CheGiantForLife

TL/DR
The broken derailleur is a 2009-2014 Campagnolo Chorus H11 medium cage.
Not EPS. Not short cage. Not later "H0".
Record or Super Record of the same generation would also work.
Where can he post a thread seeing if someone is selling a spare ?


Tonight I went to my bi-weekly group road ride and was cranking along, feeling strong, and we came to one of the steep hills the ride leader likes to make us endure. I'm way out front, then CRUNCH, a sickening sound comes from the rear of the bike. I fortunately stopped pedaling in time to see that the rear derailleur came completely loose and had almost lodged in the spokes.

I stopped to figure out what happened. Somehow the rear derailleur hanger broke clean off. The hanger is a poorly designed crappy part of this bike, so I normally carry a spare hanger in my seat bag. I thought I was all Mr. smart guy for being so prepared, until I realized that the hanger I brought would not actually fit. Or rather, it would fit, but the screws that hold it on do not fit -- the aftermarket manufacturer of the hanger didn't bother to machine the holes to match the original screws that came with the bike (which were what was on it).

It kills me that at home, I had two perfectly good hangers that I had paid a guy to machine for me, and I knew they worked. Why I threw that unproven aftermarket one in my bag, I have no idea. I don't even remember where I bought it from.

I took an Uber back to my car (first time I've been in one for like 13 months or something), then drove home. When I put the bike on the stand and replaced the hanger, I noticed the real screwjob -- a retaining tab on the body of the derailleur sheared clean off in the crunching, rendering it useless. Even if I replaced the hanger on the roadside with the correct one, it wouldn't have mattered. The rear d. is fuggled.

Slim chance I can find a pre-2014 Campagnolo Chorus/Record rear d. now. Sure, I could replace the whole drivetrain with new, but I finally just found a new job and can't spend $1500+ on a 7 year old frame.

machinist42

I am Fred.

cb400bill

Merged three identical threads. Please do not cross post across multiple forums.

Atlas Shrugged

You should have asked the Freds you dropped as they passed you.

cb400bill

You need only post the topic once. Posting in multiple locations creates multiple streams of commentary to which many forum members are not even aware of the other comments. It also fragments the ability of members and staff to answer and potentially solve a member's problem.

kingston 

When I break old parts I save a search on ebay. Eventually something comes up that will work.

AdkMtnMonster

Is it the OP’s deraileur or his friend’s? I’m so confused. I even read the post three times. That didn’t help.

CheGiantForLife

Friend. I myself own a $200 bike that is 15 years old.

Sy Reene

Try the WTB forum here, or also at Paceline.net classifieds, where a WTB post is allowed.

DaveSSS 

If all you can find is a 2015+ RD, it will work too.

CheGiantForLife

Are you sure about that? Friend said stuff changes is not retro fitting

CheGiantForLife

paceline.net is a dead domain

unterhausen

We allow wtb postings for upgraded members. That costs $3 for a month trial membership. This one would probably belong in the road forum marketplace. Paceline forums don't allow new members to post want ads until they have been there a while and have 50 posts, IIRC.

DaveSSS 

Try asking this question on the paceline forum. I've measured the cable pulls on both shifters with a precision dial indicator setup and know that the pulls are not the same, but having a little more pull than necessary with the 2015+ model is better than coming up short. The resident expert who's repaired hundreds of Campy shifters, thinks that this is OK.

I wrote up a word document on this topic several years ago:

I made at least five runs through all 10 shifts on both models, to determine repeatability and get the best average value for each shift. Most shifts repeated within .004 inch or .1mm. For reference, a piece of notebook paper measures about .003 inch thick. Below are the cable pulls, in millimeters. Total travel was 27.3mm for the 2009 shifters and 29.8mm for the 2015+ shifters. That’s a difference of 2.5mm. If measurements are taken from the exposed cable on a bike, using a machinist’s rule, the first shift pull is likely to be less, since the limit screw affects the total pull and so does the initial cable tension.

blakcloud

https://forums.thepaceline.net/

shelbyfv

Did he ask for your help? If that's his narrative in the OP he comes off as a butthead. Maybe let him figure it out for himself since he's such a stud. Anyway, ebay seems the obvious solution.

