hc167

I think some people may have asked this question but I will ask again. I have an old bike with 126mm dropout spacing and I have no intention for getting a new wheel or re-dish. I put a 7 speeds freewheel on it right now (it has 6 speeds originally) according to this crib sheet, Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Frame and Cassette Spacing Crib Sheet
since cog spacing is 5mm for shimano 7 speeds and campagnolo 8 speeds. is that mean I can install old campagnolo shifter/read derailleur to use egro? Are all campagnolo read derailleur going to work or only the one that was designed for 8 speeds? thanks for the help in advance.

jeirvine 

It will definitely work with an 8-sp Campy RD. I have that setup on my Masi. Not sure which other Campy RDs it will work with, but I think there was a change during the 9-speed era, at least in the Ergo pull ratio.

Dave Mayer

I have done this several times. Works perfectly. You need:

• 8-speed Ergopower shifters obviously
• 7-speed freewheel. Shimano HG37 is as good as it gets for about $20. All of the vintage freewheels will shift far worse than the current Hyperglide freewheels, no matter how much you spend.
• 7/8 speed chain. My favorite: Shimano IG.
• A Campy index-compatible rear derailleur from 1992 to about 2000. The newer derailleurs will work too, but not as well, and they will cost more. Ebay is the answer.

These derailleurs were nominally set up for a wider 8-speed cassette. Don't forget to adjust the limit screws to prevent overshifting into the spokes. My friend forget this, and on the first test ride and shift into cog #8 (i.e. - the spokes) the derailleur got torn apart, the (non-removable) hanger was torn off of the frame, and the whole mess landed up in the spokes, destroying the rear wheel.

tom25

If you use a shimano RD with 8speed ergos, it will shift a 6speed freewheel. I'm running that on my Ironman. For 7speed i would suggest new shimano tourney 7speed brifters. They don't look as good as ergos but for $80 shifters and cables they shift sweet! I'm running that on my Trek 660.

hc167

Do you mind tell me what is so special about campy made after 2000? and if I want to buy one from ebay, how do I identify that the RD is made before 2000? thanks

Drew Eckhardt 

There was an actuation ratio increase from 1.4 to 1.5 to reach all the way to the 10 speed big cog which extends left of the freehub splines without making a bigger shifter housing that would fit a larger take-up drum playing out more cable. To cut the number of different parts they needed to make they adopted the new geometry for 9 cog setups and built corresponding index cams.

Conventional B-tension screw instead of the worm gear on the lower pivot.

hc167

Thanks for this information. one more question. look like it is hard to get an old campy RD 8 speeds on ebay with good condition and good price. Do I have to go by 8 speeds RD or any campy RD of that era will work (such as 9 speed campy RD)? I know any 8-10 speeds RD for shimano will work except some DuraAce. not sure about campy.

Dave Mayer

Your expectation of a good price? I have bought about a dozen of these generation derailleurs off of Ebay and never paid more than $50. Everything from Avanti to Record will work.

In fact I recommend against Record, in that some of them seemed to have a design flaw that caused the casting around the top pivot bolt to crack.

The 8-speed Ergo-compatible rear derailleurs will all work. The early 9-speed units will also work, but not the later ones with the lower pivot worm gear as correctly pointed out by Mr. Eckhardt.

GrayJay

8 speed ergo on a index compatible 7-speed FW works great, spacing is exactly same 5.0mm as campy 8 speed. You might try a 9-speed chain for even crisper shifting. Campy 8 speed shifters and RD would not be expected to function well on a 5.5mm spacing 6-speed freewheel but it might be possible to get it to work on with an ultra-6 freewheel but these are fairly rare and I am not sure if they were ever made in index compatible spacing and tooth profiles.

For more detail on the old/new campy RD shift ratio distinction, see below from Shimergo | CTC[h=3]Old Campag[/h] By this we mean pre 2001 Campagnolo indexing equipment, but not their even older Victory and Triumph indexed gears – for which I have no data and which didn't index very well anyway. Prior to the turn of the century, Campag rear mechs had a low shift ratio of 1.4 and their shifters pulled a lot more cable than Shimano's. These mechs had their angle adjustment screw in the usual place, up where they fix to the frame and the shifters did not say how many speeds they were for.

[h=3]New Campag[/h] Then, in year 2000, Campag introduced 10-speed and new design of mech with a slightly bigger shift ratio – but still less than Shimano – and the angle adjuster down by the pulley cage. The next year (2001) they changed all their mechs to be like this and made new 9-speed Ergopower controls that pulled a bit less cable per click. Eight-speed had already been discontinued, so that's always old-style and 10-speed is always new-style, so 9-speed is the only area of confusion. Whereas old-style controls are blank or have the groupset printed on the front, new-style say "9-speed".

The good news is you can change the indexing ratchet inside the new-style controls and, for example, convert a new 10-speed shifter into old-style 9-speed.

Unlike Shimano, Campag's 9-speed mechs do not happily accept 8-speed chain, however their 9-speed chain runs okay on 8-speed sprockets, so best use that if you have to fit a new mech. And although in theory, this mech will overshift by 0.22mm per click in an old 8-speed system, Campag's website implies that it's near enough okay.

In 2009 a couple of top end Campag groups get an extra sprocket and initial measurements indicate that the 11-speed shifters ought to pull near enough the right amount of cable for 9-speed Shimergo. Beware that our information is provisional and these mix and match suggestions are as yet unconfirmed.

RobbieTunes

I say yes.