Update on Campy 8 Speed Shifters upgrade
 

Hello All,


Last year I picked up a set of Campy Ergo 8 speed shifters (brifters). This was to replace the Syncro II DT shifters (7 speed). And using with a Shimano 7 speed HG cassette. The setup sort of worked. I'm using the Campy Syncro II Athena RD. However, I was experiencing a jumping around of the chain, while shifting between the middle sprockets. After a little finessing , I could get the chain to stay put. After some research, I discovered the Syncro II RD is an in-line parallelogram and the 8 speed RD's are slant- parallelogram . Well blow my skirt up.


So I started looking for a Campy 8 speed RD . I found several , popping up on Ebay, but to expensive or crappy condition. Finally, a Campy Racing Triple , with long cage appeared. I jumped on it ($50) and scratch free. Yes, a nice, long cage, shiny, 8 Speed Campy RD, the Campy Gods are watching out for me.


It arrived yesterday, cleaned, polished, lubed , and installed . Wow ! The shifting is perfect. My Concorde is going to be fun to ride again. And, best of all, I'm running a 13-34T HG cassette. Screwed the "B" screw in all the way, the jockey wheel clears the 34T cog by 3 mm.


Put the bike on my Turbo stand, and shifts perfect, under pressure. Now, need to take it for a spin.


Now, all I want to find , is a Shiny Alloy 34/50 Campy crank set, that will fit to my Campy , square taper BB. KB

Good work. I've used Campy 8 ergo, 8 speed Campy RD, and 7 speed freewheels to good effect on several bikes. About to do it on another soon.

I'll let you know, starting to rain. Its got to be better , than what is was with the Campy Syncro. On the turbo stand, was very good. KB

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c645287e2.jpg
Here it is, Campy Racing Triple with Shimano 7 speed 13-34 cassette. KB

Sprocket spacing for Campagnolo 8 speed is the same as 7 speed. I have a bike with 8 speed Campagolo brifters and have used it with various 7 speed freewheels and a Shimano 8 speed spaced with the Wheels MFR red spacer kit and it all works just fine. Derailleur is the Racing Triple with the long cage from 1997.

8 speed campy, mirage, was the only brifter setup I ever really liked. Shifted perfectly.

When on a 22 mi. Test ride, Wow, perfect shifting. Guess Syncro II RD wasnt made to work with Ergo shifters. KB

Where do you store this bike?
One look at the setup and then the ride report has me feeling thefty…
:innocent:

Really nice to hear. That Racing T RD was a serious score. Serious.

I could see a Thunder Ridge in that setup being just a gas.

This is all kinds of good news since I have tended to remove triple gruppos from many of my used-bike purchases, so have the parts already.
Especially since the double rear derailers fetch such a premium and seem to just about never come into the co-ops as donations.

I might do a similar setup using a 13-30 HG cassette, but 13-34t would be incredible. I have used an 11-34t cassette with an Ultegra 9s RD but it does shift with a clunk up to the largest cog.
I've found the ratio gaps on the 13-34t to be the biggest I can go without it becoming a real performance issue.
SRAM offers 7s cassettes these days that are much lighter, have a much nicer finish and with slightly different ratio staging, so are another excellent option here.

Depending on the chainring size difference, the chain gap might fall out of the range that the B-tension screw can fully accomodate, though of course the long cage gives it the best chance of working well.

Shimano 7s cog spacing is about the same as Campag 8s, but note that the 2-3 cog spacer (between 2nd and 3rd-smallest cogs) is 3.3mm instead of 3.1mm like the rest of the plastic spacers. The 3.3mm spacer has a darker color. It can be replaced with a 3.1mm spacer if there is any indication that this would help with the indexing.

Lastly, there are now eight ShiftMate adapters available for mixing and matching campag and Shimano parts (even for the new Campag 12s shifters, so you could literally run a 10-51t cassette with Ergolevers if you buy the right parts).

All bikes are stored in my humidity controlled "Man Cave". Use to be the kids family room in my finished basement, now that they are gone, it's all mine. Only when ridden, are they exposed to atmospheric conditions. Anyway, my earlier bikes (Huffy, Ciocc & Concorde) were always stored inside . Since my finished basement, all are stored inside.
"Thunder Ridge" ???
KB.

Edit: I've been looking for some time for a 8 Speed Campy RD, I didn't realize such a long cage existed. As soon as I saw it, I pushed the "Buy it now" button. KB

Yep, I was surprised that all I had to do, was screw the B screw in, all the way. I was prepared to install a Road Link, but did't. However, I did remove one chain link. Cross Chaining is not an issue for me. This is mainly my flatish, riding bike, but if I encounter a small hill, a 30 inch gear will work for my 72 year old legs. I have other bikes , built for real climbing . KB

Hmmm... I think I have a winter project to take the Stan Pike into the current century. Thanks OP!!! Now to find the parts... : - /

The Storming of Thunder Ridge. Challenge, Fun, Support.

Thanks, got it.KB

I am ignorant about the structural differences between the long cage double and triple Campag RDs. Could someone point me to the correct information or lacking that, edumacate me pleeze? Are the differences irrelevant to the above discussion because the doubles simply don't work?

I've looked at posts here "help educate me on Campy Ergoshift..." and read the artscyclery blog post "Science behind the magic" but I am still not clear about the difference between Campag double and triple RDs.

Thanks, great idea. Just sacrificed a 7 speed cassette and salvage a 3.1 mm spacer . Good project for tomorrow, as it will be raining for 2 days. Might as well make this 13x34 casstte perfect. Why is that one spacer 3.3mm ?KB