by DaveS

All you know for sure is that a campy chorous RD will handle a 34T sprocket. As of now, the AXS cassettes only go to 33. The sprocket spacing on SRAM mtb cassettes is 3.65mm, so it would not work well with shifters made for 3.48 spacing.

SandwichNP
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:22 pm

by SandwichNP

ended up springing for full AXS.

fehguy
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:32 am

by fehguy

I'm sorry for the delay! It worked perfectly. I am not going back to mechanical ever again, and the 10-28 cassette works flawlessly with the EPS shifters. Couldn't be happier!
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gwerziou
Posts: 347
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Location: Ballard, WA

by gwerziou

Has anyone tried 12 speed EPS with the SR 11-34 cassette? Or, do the 11-34 replacement cages for SR work for EPS?
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terencehatten
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 8:12 pm

by terencehatten

gwerziou wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:49 pm
So, would the Rotor 11-36 12-speed cassette work with a Campy system? Obviously there are 2 issues there with Campy cassettes only going to 34 ( and in theory then, the derailleurs only being able to handle so much of a range), as well as the spacing. Rotor claims their 12-speed cassette uses '12 speed standard' spacing.
So i just ordered a rotor 11-36 cassette. I've got a kickr 17 where there is no campagnolo cassette available. Plan is to adjust the limit screws and not shift into the 36t (I lose a gear). The other option I could have done for the kickr is a Sunrace 11-50t but that felt a little too extreme. I'll report back how it goes.

Butcher
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Posts: 1917
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:58 am

by Butcher

fehguy wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:49 am
I'm sorry for the delay! It worked perfectly. I am not going back to mechanical ever again, and the 10-28 cassette works flawlessly with the EPS shifters. Couldn't be happier!
I see that they make a 10-26 cassette. If it works as well as you say it does, maybe it's time for me to seriously look at the EPS12. I just wish Campagnolo made a closer spaced 12 speed cassette.

Time to do some researching.

fehguy
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:32 am

by fehguy

Hi folks, for those who are interested, I have a 3,000 mile (sorry! 4828 km) update.

First off, shifitng is still perfect. I have never, ever, ever once thrown a chain or had a missed shift. That is miraculous! It is quiet and works beautifully.

Next, the SRAM chain has a MUCH longer life than my old 11speed Campy ones. How do I know? Well, I've become accostomed to changing my chain every 2000 miles (cough 3218km, I'm not doing this anymore!). Each time, I'll lay the old campy chain out next to the new one and look at stretch. Typically it's about 1/4 of a link of stretch (I've done this 5 times now) with the Campy 11 speed chain. The SRAM after 2000 miles was virtually unchanged. I have photos of each of the chains showing their stretch. It's not the most scientific approach but I can say that it has been consistent, and the SRAM chain was remarkably unchanged. I'll start replacing it every 3500 miles instead of 2000.

Finally, I have been so happy with the setup that I splurged on my cross bike, and put on a 10-33 SRAM 12-speed cassette with Super Record shifters and a Chrous super-compact 48-32 crankset. It works just as well.

So while I feel a bit like a heratic running the SRAM cassette and chain on Campy, it is working great. I hope this is helpful to someone!
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DaveS
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Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Location: Loveland Colorado

by DaveS

I've used Campy chains for 25 years and always got exceptional chain life. I once used a 10 speed model for 10,000km and had less than 0.25% elongation. To get a lot of elongation from a Campy chain would require riding in very dirty conditions and/or poor maintenance.

I'm using both Campy 12 and AXS chains with my Campy 11-34 cassette. The Campy 11-34 has better spacing than the sram 10-33, IMO.

I'm not seeing any significant elongation on either chain. Both are working well, but the SRAM AXS is quieter.

joeyb1000
Posts: 487
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:37 pm

by joeyb1000

Just sharing:
I moved my road bikes to 12s last year. My TT bike still had Athena EPS 11s and I couldn't justify the change. So, I put a 12s chain on it, and reset the rear derailleur to use the first 11 cogs on a 12s cassette. Front and rear shifting work perfectly.

fehguy
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:32 am

by fehguy

@DaveS I do quite a bit of climbing, 500k ft/year. Maybe that's what is eating my chains. I do keep things clean and lubed, it's definitely not mechanic abuse that's wearing them out.

I started replacing chains more regularily after I wore out my entire drivetrain at 4k miles. Chain broke twice in one day, the chainrings (Campy Super Record 11 OEM) had "shark fin" teeth and it was really expensive. The chain had enlongated an entire 1/2 link (pin-to-pin).

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