Campy Upgrade...8s to 9s?

I recently picked up my first road bike since selling mine in ’89…yup, a while ago.
I picked up a Tommasini Diamante with full Campy Record. Anyway, I live in the mtns and am looking for first, a rear cluster that is smaller than a 12/23 (like a 12/26) and second, I have a question about the possibility of changing from 8s to 9s. Is it possible or should I just be happy with the 8s? If it is possible, what do I need to make the change?

Thanks for the help.

 

It's possible, but expensive.
http://www.branfordbike.com/cgi-bin...&thispage=campy/campy.html&ORDER_ID=227794245
There are still plenty of new 8 speed Campy cassettes floating around ebay, and it's also possible to take 8 cogs out of a 9 speed cassette and respace them to work with 8 speed indexing.

 

Not only can you buy a new 8-speed Campagnolo cassette, buy you can simply replace cogs, individually -- and, yes, it can be expensive.

OR, if you are handy, you can modify a Shimano cog that you either cannibalize from an LX-or-lower-level MTB cassette OR buy from your local bike shop -- the cost will be less than for a Campagnolo cog (unless you make it completely unusable).

A friend restacked his 8-speed Campagnolo cassette with a 34t SHIMANO cog that I "gave" him (his bike still has an old Campy 52/42 crank) ... I restacked a 12-23 9-speed Campagnolo cassette with a 26t SHIMANO cog AND subsequently a 32t SHIMANO cog just to see how it would shift ...

An 8t gap between cogs doesn't seem to be a problem, so you can have a lot of potential options.

To modify a Shimano cog to fit a Campagnolo freehub body DOES take some thought ... EXTREME PATIENCE may be required to figure out the minimal amount of material to remove (and, you will undoubtedly remove what seems like a lot).

A simple, standard-sized files can be used to remove the unwanted material ... WORK SLOWLY ...

"measure twice, cut once" as carpenters say. ​

 

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll stick with the 8s and just look for a 12/26 rear.
Cheers!