Campy with Shimano



boudie

New Member
Feb 3, 2004
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I was out riding over the weekend and my chain was broke on one side. It was skipping and I soft pedaled to the closest LBS. I do not frequent the LBS in this area because of the attitude of $5/hr bike "experts" I figured I would bite the bullet and pay top $$$ ($40-50) for a chain to continue my ride. The kids in the shop showed me their chains and the cheapest was $69 for a SRAM! They "recommended" the Campy Chorus and really the Record for $80!!! I asked them if they had Shimano chains....ooooh we have seen so many Ultegra chains break! Shimano chains suck! :mad: Campy chains can work with Shimano....ooh yes they are the best....no problem. :rolleyes:

My question other than a new lubrication for bending over at the LBS :) is this: Does Campy chains work with Shimano? I rode 60 miles yesterday and it seems ok. I really want to go back to the LBS and return the chain and complain to the owner. The shop is in a "rich" area and it's disgusting what this sport has become. The LBS is a snotty Seven dealer as well. I used the bathroom and saw two slips for one guys getting two Seven's totalling $20k. These LBS owners or manufacturers must laugh all the way to the bank!
 
I know that one can use a Shimano 10 cassette on a Campy 10 bike, so I would assume the chain is of similar dimensions.

Don't know about durability of Shimano chains, haven't heard any serious complaints. I just retired a Campy 10 chain after three years. Was still within stretch limits, but I thought - better to replace it at my leisure than have it go wrong on the road.
 
boudie said:
I was out riding over the weekend and my chain was broke on one side. It was skipping and I soft pedaled to the closest LBS. I do not frequent the LBS in this area because of the attitude of $5/hr bike "experts" I figured I would bite the bullet and pay top $$$ ($40-50) for a chain to continue my ride. The kids in the shop showed me their chains and the cheapest was $69 for a SRAM! They "recommended" the Campy Chorus and really the Record for $80!!! I asked them if they had Shimano chains....ooooh we have seen so many Ultegra chains break! Shimano chains suck! :mad: Campy chains can work with Shimano....ooh yes they are the best....no problem. :rolleyes:

My question other than a new lubrication for bending over at the LBS :) is this: Does Campy chains work with Shimano? I rode 60 miles yesterday and it seems ok. I really want to go back to the LBS and return the chain and complain to the owner. The shop is in a "rich" area and it's disgusting what this sport has become. The LBS is a snotty Seven dealer as well. I used the bathroom and saw two slips for one guys getting two Seven's totalling $20k. These LBS owners or manufacturers must laugh all the way to the bank!

New Campy chains are 5.90 mm wide and Shimano 10s are 6.0 so Campy should work fine. Original Campy 10s were 6.2mm wide and were a bit wide for the S10 drivetrain. If yours is working fine, then I would ride it until it needs replacement. By the way, Ultegra chains are generally fine, but are more susceptible to installation error that leads to higher rates of breakage. Sram is more idiotproof.
 
Yo Boudiequake,

YOU was ROBBED there bro!

I see Shimano DA 10 chains on sale at www.performacebikes.com for $33.99 & Campy Record 10 (ultra narrow) for $54.99.

Next time hitch hike home and order your parts online OR don't complain about your "favorite" LBD!

Hope they didn't bang you for installation too!!!!!


boudie said:
I was out riding over the weekend and my chain was broke on one side. It was skipping and I soft pedaled to the closest LBS. I do not frequent the LBS in this area because of the attitude of $5/hr bike "experts" I figured I would bite the bullet and pay top $$$ ($40-50) for a chain to continue my ride. The kids in the shop showed me their chains and the cheapest was $69 for a SRAM! They "recommended" the Campy Chorus and really the Record for $80!!! I asked them if they had Shimano chains....ooooh we have seen so many Ultegra chains break! Shimano chains suck! :mad: Campy chains can work with Shimano....ooh yes they are the best....no problem. :rolleyes:

My question other than a new lubrication for bending over at the LBS :) is this: Does Campy chains work with Shimano? I rode 60 miles yesterday and it seems ok. I really want to go back to the LBS and return the chain and complain to the owner. The shop is in a "rich" area and it's disgusting what this sport has become. The LBS is a snotty Seven dealer as well. I used the bathroom and saw two slips for one guys getting two Seven's totalling $20k. These LBS owners or manufacturers must laugh all the way to the bank!
 
Been riding Ultegra chains for years with no problems, get the 9 speeders on sale at Performance for about 18 bucks.
 
