skillasw

Hello Mechanic group!

I'm wondering if any manufacturer makes a replacement freehub body, that is a Campy Record exa-drive (8speed), for use on a modern wheelset? I would like to think this would be possible on a Campagnolo hub, but their site has no info on 8-speed freehub bodies. Or is possible to take an exa-drive freehub body and install it on a different hub, would any hubs be compatible? I have a couple bikes set up with 8-speed record, and have no desire to change the entire groupset just so I can run a modern wheelset. I figure there must be a demand, the mid 90's record is made so well it's going to last another 20years I'm sure, it works perfectly! It would be nice though to have the option of running a new set of wheels. I'm not stuck on brands or anything just want to know if there are options out there. I heard of people modifying 9speed hubs with different spacers, but I have a supply of 8 speed cogs that are brand new. Any info would be appreciated!

HillRider

One question that comes to mind is what to you mean by a "modern wheelset"? Deep section carbon rims? Low spoke count? Tubeless tire rims? What's wrong with the wheels you have now? If four generation out-of-date components are good, what's wrong with the contemporary wheels they are used on?

Bike Gremlin

Shimano 8 speed cassettes have a very similar sprocket spacing. They might work satisfactory, depending on your criteria of "good shifting".
Borrowing an 8 speed Shimano wheel would be a cheap way to test before buying anything. Do test while riding, not just on the stand, just in case.

You could also swap the whole hub and install it on another rim (if that's an option) - unless looking for different type spoke attachment (some more exotic).

skillasw

Nothing wrong with the wheels that I have, they also work well. I guess it is one part ascetics, another wondering how new wheel compare to vintage, I have only ever ridden on 20+ year old wheels, and curious to see if it can be done. Also some new wheels seem to very well priced. I'm building up a 2006 Bianchi Pinella Boron with 96 titanium record and the bike came stock with Campy sciricco, with the black spokes and exotic spoke pattern it would look pretty cool. But of course not necessary. Ya, on the shimano, I was actually wondering if that was possible, no shortage of those around. Yes i could also swap the rim, It would just be so convenient to swap the freehub body....

Spaghetti Legs 

An 8 speed Exa Drive cassette will fit on a Campy 10 speed free hub, just line up the small notch with small spline and slide it on! I seem to remember reading once, however, that the steel cogs tend to wear the aluminum free hub splines more quickly. You might also need an extra spacer on the inside of the cassette. Certainly, since it sounds like you have all the parts on hand, worth it to give it a go.

Also I’m 90% sure the 8 speed freehub is the same 3 pawl mechanism as the mid 00’s 10 speed so easy enough to put one on your more modern hub if needed. You can check the archived parts catalogs on the Campy web site to make sure.

https://www.campagnolo.com/US/en/Sup...#documentation

HillRider

Campy's own Veloce 10-speed cassettes have all-steel cogs and all loose (i.e. not mounted on spiders) and these don't have any problems on Campy 10-speed aluminum freehub bodies. The splines are tall enough to protect themselves.

I have a 10-speed Chorus hub from 2006 that has about 40,000 miles, almost all with 13x29 Veloce cassettes, and the splines are in good shape.

Spaghetti Legs 

Yes I figured as much but if true, it probably has something to do with the imperfect fit between the two standards.

skillasw

Great! This is what i was hoping. I give em a try! Cheers!

skillasw

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Just a follow up, as I found a solution. I purchased a new pair of Ventos, and ended up using 9 speed campy cassette cogs, with 8 speed spacers, and 1.5mm spacer at the bottom. As the gap between the first and second cog is fixed, I compensated by setting the derailleur 1mm off. I also used a campy 9 speed chain as the kmc.8.93 was rubbing on the first cog. Shifts great! A little quirky at first but success! The 8 speed cog definitely do fit, but the lockring is a different size. A whole whack of 9 and 10 speed cogs came up on ebay for cheap with lockrings so I jumped on that.

Kontact 

You can also get affordable Campy-compatible 8 speed cassettes from Miche.

SkyDog75

You sure about this? Looking at the different spline patterns on Branford Bike's web site (linked below), they don't look like they'd fit. 9-speed cassettes will fit a 10/11 speed hub, though, by lining up the small notch like you described. (Maybe you meant 9 instead of 8?)

https://branfordbike.com/new-page-1/

He's got cassettes. He's looking for hubs or freehub bodies that'll let him fit them to modern wheels.

Glad you got it working! ...although your setup may not be exactly a perfect match for the original 8-speed cog spacing.

Assuming Sheldon Brown's numbers are correct, Campagnolo's 8-speed cogs are 1.9 mm thick and spacers are 3.1 mm, resulting in 5.0 mm cog spacing. 9-speed cogs are 1.75 mm and spacers are 2.8 mm. 9 speed cogs paired with 8-speed spacers will result in 4.85 mm spacing, or 0.15 mm off per shift. So if you calibrate your indexing at one end of the cluster, you'll have a cumulative error of a little over a millimeter at the opposite cog.

Wheels Mfg. used to offer a "SHIFT-8" cassette spacer kit for using 9-speed cogs as an 8-speed cassette, just as you're doing. They've been practically impossible to find online for a number of years, but according to this thread, Boulder Bicycle was still able to source them as of late 2015.

Kontact 

You could cut 6 rings out of clear plastic cover sheet which would add about .15mm each. Kinkos, scissors, 10 minutes.

skillasw

MMM that makes sense why it took a while to setup and still doesn't shift 'perfect' but it works pretty good! Thanks for the info. The spacer kit you are taking about has a 1mm spacer before the cogs, all i had was a 1.6 or 1.5mm so that must compensate a little I didn't think about the spacer making up for the thinner cog, of course! I did see one of those kit on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Campagnolo-...BkRaTXzy....it tempting, how much is perfect shifting worth. Cheers!

skillasw

I was just thinking the same thing, 'what could I add in there, or should put a slightly bigger spacer every 2 or 3rd one'. I saw some Miche on ebay and almost went for it, but in an ideal world i could get an affordable titanium 8-speed they have the same pattern as 9-speed.