Need Help With Combined Gear Shifters



kaizerchief

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Oct 9, 2015
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hey guys im new to the road cycling scene and i got my first urata road bike with drop bars recently. however i was getting the cheaper bike due to budget constraints so it came with thumbshifters. ill be looking to upgrade it to combined shifters in the future something like ergopower (just an example). my bike has 2x7 gear system and i was wondering if it was possible to jus get the gear shifters or i would need to replace my gear system to 2x8 or something that would suit the new levers. im open to recomendations preferably in the cheaper range
 
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10-Speed Campagnolo shifters MATED WITH (most ... not sure about how well the Shimano TOURNEY shifters will function) 8-/9-speed Shimano rear derailleur EQUALS 7-/8-speed Shimano indexing ...

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Campagnolo shifters will work with almost any cable-actuated front derailleur.
 
oh i see. thanks for the help. but how can u tell from the table that it would give and 7 speed equivalent?
 
7-speed & 8-speed Cog spacing are close enough (i.e., the same for all practical purposes) to one another -- AND, the ramping on the Cogs greatly facilitates shifting -- that you can use use 8-speed indexed shifters with 7-speed rear Freewheels & 7-speed Cassettes ...
 
BTW. You could choose a set of 11-speed Campagnolo shifters and attach the rear derailleur cable at 9 o'clock ("old Dura Ace") to match 7-/8-speed indexing.
 
oh. my bike now uses a shimano sis tourney could i keep using that? also what does the pitch and cable column of the table mean?
 
kaizerchief said:
oh i see. thanks for the help. but how can u tell from the table that it would give and 7 speed equivalent?
BTW. If you look at the 'Campag 11' line then you will see that 7-speed & 8-speed ('S7/8') share the same box ...

kaizerchief said:
oh. my bike now uses a shimano sis tourney could i keep using that? also what does the pitch and cable column of the table mean?
Well, I am going to say that you CAN probably use your Tourney rear derailleur BECAUSE (as I mentioned) the ramping on the rear Cogs (BTW,. many/most pre-2000 Freewheels & some Cassettes may not have ramped Cogs ... it is hopefully not an issue for whatever your bike has) makes the precision of the shifter's indexing less relevant when using Campagnolo shifters ... but, there are no guarantees. In the worst case scenario, you'll have to pony up for a new/different Shimano rear derailleur (e.g., Acera, LX, SLX, XT, etc.) ...

Unless you are a Flatlander, I recommend that if you do feel a need to change rear derailleurs that you choose one of Shimano's MTB rear derailleurs because you will have more future flexibility with regard to your rear Cassette-or-Freewheel ...

That is, Shimano's MTB rear derailleurs can accommodate Cassettes/Freewheels which have larger Cogs than Shimano's Road derailleurs can handle.

If you need to buy a different rear derailleur, then I recommend a vintage XT 750 SGS rear derailleur (generally less than $30 on eBay) which is in good-to-very-good condition (while it does not provide any certainty, if you look at the wear-or-lack-of on the pulley wheels and/or trust the seller, then you can get a very rough gauge of how much use-or-abuse a rear derailleur may have seen) ... or, an SLX rear derailleur (be sure that it has "normal" pull and not "reverse-pull"/"rapid rise") ... because it won't be wedded to your current bike.

You can move the "new" derailleur to a different bike in the future OR put in your "toolbox"; so, nothing will be lost if you pony up a little more for an SLX or XT rear derailleur.

The "Pitch" is the distance between the central plane of the individual Cogs ... imprecisely speaking, the Cog spacing ...

Essentially, the amount the rear derailleur's cage moves between shifts.

The "Cable" is the amount of cable which is moved by the shifter through an arbitrary/theoretical fixed point ...

So, if you were to put a piece of tape on your frame's downtube AND a piece of tape on your cable along side the fixed piece of tape, then if you put a line on the one + a matching line on the other AND THEN actuated your shifter by "one click stop" then you would see the the once aligned lines separate by the "Cable" value (measured in millimeters).

The rear derailleur's geometry has some effect on how much the rear derailleur's cable movement affects the "pitch"; but, YOU don't have to worry about THAT.
 
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ahh i see thanks alot! one last question, the campag 11 or 10s have different models too right? which one would be more value for money?
 
The slightly older (V2) style Campagnolo shifters were NOT available with 11-speed indexing ...

Most V2 shifters were available with 10-speed indexing.

Many-if-not-all V2 Mirage & Xenon shifters had only 9-speed indexing ...

The remarkably elegant Xenon-mechanism was adapted for use in the V3 PowerShift shifters.

Only the more recent (V3) Campagnolo shifters are available with 11-speed indexing ...

Some V3 shifters are available with 10-speed indexing.

The V3 Athena, Chorus, Record, and Super Record shifters are only available with 11-speed indexing ...

The V3 shifters with 10-speed indexing are the others (Centaur, Mirage, ??)

In the first couple of years of production of the V3 shifters, they all had the same UltraShift mechanism. The Athena shifters have the updated Xenon-based mechanism.

BTW, The Xenon-based mechanism is probably only an inconvenience if a person is used to multiple downshifts/dumps of the chain on the rear Cassette which can be performed with the UltraShift & older Ergo mechanisms.

With that wordy preamble in mind, the choice which YOU make may best be determined by your aesthetic sensibilities AND your budget ...

However, because the 11-speed shifters can theoretically be mated with everything from 7-speed Freewheels/Cassettes to 11-speed Cassettes, I would think that an 11-speed shifter would probably be the "better value for (your) money."

If you are a wise shopper on eBay, then you can buy a set of 11-speed shifters PLUS the cables for under $150

BTW/FYI. The PowerShift derailleur cables have a smaller-than-usual ("proprietary") diecast end; and, ALL recent Campagnolo shifters use a brake cable whose diecast end is fractionally smaller than the norm. The latter can be accommodated by simply filing away a small amount of material.

The Powershift derailleur cable's diecast end is about the size of a spoke nipple. It would definitely take MORE motivation to reduce a standard derailleur cable's diecast end to the PowerShift cable's diecast end's size.