AdkMtnMonster

I’m wondering why the friend can’t just get a heavier derailleur to get a better workout?

rosefarts

I think, through the word salad here, that I know the part you broke. I broke one too on a little bit older Campagnolo derailleur. The tab that holds spring tension at the hanger. It's cheap and takes a couple minutes to replace.

One of the primary reasons to own Campagnolo is that it's never really wrecked. Just replace what's broken.

I use Brandford Bike to order parts. They definitely have the piece you broke.

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RGMN

Campagnolo 2011-2014 Chorus Service Derailleur You can swap the cage from your existing derailleur if you really need the medium cage.

50PlusCycling

This is why it is important to make sure the derailleur travel limit screws are adjusted from time to time, the screws can wander, as many people have discovered the hard way. The derailleur can be repaired with a $25 part, the repair takes about 15 minutes, the derailleur usually does need the cable or chain removed unless you want to do a good cleaning. The derailleur hanger on the frame may also be bent or misaligned, and will have to be checked.

CheGiantForLife

UPDATE

Wanted to follow up on this, as it's now become laughably absurd. The whole bike industry and its supply chain has ground to a complete halt, and my bike has the drivetrain equivalent of a 80's Lamborghini motor in terms of serviceability.

The bike shop (where I bought my new gravel bike) said sure, no problem, we can fix the busted rear derailleur piece on your road bike. I dropped it off there almost two weeks ago and never heard anything back, so I called them. They finally gave me the answer that no, they cannot fix it, it cannot be fixed by a shop. I was like, uh, thanks for letting me know, jerks.

The issue is that the busted piece is held on by a ring that is press-fit onto a bolt at the factory with some sort of hydraulic press. Not sure how you remove the ring without destroying the bolt. It's a ridiculously bad design. The earlier designs used a simple removable circlip. The shop said I might be able to send it back to Campagnolo USA and they could do it. I've called and emailed Campy USA but haven't heard back from them. Sounds like they don't want to deal with it.

I'm willing to buy a new derailleur unit and replace the whole thing, I could do that myself, but there are none available anywhere. Zero. I'm also willing to replace the front and rear ones to upgrade to a later generation, but that requires replacing the shifters/brake levers as well. I'd do that, but there are none available either. Only parts that seem to be possibly available are the top-of-the-line absurdly overpriced Super Record versions. Those would cost about $3K. I'm not putting $3K of parts on a seven-year-old bike worth maybe $2K in working condition. Better option is to buy a new bike and strip the usable parts off the old one for sale on Ebay.

So, I'm now shopping for a new bike. Problem is, complete new bikes are almost impossible to find. I can buy a bare frameset, but I'm not sure I can find the parts to make a complete bike. I'm looking now, and if I can even find them, I'll be ordering from like five different vendors. What a ****show.

I contacted one of the biggest dealers on the west coast, a place called Wrench Science, and they told me they have zero bikes in inventory. A bike shop with no bikes. They said they are taking orders for next season. As in, pay now, you might get a new bike next April. Ridiculous.

CheGiantForLife

My reply? Moral of the story is to ride a $300 Giant, like I do.

CheGiantForLife

Can you help me identify & find the part ?

CheGiantForLife

To which I replied:

I’d rethink that stance. Your alternative is spending $3k or whatever on a totally new bike. Pay the $275 and make the problem go away. What you paid in the past is not relevant. Buy it before the option is gone.

I just paid $200 for a used replacement 2014 motherboard for my 2014 PC. Alternative would be to buy new CPU, RAM, MB, etc and drop $1200. I ate the $200 and again have a working PC again, and no hassles of a new build.

Another way to think about it is either pay $275 for one overpriced part... Or by a dozen new parts all with bloated COVID shortage prices...

shelbyfv

Yep. You need a better selection of friends, this one is a moron.