Installing the chain on a Campagnolo 12 speed is not the same as installing a chain on any of the other groups. If you closely read the installation instructions from the Campagnolo installation manual site you discover that two things are critical to the chain installation - crankset and chain stay length. Because of disks most modern chain stays have vertical dropouts and 415 mm chain stays.
My older steel Moser instead has a 400 mm chain stay. And I use a normal (non-CX) crankset. Now, you would think that having shorter chain stays would mean you have to have a shorter chain but just the opposite. Instead of needing 110 links in the chain, I need 112 links for it to shift properly. And believe me, it is critical to shifting that the chain length is exactly correct. The 110 length chain recommended in the technical manual would jam in the big ring shifting up to the larger cassette cogs rather than shifting correctly. The LONGER chain shifted correctly without noise or the derailleur arm dragging on the cogs.
This chain length being so critical one had to wonder what happens to the shifting as the chain wears.
Now I liked the 11 speed shifters because Campy redesigned the rear derailleur so that it could handle a 32 tooth maximum cog rather than the 10 speed maximum of 28 or 29 teeth or the Centaur pushing that to 30 teeth. I'm getting older and slower and a weaker climber and I need the additional teeth. This gave Campy a LOT of additional sales so they expanded that on the 12 speed to a 34 tooth maximum cog.
But my question is that why all of those gears? I spend all of my time shifting to the 11 for downhills or the 32 for uphills. I simply don't use all of those intermediate cogs and would be much happier with a 9 or 10 speed where so much shifting isn't necessary. Just the redesign of the rear derailleur.
I love the intuitive action of the Campy levers, but sooner or later they are going to step over the line. I understand that on their latest electronic shifting they have eliminated the button and reverted to a Shimano-like double lever. That is a bridge too far and I think that they will learn that, not from the pros who couldn't care less, but from the sports riders like me who presently can shift without thinking whether it is the top button or the slightly lower one to push,
My older steel Moser instead has a 400 mm chain stay. And I use a normal (non-CX) crankset. Now, you would think that having shorter chain stays would mean you have to have a shorter chain but just the opposite. Instead of needing 110 links in the chain, I need 112 links for it to shift properly. And believe me, it is critical to shifting that the chain length is exactly correct. The 110 length chain recommended in the technical manual would jam in the big ring shifting up to the larger cassette cogs rather than shifting correctly. The LONGER chain shifted correctly without noise or the derailleur arm dragging on the cogs.
This chain length being so critical one had to wonder what happens to the shifting as the chain wears.
Now I liked the 11 speed shifters because Campy redesigned the rear derailleur so that it could handle a 32 tooth maximum cog rather than the 10 speed maximum of 28 or 29 teeth or the Centaur pushing that to 30 teeth. I'm getting older and slower and a weaker climber and I need the additional teeth. This gave Campy a LOT of additional sales so they expanded that on the 12 speed to a 34 tooth maximum cog.
But my question is that why all of those gears? I spend all of my time shifting to the 11 for downhills or the 32 for uphills. I simply don't use all of those intermediate cogs and would be much happier with a 9 or 10 speed where so much shifting isn't necessary. Just the redesign of the rear derailleur.
I love the intuitive action of the Campy levers, but sooner or later they are going to step over the line. I understand that on their latest electronic shifting they have eliminated the button and reverted to a Shimano-like double lever. That is a bridge too far and I think that they will learn that, not from the pros who couldn't care less, but from the sports riders like me who presently can shift without thinking whether it is the top button or the slightly lower one to push,