Thanks guys for the help. I talked to my normal LBS who are very helpful. He said that Ultegra chains are fine but the Campy Record chain is a fine chain. It's $65 in the normal bike shops and should last longer than DA chains. It runs ok so I'm just going to bite the bullet and chalk another one up to experience. He said that you can use them together as you say. I still can't believe a bike shop wouldn't have a chain under $69. I've heard the SRAM's are good as well. Wipperman's seem ok as well but some people just want to spend money to spend $$$. :p
 
boudie said:
Wipperman's seem ok as well but some people just want to spend money to spend $$$. :p
I buy the wipperman connex and feel the extra cash is worth it because of the ease of removing it to clean it. I have one on each of my bikes. By regularly cleaning and re-lubing, I hope the chain will last a long time without incident. Then, as far as I'm concerned, it will have more than paid for itself.

Also, I like the idea of carrying an extra set of the connex links (from one of the bikes I'm not riding) around in my tool kit - that and a ultra-light chain tool ensures that if my chain ever snaps, I'm back on my bike and riding home again in about 3 minutes.

Having already spent the money though, I would absolutely keep and use the Campy chain. It should provide for many pleasurable rides to come!

Pad
 
ZionMan said:
hitch hike home and order your parts online
or just find another shop and support them. Every year online sales get better, and every year more bike shops close.
 
IEatRice4Dinner said:
or just find another shop and support them. Every year online sales get better, and every year more bike shops close.

i don't feel like i have to support my LBS. I buy the cheapest I can find.....that's what capitalism is....correct? That's why teachers make $25k and Dice K makes 100 mill. and yes I will get my bike fixed online as well. Someone is making alot of $$$ in this industry and it's sure not the LBS's. $80 for a chain is crazy when I think about it.
 
I usually buy a batch of chains from some place like 11speed.com; $41 USD for Record, $34 for Chorus, an $31 for Veloce. I like to use Connex links so I don't have to deal with the misinstallation problems that can occur with using normal link pins.
 
boudie said:
i don't feel like i have to support my LBS. I buy the cheapest I can find.....that's what capitalism is....correct? That's why teachers make $25k and Dice K makes 100 mill. and yes I will get my bike fixed online as well. Someone is making alot of $$$ in this industry and it's sure not the LBS's. $80 for a chain is crazy when I think about it.

Ditto. Prices at LBS are soaring, for parts and labor. I just got charged $45 to have one DT bladed spoke (value $1.75) and one spoke nipple (value $0.50) installed and the wheel trued by my LBS. A bit of a price shock for the 15min. of work. I usually purchase parts online and work on my bike at home myself for this very reason. This was a rare exception since I don't have a truing stand. I want to support the LBS but it's not easy to.
 
boudie said:
it's disgusting what this sport has become.
Eh, yea I know what you mean. I remember somone saying that "cycling is the new golf" :confused: ( of course golf is nothing more than a skilled hobby).
 
Tech72 said:
Ditto. Prices at LBS are soaring, for parts and labor. I just got charged $45 to have one DT bladed spoke (value $1.75) and one spoke nipple (value $0.50) installed and the wheel trued by my LBS. A bit of a price shock for the 15min. of work. I usually purchase parts online and work on my bike at home myself for this very reason. This was a rare exception since I don't have a truing stand. I want to support the LBS but it's not easy to.
For the price that you paid for the installation, you could have picked up a Minoura Truing Stand from Bike Nashbar. Of course there would have been freight charges but that would have been taken care of on the next truing job.
 
Tech72 said:
Ditto. Prices at LBS are soaring, for parts and labor. I just got charged $45 to have one DT bladed spoke (value $1.75) and one spoke nipple (value $0.50) installed and the wheel trued by my LBS. A bit of a price shock for the 15min. of work. I usually purchase parts online and work on my bike at home myself for this very reason. This was a rare exception since I don't have a truing stand. I want to support the LBS but it's not easy to.
That's partially due to the many customers that are shopping online and bringing in their own parts for service work.

While I can understand trying to save a buck, it's also nice to support your LBS and purchase parts as well as have service work done.

I can honestly tell you that at several shops I've wrenched at, labor rates won't be as forgiving for service work done with parts the customer brings in that were purchased elsewhere. Especially when they bring in the parts in the boxes with the shipping labels still visible :rolleyes:
 
ive wroked for a few small teams as a mech and ultegra chains are aces, they last longer the DA and are cheaper (alot of teams use them as opposed to dura ace for small races and training, along with ultegra cassettes) so whoever said ultegra chains suck is an idiot and shudnt be allowed to put his greasy lil fingers on a set of allen keys. Nuff said.

regarding LBS and online......u dont go to a LBS for product, they cant compete (hell im sponsored by a shop and wont shop there they still cant compete!) on price, they have sales staff, premium rental charges etc etc and online if out of a warehouse or someones house office, costs way lower (i did this on ebay to make a buck for a while, way cheap...bought stuff from PBK and more then doubles my 2G...:D). U go to a bike shop for service (and when what ur buyin worth more then 500 and customs is gona slug ya big!) A competent bike shop can make recomendations bout the equiptment u want or need, the size, care instructions etc.....bike shops are selling service these days not bikes.