shinannegans

Howdy All,

I bought a used 52cm, '92 Bianchi Trofeo off CL. It's been well maintained and looks to have all the original parts. The reach is a bit much for me, so I was planning on getting a shorter stem(change from 80mm to 60mm). Since that involves removing the handlebars(and I was thinking to do this eventually), I figured I might as well change the down tube shifters to a brake shifter combo. I found some Campagnolo 2x10 brifters on Ebay, but wanted to see if anyone had any advice or words of caution before diving into this project.

Thanks!

shoota 

Use the Googles. There are thousands upon thousands of posts about this. Do a good read through and then come back with specific questions. The biggest thing you have to keep in mind with this type of conversion is the shifters, derailleurs, chain, cassette all have to play nicely together.

gearbasher

I've converted all my bikes from downtube to Campy ergos. Everything @shoota says applies. Also, the rear spacing might be an issue.

Mr. 66

I went with 3x10 Centaur with Triple Competition cranks building up a Miyata, I'm very happy with the Campagnolo performance. I'm not used to that many gears but thats not a bad thing.

icemilkcoffee 

Do you have all the other parts on hand, aside from the brifters? You would need a wheel with a Campy cassette hub, and those are not as easy to find as Shimano hub wheels. There is a 50/50 chance you might have to spread the frame open from 126mm to 130mm. I am very much not a fan of spreading frames.
I think the first thing you need to do is to take stock of what components are currently on the bike, and what the rear drop-out spacing is. Then you can decide what is the best course of action to convert the bike to brifters.

rjhammett

I would stay with the same brand shifters (Campy, Shimano, etc.) that the bike currently has. Shifter pull varies by brand so the easiest conversion would be to stay with the same brand and number of speeds to keep the cost and issues to a minimum. If it is a '92 it is probably 8 speed.

SJX426 

@shinannegans - I did that 8v shimano to 8v then 9v with triple on my Pinarello. If interested read Pinarello Montello component morphing - Bike Forums.

dddd

The 2x10 Campag shifters should work with any 9s Shimano rear derailer to correctly track/index all of the cogs on a Shimano 8s cassette.
Note that later (non-Ultrashift) Campag 10s LEFT levers may not have micro-click style "indexing", so may have to be paired with Campag front derailers instead of the variously branded (Huret, Shimano, etc.) front mech's that I used.

And on older steel frames, make sure that you make the cables run against plastic guide or liner/noodle down at the bottom bracket, for best shifting response. It's worth the effort, and even the shifting effort is reduced.

Yes I've done this, on a dumpster-sourced (then paint-stripped) Windsor Pro:


Same deal here, used only 7 of 8 cogs though, and on a 7s cassette hub:

lonesomesteve

+1 to this

I've set up several bikes with Campy ergo 10 speed shifters and Shimano 8 speed derailleurs and cassette, and they shift flawlessly. Search for "Shimergo" and you'll find a ton of info.

jdawginsc 

Isn't the Dura Ace 8 speed the one that doesn't play nicely with anytthing, or is that the 9 speed?

rjhammett

You can use a Shimano 9 speed shifter with Dura Ace 8 speed chain, cassette and rear derailleur. I have that setup on one of my Merckx bikes.

randyjawa 

You already have the Brifters and that is a great start...


You will need a down tube cable clamp or guides next...


You will need a wheel set, or at the very least a rear wheel and cassette assembly, next. To get the wider hub to fit you will have to spread your stays/drop outs a wee bit and equally to keep the wheel properly centered on the frame...


And, you will need a rear derailleur to suite a ten speed cog set...

lonesomesteve

This article has a chart that provides the various Shimano pull ratios and sprocket pitches including Dura Ace: https://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-l...gears/shimergo

icemilkcoffee 

The thing I dislike about Campy brifters on classic bikes, is that they all have hidden aero (under bar tape) shift cables. They exit from the bar tape and then have to make a sharp 90 degree turn to get to the cable stops on the DT. And it will rub on the side of the headtube. You could also route it by going past the front of the headtube, and then looping back over to the cable stop (ie. make the two shift cables cross each other in front of and then behind the headtube) That routing works, but then you have to make a tight turn just behind the headtube.
I'd rather go with Shimano or Microshift with the external cabling. You can trim the cable such that it does not touch the headtube when you are in the straight ahead position. Microshift is probably the best with its downward pointing cable exit.

P!N20

If you're lucky enough to have under BB shell cable routing, you can cross over the front of the head tube to the opposite shifter boss, then cross the cables under the down tube.

Dfrost 

+1 to the crossed housings with under-BB cable routing as shown ^ by @P!N20. I also exit both shift and brake housings from the bar tape a few wraps before the finishing tape to reduce the bend radius, visible in this shot. Bar wrapping, however, is a bit trickier.

EnzoRWD

I was going to offer my advice after converting 3 bikes to campy ergo levers but everyone already covered the basics.

I do want to say I never thought I'd see a Schwinn Varsity with carbon ergo levers <slow clap> Wow.

SJX426 

@P!N20 and @Dfrost - I looked at that and didn't think it would clear the down tube. Don't know if I have enough cable left to convert!

Dfrost 

I suspect the cable crossing approach wouldn’t have worked with my Klein and its fat tubes (never tried it back then), but no problem with “standard” steel tube diameters, or even one size up as on my former Riv Rambouillet. I do put a piece of clear tape on the underside of the DT above where the cable cross to protect against cables bouncing on rough roads, although that’s probably not needed. And there’s zero effect on shifting in friction or cable wear. Been doing this for almost 20 years with no problems.

smontanaro 

As long as we're covering the entire space, when did Campy stop supporting down tube shifters for indexing? Maybe 8sp Record (early 90s according to Velobase)?

P!N20

Believe it or not, 9 speed downtube shifters were included in the 2001 spare parts catalog; albeit in a limited capacity: https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site...e_page_37.html

squirtdad

Shimano got rid of the external cabling with 10 speed versions