Campy 9-speed problems... any help, please?



SeattleTom

New Member
Aug 21, 2005
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I've got a Rodriguez bicycle (made in Seattle by R+E cycles) that's about four years old. It came with a low-end Campy 9-speed setup, and it's run pretty troublefree since I got it.
I decided it was time to change the chain, and as usual, I'd waited too long and had to change the cassette as well. Bought a 9-speed Veloce 13-23 cluster, put it on with the new chain -- and the derailleur cage went hopping and chattering like it was jammed up, or like the lower pulley wasn't rotating properly.
I took apart the pulleys and cleaned them, put it together, and the same thing happened.
The thing is, it works fine on the bike stand, even with the brake on to simulate a load, the chain feeds through nice and smooth as a Campy TV commercial (if there is such a thing.) But I get on the bike and pedal it, and it jumps and hops and chatters. Not every revolution of the chain, like a tight link (though it's otherwise a little like that) but constantly - hop-hop-chatter-hop-click-click-chatter-hop
I tried adjusting the derailleur back and forth with the barrel adjuster, to no avail.

By now it's late at night and I'm all frustrated, so I put the old cassette and chain on, and it runs fine.

I continue riding the bike for a couple of days, and I have an epiphany -- the problem isn't with the back end at all -- the chainwheels are dirty and the new, unworn chain is hanging up on the gummy grease on the chainwheel! Come home, take the chainwheels apart and scrub them till they're like new, put it all back together with my new cassette, my recently cleaned derailleur, my chainwheels so clean you could eat sushi with them, and my new Campy chain.

And, exactly the same thing! The derailleur cage jumps and chatters, just like before. Again, it works just fine on the stand, but when I'm pedalling (and I can't look down and see what's going on) the cage jumps and hops.

I even thought -- "OMG, they stuck a ten-speed cassette in the box!" but no, I counted the sprockets, and there's nine.

It's a 9-speed Campy Mirage derailleur, a 9-speed Campy Veloce (ultra-drive!) cassette, a 9-speed Campy chain. (Actually I have two new Campy chains; one's a Record, the other I think is a Veloce, but I don't have the box. They behave identically.)

My nexst idea is to resurrect my old bike with the 7-speed cassette and try to sell the Rodriguez on eBay with the old chain and cassette. Anyone have any better ideas? Ideally ones that don't involve spending a grand or two on a new drive train?
 
I'm not sure why it's ok in the trainer but not on the road.
None the less....
I have a 10 speed Campy set up and had a similar problem when riding it.
The spacers are not all equal. There is one spacer that is actually thinner.
That thinner spacer is the first one used after the first (largest) cog is installed on your freehub. If you notice the teeth on your largest cog are offset. This inturn takes up some space in itself, therefore utilizing a smaller spacer for the first spacer to be used. Take a close look. Maybe it could be your fix. That was my problem and solver.
Good luck !
Also, if you find the fix, I'd be interested to know what it was.
Keep me posted.
 
i dunno if it would make a difference but in 2001 campy used a new ratio in there shifters... that cassette spacing might be made for the new ratio... just a guess... also check for stiff links in the chain and are the pullys wore on the deur.?
 
IEatRice4Dinner said:
i dunno if it would make a difference but in 2001 campy used a new ratio in there shifters... that cassette spacing might be made for the new ratio... just a guess...
Bad guess.Spacing didn't change
 
Have you made sure you are using the same length of chain? The new chain you bought probably has some extra links in it that need to be taken out. Always a good idea to either count the number of links on your old chain or hold the two up side by side and adjust the length of the new one to that of the old one.
 
martin_j001 said:
Have you made sure you are using the same length of chain? The new chain you bought probably has some extra links in it that need to be taken out. Always a good idea to either count the number of links on your old chain or hold the two up side by side and adjust the length of the new one to that of the old one.
Yes, the chain is the same length; I took out the proper number of links (3, I think) to make the new chain the same length as the old.

