palladio

I've never stopped riding my pre 1982 Colnagos, and still use Campagnolo friction shifting. I recently made the "mistake" of building up a commuter bike with Shimano Ultegra indexed shifting, and I love it. Now I'd really like to have a similar system on one of my old Colnago road bikes!

So....I've got a 1979 Colnago Super with a Campy Super Record Grouppo from the early 80's, that I want to convert. Other than swapping in a rear wheel with a cassette, spreading the rear stays, and changing out the chain, derailleurs and shifters, what else would I need to change? Are the old Super Record chainrings compatible with the newer indexed systems or do I need new front chainrings? Can I use the newer Campy brifters with my older Campy brakes, or do I need to replace the brake calipers as well?

I've found a rear wheel I can buy for a reasonable price with with a Campy Record Exa-Drive 8spd cassette. Is this a good starting point? Would I have to use a Campy derailleur and brifters with this, or is Shimano compatible with this freewheel?

Or maybe it would be easier to keep the front derailleur as is, and just convert the rear to index/ergo? Maybe use bar end shifters for that instead of brifters?

Thanks for any and all advice. If there's a link someone knows about that explains all this, please post it.

dabac

Brakes will be fine, no problem there. If you stay at 9 speed the cranks will be fine too. Have no experience of 10-speed.
Keep in mind that there are at least two versions of indexing Campy, "old", with pointy brifters, and "new" with rounder brifters. There's a bunch of rules and restrictions about how old, new and Shimano may be combined.
Here's a link:

If you stay with a Campy front brifter that isn't QS, it has such a fine number of detents that it's rumored to shift just about anything w/o issues.

Ira B

Oh how could you!

**I feel queasy now**

tanguy frame

I just completed something similar.
Campy neuvo record from 1970's to modern 10 speed.
I got new wheels 130mm. No need to spread the frame, just muscle it into the 126mm dropouts.
I got campy 10 speed cassette and chain. Kept the cranks the same.
New 10 speed rr derailleur, kept the front the same.
got 10 sp brifters from ebay; right is all you need, but it's nice to have a left one too for consistency. Hoods if you want them.
cables, housing, new tape?
It'll ride, then you can decide how much further you want to go.

HillRider

Avoid campy 8-speed. It's an orphan, not supported by Campy and replacement parts are both hard to find and expensive. At a minimum use the second generation Campy 9-speed (the one that's 9/10-speed compatible) or, better yet, current 10-speed.

BCRider

The crank arms are fine but you'll want to swap over to new chainrings. The newer indexing rings use ramps and pins to aid in catching and lifting the chain onto the bigger rings during a change up. And the rings also have cut away teeth to aid in allowing the chain to step over and drop away more nicely. The old non indexed stuff didn't have these features.

There's actually a lot to recomend the idea of keeping the simpler friction shifting on the front. First off with only two or maybe three rings it's not hard to find them with a friction lever. Second you've got infinite ability for trimming the front to avoid cage chatter in any possible gear combo.

palladio

So there's no problem using a 10 Speed rear cassette with the older (pre-index) Campagnolo Record chainrings in front? I would have thought the front rings would be too wide to take the narrower chain. I don't really care if the cassette is 8, 9 or 10 speed. That's already more gears than I'm used to having, so as long as it shifts well I'll be happy.

Also, are you shifting your old NR front derailleur with the brifter or still using the downtube shifter? I'd definitely want both shifters on the bars, whether it's brifters or barcons.

bboy314

On the topic of new cassettes with old chainrings, I've updated an old Fuji touring bike (1983) with a 9spd cassette and chain, leaving the original cranks/chainrings and derailleurs, with no problem whatsoever. So the 9spd at least should work.

Al1943

I think it's a big mistake to screw up such a classic bike. Leave it alone and ride it with pride.

FastJake

+1

This isn't some low end dime-a-dozen boom bike. At the very least, keep all the old parts so you can convert it back someday. Since you already have a "modern" bike I'd seriously consider leaving that one alone.

palladio

I get where you're coming from. Look, I'm a guy who has never owned an STI set up until 2011, and that is only on a commuter I built up on a Cannondale CAAD4 from 2001. The bike I want to convert is a 79 Colnago Super that I rescued from the junk heap, repainted, and built up myself from Campy parts bought on Ebay.

