Front Mech/Derailleur Compatibility, Campagnolo

[cabbagetom]

Hello All,

I am about to star work on building up my time trial bike, but I've just realised something which makes me very concerned about the whole future of the project...

Basically, I want to use a 56/39 Chainring Combination....this may sound non-commonsensical, but I mostly do time trialling in Scotland with long shallow-gradient uphills and long downhills...I need the 39 for the long ups, but I need the 56 so I don't spin out too much on the way down...

Now, I have a braze-on Campag Centaur Front Mech, but reading more about it it is suggested the Max tooth capacity is 53t and max tooth range is 16....will this work, or would I need to buy a new front mech....The thing is that none of the campag front mechs are advertised as accepting anything larger that 53t, only Shimano mechs are written as accepting 56 tooth chainrings..

Any help would be very greatly appreciated...

Regards,
Tom

 

[alfeng]

I am about to star work on building up my time trial bike, but I've just realised something which makes me very concerned about the whole future of the project...

Basically, I want to use a 56/39 Chainring Combination....this may sound non-commonsensical, but I mostly do time trialling in Scotland with long shallow-gradient uphills and long downhills...I need the 39 for the long ups, but I need the 56 so I don't spin out too much on the way down...

Now, I have a braze-on Campag Centaur Front Mech, but reading more about it it is suggested the Max tooth capacity is 53t and max tooth range is 16....will this work, or would I need to buy a new front mech....The thing is that none of the campag front mechs are advertised as accepting anything larger that 53t, only Shimano mechs are written as accepting 56 tooth chainrings..

Any help would be very greatly appreciated...

Well, you've got the Campagnolo front derailleur, so you may as well see if it works -- it probably will.

If it doesn't then just get a 9-speed Shimano front derailleur (it's what I use with my Campagnolo shifters) ... I suppose if you're going to set up an 11-speed time trial bike, then you might want to choose a 10-speed Shimano front derailleur ... but, the 9-speed Shimano front derailleur should be good with anything between 8-to-11-speeds (with the 8-speed you would want to use a 9-speed Shimano OR 10-speed Campagnolo chain).

 

[cabbagetom]

Well, you've got the Campagnolo front derailleur, so you may as well see if it works -- it probably will.

If it doesn't then just get a 9-speed Shimano front derailleur (it's what I use with my Campagnolo shifters) ... I suppose if you're going to set up an 11-speed time trial bike, then you might want to choose a 10-speed Shimano front derailleur ... but, the 9-speed Shimano front derailleur should be good with anything between 8-to-11-speeds (with the 8-speed you would want to use a 9-speed Shimano OR 10-speed Campagnolo chain).

Cheers...I'm actually going with 10 speed since Campag don't make 11 speed time trial shifters and even if they did it would most likely be too expensive for me to afford anyhow...
I think that the left time trial lever controls the front mech through friction shifting..so I'll try out a Shimano shifter...so if i use 10 speed at the back, and use a 10 speed chain, what speed shimano front derailleur would be optimum?

Cheers

 

[alfeng]

Cheers...I'm actually going with 10 speed since Campag don't make 11 speed time trial shifters and even if they did it would most likely be too expensive for me to afford anyhow...
I think that the left time trial lever controls the front mech through friction shifting..so I'll try out a Shimano shifter...so if i use 10 speed at the back, and use a 10 speed chain, what speed shimano front derailleur would be optimum?

If you eventually opt for a Shimano front derailleur, then I think that you should use EITHER a 6500 or 6503 (both 9-speed Ultegra ... I probably prefer the Ultegra 9-speed front derailleur over the 105 & Dura Ace front derailleurs for all the wrong reasons -- basically, the 9-speed Ultegra parallelogram is bolted onto its clamp whereas the 105 & DA parallelograms are riveted onto their respective clamps) ...

The 6500 is for a double and the 6503 is for a triple. You may want the 6503 front derailleur because its trailing edge is lower ... so that means that if you happen to have the chain on the 39t chainring then it probably won't be dragging across the back edge of the cage if you happen to shift onto the 11t-or-12t cog.

The larger inner plate on a Triple front derailleur will also, IMO, facilitate a slightly faster shift between the inner & outer chainrings.

FYI. The Shimano 9-speed front derailleur when used with a 9-speed Shimano chain uses 3-clicks (really, 2+ ... where the first click further tensions the cable without actually moving the cage on my setups) with a standard ERGO shifter to move the chain between chainrings.

I think that you can use a 9-speed Shimano chain with a 10-speed Campagnolo cassette, BTW.

You do NOT want to choose/use a 10-speed Shimano Front Derailleur ...

Contrary to what some people have stated in the past, 6500 & 6600 derailleurs are not directly interchangeable ...

My comparison of the distance between the plates of a 6503 (9-speed) & 6603 (10-speed) Shimano front derailleurs shows that plates of the 9-speed Shimano front derailleur are ~1mm further apart than the plates on the 10-speed Shimano front derailleur. That is, the plates on the 10-speed Shimano front derailleur will result in excessive chain rub unless you use a narrower, 10-speed Shimano (or, 11-speed Campagnolo, I guess) chain.

 

[cabbagetom]

If you eventually opt for a Shimano front derailleur, then I think that you should use EITHER a 6500 or 6503 (both 9-speed Ultegra ... I probably prefer the Ultegra 9-speed front derailleur over the 105 & Dura Ace front derailleurs for all the wrong reasons -- basically, the 9-speed Ultegra parallelogram is bolted onto its clamp whereas the 105 & DA parallelograms are riveted onto their respective clamps) ...

The 6500 is for a double and the 6503 is for a triple. You may want the 6503 front derailleur because its trailing edge is lower ... so that means that if you happen to have the chain on the 39t chainring then it probably won't be dragging across the back edge of the cage if you happen to shift onto the 11t-or-12t cog.

The larger inner plate on a Triple front derailleur will also, IMO, facilitate a slightly faster shift between the inner & outer chainrings.

FYI. The Shimano 9-speed front derailleur when used with a 9-speed Shimano chain uses 3-clicks (really, 2+ ... where the first click further tensions the cable without actually moving the cage on my setups) with a standard ERGO shifter to move the chain between chainrings.

I think that you can use a 9-speed Shimano chain with a 10-speed Campagnolo cassette, BTW.

You do NOT want to choose/use a 10-speed Shimano Front Derailleur ...

Contrary to what some people have stated in the past, 6500 & 6600 derailleurs are not directly interchangeable ...

My comparison of the distance between the plates of a 6503 (9-speed) & 6603 (10-speed) Shimano front derailleurs shows that plates of the 9-speed Shimano front derailleur are ~1mm further apart than the plates on the 10-speed Shimano front derailleur. That is, the plates on the 10-speed Shimano front derailleur will result in excessive chain rub unless you use a narrower, 10-speed Shimano (or, 11-speed Campagnolo, I guess) chain.

It was actually a 6600 Front Derailleur that I took off in the very beggining....so I have one of those to hand. I also have a new KMC X10SL chain compatbile with both Shimano and Campag which I bought. This has advertised chain width of 5.88. Campag 10 is 5.9, Shimano 10 is 6.1 and Shimano 9 is 6.5. So perhaps this will work without causing too much excessive chain rub. Surely if it compatible with 10 speed Shimano and 10 speed Campag then it won't cause too many problems going between a 10 speed Shimano front mech and 10 speed Campag cassette....but then I don't know too much about bikes to validate this. What do you think?

I guess I might as well give it a go and see what comes off..if not I'll consider a 6503...I think I'm one of those people who likes having to feel as if I've covered all bases before starting off...


Cheers,
Tom