Campy Centaur question

[Perfect Circles]

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to cycling and recently purchased a Giant TCR road bike with Campagnolo Centaur groupset to replace an older downtube - shifter I'd been riding. The whole ergoshift/STI thing is a novelty to me, so I have some questions to ask . . . .

To date, I've done around 300km on the new bike and will take it back to the LBS shortly for its after sales tune up. I'm finding that the gear shift action is a little "indistinct" compared to the SIS indexed system on the old bike. Often, it takes some fidling with the shift levers to get the gear I want. I have to try and trim the shift levers to get the drivetrain to run smoothly. Is this normal for a new bike? Does the drive train "wear in" after a while??

Secondly, the rear cluster is often quite noisy; sounds similar to a chain rubbing on the inside of the front derailleur cage, except that I've isolated the problem to the rear mech. The noise appears to be coming from the jockey pulley cage . . . .

I've also cleaned and re-lubed the drivetrain once.

Are these problems normal? Are there any simple adjustments I can make to try and troubleshoot the problem? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Perfect Circles.

 

[boudreaux]

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to cycling and recently purchased a Giant TCR road bike with Campagnolo Centaur groupset to replace an older downtube - shifter I'd been riding. The whole ergoshift/STI thing is a novelty to me, so I have some questions to ask . . . .

To date, I've done around 300km on the new bike and will take it back to the LBS shortly for its after sales tune up. I'm finding that the gear shift action is a little "indistinct" compared to the SIS indexed system on the old bike. Often, it takes some fidling with the shift levers to get the gear I want. I have to try and trim the shift levers to get the drivetrain to run smoothly. Is this normal for a new bike? Does the drive train "wear in" after a while??

Secondly, the rear cluster is often quite noisy; sounds similar to a chain rubbing on the inside of the front derailleur cage, except that I've isolated the problem to the rear mech. The noise appears to be coming from the jockey pulley cage . . . .

I've also cleaned and re-lubed the drivetrain once.

Are these problems normal? Are there any simple adjustments I can make to try and troubleshoot the problem? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Perfect Circles.

It probably was not adjusted right initially and is now in need of more adjustment. One would hope it gets made right when you take it in. www.parktool.com has the whole adjustment drill in the repair section.

 

[artmichalek]

Campy parts usually take about 500 miles to wear in and work out all of the stretch in the cables. After that you'll need to re-adjust the rear derailleur and the shifting should work perfectly. It's not hard to do, and if you didn't get a manual with the bike, you can download it here:

http://www.campagnolo.com/techinfo.php?did=f

 

[Perfect Circles]

Thanks very much for the replies - in particular, the link to the Campag website. I'm going to clean the bike this weekend, so I'll make some adjustments. Will let you know how I go!!

Regards,

Perfect Circles

 

[strummer_fan]

Thanks very much for the replies - in particular, the link to the Campag website. I'm going to clean the bike this weekend, so I'll make some adjustments. Will let you know how I go!!

Regards,

Perfect Circles

Noise in the back and imprecise shifting can happen if your rear derailleur hanger is bent. The tension and stop adjustments can be done perfectly to spec as published in the Campagnolo manual, but if the angle of the Rear Derailleur is kipped slightly inward (as can happen if the bike is transported or laid down hard on the drive-side), you will experience the symptons you described.

Additionally, I believe the front derailleur on the Campy ErgoPower system is not indexed. On my Campy Mirage Triple (a much lower-end system), frequent "trim" adjustments to the front are necessary when moving more than a few sprockets in the rear.

This may or may not be true with your Centaur system.

That being said, I love the Campy ErgoPower system. Shifting to a larger cog with the lever and to a smaller cog with the thumb is a very intuitive system. I hope the adjustments work it out for you.

Cheers