I'm about as much of a fan of old bikes as you will find. I own four pre 1982 Colnagos, all of which I restored. But come on, it's nice to have index shifting on a daily rider. I've found myself not putting enough miles on my vintage bikes ever since I discovered modern technology last year. I just want to build out one of my bikes with a good modern setup.

dabac

So what's "better"? A modified bike getting ridden, or a period perfect bike left unused in a shed somewhere? As long as it's bolt-on/bolt-off I have no qualms about changing the setup on a bike.

Kimmo

Hardcore purists seem to miss the whole 'best of both worlds' idea.

To a certain extent, componentry is kinda consumable; if wear doesn't do the job, obsolescence will. As long as the nicest antiques are preserved for posterity, I see nothing wrong with modifying an old school machine to take modern bits... I'd regard say, converting the original fork to threadless as pretty cool.

If you ride it, use it up then fix it up. Fine old Italian steel proudly sporting the latest Campy is a glorious thing.

HillRider

That takes it out of the "collector" status right there. What you now have is a nice older Italian frame that happens to have been built by Colnago. There is nothing original about it anymore.

Go to it and modernize it as you see fit. I would keep the Campy parts you acquired or sell them as they probably have value to a C&V restorer.

One caveat we always give posters wanting to "upgrade" an older bike; be aware the costs can escalate very quickly. It sounds like you can do your own work and are aware of the compatibility issues but watch that the changes don't cost more than a new or recent used complete bike. Again, stay away from 8-speed Campy.

fietsbob

take every thing off, buy all new stuff . and have it installed. , steel frame ?
if not 8 speed already there needs to be some cold setting..
to get a 130 axle rear wheel in..

the top line stuff is all Nigel Tufnel now, goes to 11.

tanguy frame

1- no problem with the original cranks and chainrings, but eventually I did get a SRAM 10 speed compact crank.
2 - I am using a brifter to shift the front. before I had the brifter I used an old shimano bar end shifter.

tanguy frame

don't listen to anybody who wants you to keep the bike in it's pristine 1980's condition. upgrading to modern 10 speed was the best thing I ever did to my steel frame. it's such a joy to ride. before, I'd always select the moots with modern gears. Now the moots hangs in the garage

FastJake

Ok, you guys have actually changed my mind. Do what you want to the bike. As long as you're going this far, I'd put a Shimano group on, but that's just because I'd never buy anything indexed from Campy. Their stuff becomes obsolete and impossible to find too quickly.

Kimmo

1. You don't need to cold-set your frame if you use an off-centre rim.

2. Ergo pwns STI.

palladio

Interesting. Would you care to elaborate on both points?

Snydermann

"I'm keeping the Colnago original."

The perfect excuse to buy (and potentially save) a vintage bike with indexed shifting.

Kimmo

If your frame is 126mm OLD, that means the centre point between the flanges will move 2mm to the left if you stick an 8/9/10spd cassette body on and re-space the hub. OCRs have spoke holes offset to the left by something like 6mm or more, so you can build an 8/9/10spd wheel @126 with less dish than a 130mm one with a normal rim. 120mm should even be doable. Or, you could run an OCR @ 130 or even 135mm for a totally bomb-proof wheel. OCRs are pure win, and a very underrated development.

I'm not a Campy tragic, so I'm not pimping Ergos out of blind loyalty (I think Campy freehubs are an abomination), but simply because they are the most elegant and robust brifter design. I've overhauled both STIs (which is nearly impossible) and Ergos (pretty straightforward), and I can tell you STI guts are a finicky mess while Ergo guts make total sense by comparison. Because the upshift lever moves opposite to the downshift button, it's a very simple system next to STI or (I assume) Doubletap. Some Record models chased too many grams and weren't made strong enough around the spring carriers, and many models have an indexing system that isn't as good as the original one, and yes, they come in 8,9,10 and 11spd, so it's a complicated picture and you need to do your research. But unlike Shimano, Campy sells spares for the more recent models, and you can usually swap the indexing bit for one with more clicks if necessary. Plus, they look way better.