Campagnolo Veloce shifter with all shimano drivetrain

Hi all,

After my 105 brifters died I decided to replace them with Campagnolo 10sp as a number of sources said it was OK. The Shimano is an 8sp triple. As it turns out the rear derailleur shifts fine but the front is quite a challenge. Maybe I was too cheap when I decided to go for the cheaper QS shifter as opposed to non-QS (the guy at the store could not tell me what the difference was...).

First, I am quite confused as to what QS actually does. It looks like it is trimable on the way up (pulling cable) but shimano-like indexed on the way down. Is that the difference with QS ?

Front shifting is also quite hard (no "one finger" shifting, barely "two finger"...); the cable pull must be different.

Finally, and this is the biggest problem, adjusting the derailleur is quite a challenge. At times it goes straight down 52to30 (52to42 is impossible). I seem to be able to fix this by unscrewing the top stop screw on the FD but then the chain will go all the way past the 52 to the crank.

I am wondering what would be the way out of this... Replace my QS ergos with non-QS (If the store will take them back)? Replace my 105 front derailleur with a (presumably QS) campagnolo? Or find a real good campagnolo repair guy to sort it out?

All help is welcome!

Thks !

When associated with the Centaur/Veloce/Mirage shifters, the 'QS' designation is a euphemism for "XENON-based mechanism" vs. the ERGO mechanism found in most of the rest of the pre-2009 shifters which Campagnolo has produced ...

FWIW. I believe that the problem you are encountering is indeed because you chose the Campagnolo QS shifters ... it is, like Shimano & Sram shifters, very front-derailleur-and-chain specific.

As far as how much exertion you need to shift the front derailleur, check your cable's routing to ensure that it isn't binding underneath the BB, etc.

As far as shifting with only one finger -- while I can downshift with one finger on the thumb shifters when I am too lazy to move my hands, I guess I really never thought about pushing the shift paddle with only one finger before you mentioned it!

Unfortunately, while the QS shifters are almost as good as the "more expensive" non-QS Campagnolo shifters, the QS shifters definitely have some limitations ... particularly, the front shifter probably MUST use a QS front derailleur.

If you had a set of Campagnolo ERGO shifters, then you could use almost ANY front derailleur -- I prefer to use the Shimano 6500 & 6503 front derailleurs with my Campagnolo ERGO shifters.

So, your best option is to buy a Campagnolo Veloce QS (triple) front derailleur ...

I don't know whether the chain you currently have on your bike will work efficiently with a QS derailleur, or not; but, when you do buy your next chain (if not this weekend!) then you'll probably want to buy a 10-speed Campagnolo chain, too ...

BTW. Only because I have a stash of 9-speed Shimano chains, I might try one before acknowledging that I would need to buy-and-use a 10-speed Campagnolo chain if I had your drivetrain setup.

Alfeng,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I went to my LBS and was told that my left lever was defective... which is sort of a good thing because they can return it and upgrade to a non-QS Veloce that I should receive tomorrow. From what I could see of how the QS works, I like the older non-QS much better (small increments both ways).

Follow-up

So the non-QS left shifter arrived and all is well now, even with my shimano FD. It shifts perfectly and is better quality than the cheaper QS. After all I wish I had gone for the non-QS right shifter too for multiple shifts up and down.

So it does work; but for those who try remember : all campy shifters are not created equal !

With any luck, you'll be able to switch the rest of the Shimano kit to Campy, too!

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FWIW, I'm using an older (9 speed) Ultegra front derailleur with QS no wucking forries. Used it with the non-QS too, no problemo there. Doubles though, not triples.

BTW, this site was very useful figuring out compatible combinations:

Wheelworks.co.nz

Pretty groovy, kinda like babelfish.com and online language translation but it's not entirely correct, like with chainrings but pretty dern close!

'd'love to, still I would miss my 14-30 touring (homemade) cassette!