Learning the Campagnolo secret handshake
 

Got a great deal on a Veloce 9 speed equipped bike. Decided to sell the frame and switch the Veloce over to my Sante equipped 1988 Miyata Twelve Hundred. Also found a good deal on a campy wheelset. So far so good. Yesterday I was switching everything over. Cassette cogs and spacer slid perfectly onto the hub, but the lock ring is too small in diameter to engage the threads on the hub. After a bit of reading I now understand that campy has three lock ring sizes. Before I invest in another lock ring -- yes, it is an investment. Shimano and Sram lock rings come in bags of a dozen for $1, but for some unknown reason campy lock rings are more expensive than most bikes on Craigslist -- I'd like to know a little more. Can anyone explain to me what I'm looking for or direct me to a resource that does more than just allude to the reality that there are three different sizes? Thanks!

Campy made a change to the freehub body, maybe 25 years ago, when they changed from a small diameter steel axle to a larger diameter aluminum axle. The thread size on the freehub body was enlarged at that time. The flange diameter must also match the first sprocket, so it could be for an 11, 12 or 13.

New cassettes for the modern hubs come with the proper lock ring, so you get a new one with each cassette. If you bought a new cassette and the threads are too large, then you have a really old hub.

You need a 27mm lockring the one you have is probably 26mm from the 9 speed days.

2 different lock rings for the 9sp on an oversized axle hub, 1 for 11 tooth, the other for 12 tooth and up. Your LBS should be able to order them from Quality.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...90f7339ce9.jpg

Thanks, darkhorse75 and DaveSSS . I had read about the this-many-teeth, that-many-teeth business and the 26mm vs 27mm lock ring, but it was still confusing. So, just to make sure. I'm planning on using this 12T 9 speed cassette (that fits fine on a 1998 Veloce hub)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6988f13383.jpg

On this newer hub.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...821803934d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bea83676c3.jpg

If I purchase the following lock ring, will it work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223469890572

I feel your pain. I went through this misery in February after a freehub conversion from 8 to 10 speeds. I thought I was King of the World when I found and easily installed a Campagnolo alu freehub to replace the steel 8-speed one. For $5 at a local shop. Turns out that this orphaned freehub had been rattling around in a parts bin for the last 20 years for a good reason: that the required 26mm lockring is basically made out of unobtanium.

But then a trip to another shop yielded the uber-rare lockring I needed for all of $2. So now I am running a 10-speed Cassette on my old repurposed 8-speed wheel.

Campagnolo has made 3 different lockrings:

1. 29.0 for 8-speeds
2. 26.0 for early 9-speeds
3. 27.0 for all subsequent freehubs

Other hub manufacturers who make Campy compatible freehubs only support the newer 27 lockrings. So no 26mm lockring is going to fit on a Vuelta-branded freehub.

Recommendation: go back to the bloke who sold you your new wheel. Back in the day, Campagnolo hubs came with the lockrings. The 26mm lockring is almost impossible to find, except by paying extortionist amounts on Ebay, or by getting extremely lucky, as in my case.

I thought he said his lockring was too small, implying he has a 26mm and needs a 27mm. If that's the case, it should be pretty easy for him to find a 27, and he could probably sell the 26 for a bit if they are hard to find.

And I wouldn't pay $20 just for that 27mm lockring on ebay. You could probably find a used cassette for less money and just take the ring off of that.

I've been messing with bikes since the 60's. I've worked in several different shops and even owned my own shop for a few years. In all that time, nobody ever showed me the Campagnolo handshake. I doubt I've ever worked on more than a handful of Campy equipped bikes.

You also have the slight potential problem that what is shown above may have Campag splines on the cassette body, but it;s not a Campag wheel ...
So advice based purely on it being a campag-shaped cassette body may not be correct.
I have a third party wheel in the workshop just now, Campag-shape cassette body, "Campagnolo Compatible" which doesn't take an 11s cassette - the spline pattern is right, the body is 2mm too short ...

Yep: my mistake. Standard 27mm lockrings are a dime a dozen. I found as many in my parts stash. The plan should be to sell the (rare) 26 lockring and more than recover the cost of a 27 lockring.

That's why I work on my own Campy equipped bikes. Nobody else ever knows the handshake, has the tools or knows how to do the work.

Santé you say...probably don't want any of that old crappy crap, probably should just sent it too me. It is hard to learn the campy handshake when you have nasty old crap cluttering everything up ; )

Yeah, I should probably just toss it out in the back yard or throw it in the garbage. I like the Sante and should leave well enough alone, but I just like tinkering too much.

Oh, and the 27mm lock ring I ordered worked perfectly. No issues with the older cassette and newer hub matching up.