As far as spacing and spacers, I could see that it could be the problem if the derailleur wasn't alligned correctly with the cassette cogs, but I adjusted the barrel adjuster back and forth so far that I moved the derailleur all the way to the next cog, and it made no difference.

I even suspected a broken axle or dropout (or some other frame part), but since putting the old chain + cassette removes the problem, that seems to eliminate that as the culprit.
 
I am dying to see if anyone has the answer because the exact same thing is happending my 8-speed setup. I just replaced the jockey wheels with brand new OE ones and they are smooth as glass, at least until under load. Cleaned the chainwheels scrupulously. I inspected it very closely on the stand and it has something to do with the rear cage: you can now feel each link of the chain going through the cage, and it's noisy when out on the road even though it could not be more perfectly adjusted (i.e., it's not rustling from touching the next cassette cog). It's all gotta be eating up a fairly serious amount of energy. The only theory I can come up with is that I made the chain slightly too short and I'm getting too much spring tension which is making the pulleys run with too much friction. But in any case I'm staying tuned to this thread b/c I'm having pretty much exactly the same issue as you are ...




SeattleTom said:
I've got a Rodriguez bicycle (made in Seattle by R+E cycles) that's about four years old. It came with a low-end Campy 9-speed setup, and it's run pretty troublefree since I got it.
I decided it was time to change the chain, and as usual, I'd waited too long and had to change the cassette as well. Bought a 9-speed Veloce 13-23 cluster, put it on with the new chain -- and the derailleur cage went hopping and chattering like it was jammed up, or like the lower pulley wasn't rotating properly.
I took apart the pulleys and cleaned them, put it together, and the same thing happened.
The thing is, it works fine on the bike stand, even with the brake on to simulate a load, the chain feeds through nice and smooth as a Campy TV commercial (if there is such a thing.) But I get on the bike and pedal it, and it jumps and hops and chatters. Not every revolution of the chain, like a tight link (though it's otherwise a little like that) but constantly - hop-hop-chatter-hop-click-click-chatter-hop
I tried adjusting the derailleur back and forth with the barrel adjuster, to no avail.

By now it's late at night and I'm all frustrated, so I put the old cassette and chain on, and it runs fine.

I continue riding the bike for a couple of days, and I have an epiphany -- the problem isn't with the back end at all -- the chainwheels are dirty and the new, unworn chain is hanging up on the gummy grease on the chainwheel! Come home, take the chainwheels apart and scrub them till they're like new, put it all back together with my new cassette, my recently cleaned derailleur, my chainwheels so clean you could eat sushi with them, and my new Campy chain.

And, exactly the same thing! The derailleur cage jumps and chatters, just like before. Again, it works just fine on the stand, but when I'm pedalling (and I can't look down and see what's going on) the cage jumps and hops.

I even thought -- "OMG, they stuck a ten-speed cassette in the box!" but no, I counted the sprockets, and there's nine.

It's a 9-speed Campy Mirage derailleur, a 9-speed Campy Veloce (ultra-drive!) cassette, a 9-speed Campy chain. (Actually I have two new Campy chains; one's a Record, the other I think is a Veloce, but I don't have the box. They behave identically.)

My nexst idea is to resurrect my old bike with the 7-speed cassette and try to sell the Rodriguez on eBay with the old chain and cassette. Anyone have any better ideas? Ideally ones that don't involve spending a grand or two on a new drive train?
 
Well, I licked the problem, finally.
I decided (after putting away the bike for a while to stew on it, and commute on my mountain bike) that the problem was chain suck. Perusing SheldonBrown.com led me to http://fagan.co.za/Bikes/Csuck/
He claims that the chainring teeth get deformed, and the cure is to flip the chainring over. Wll, the teeth didn't look deformed to me, but I flipped it over anyhow, and voila, it works fine! no chattering derailleur, it's smooth as slik, and I'm a happy boy.
I've never had this problem before, and I'm sure my last crankset (105) had 20,000 miles on it. Maybe it's more of a problem with the thinner material with the 9-speed system.