Which Campy Cassette on new wheel?

[jimphd]

Hi Guys,

I am in the process of buying a new set of Campag Zondas for my bike (running Campag Centaur groupset).
I am keeping the old wheels (Vento G3s) so need to buy the cassette for the Zondas. I spoke to the guy at the LBS who suggested I don't need to get the more expensive Centaur cassette but the cheaper and almost idenitcal 2007 Veloce cassette. Will this be ok? ie, will shifting be as smooth as with the Cantaur cassette? apparently only the spacers are different...

thanks - Jim

 

[sogood]

That's the nice thing about Campag, going down the range does not affect the function, just the durability, weight and bling (except 2007 Ergopower shifters). So yes, Veloce cassette is works just as well, solid and durable with a slight weight penalty. For that second set of wheels, they are great value. For the next jump, I would bypass Centaur and go straight to Chorus for the weight reduction without sacrificing durability as in Record, which has light weight Ti cogs.

If you want to be more technical, just compare the shape of Veloce and groups above it. They are identical with so called Ultra Drive design. The difference lies with how the cogs are attached to the freewheel. Chorus for instance uses carriers for 6 of the cogs.

 

[John M]

Hi Guys,

I am in the process of buying a new set of Campag Zondas for my bike (running Campag Centaur groupset).
I am keeping the old wheels (Vento G3s) so need to buy the cassette for the Zondas. I spoke to the guy at the LBS who suggested I don't need to get the more expensive Centaur cassette but the cheaper and almost idenitcal 2007 Veloce cassette. Will this be ok? ie, will shifting be as smooth as with the Cantaur cassette? apparently only the spacers are different...

thanks - Jim

Veloce is fine. If you really want to save a bit more money for a cassette for the back-up wheels, I would suggest the Campy-compatible Miche cassettes. The are about $20-30 less than Veloce and mine shifts nicely in the 10s Campy drivetrain. I don't know yet about durability but for a second set of wheels that gets less miles, they seem fine.

 

[sogood]

My bike came with a 13-25 Miche cassette. It was hopeless. Although properly adjusted, it's noisy, hard to shift under load and chrome plating were coming off by 300km of use. Initially I wondered what those bright metal chips were coming from every time I cleaned the chain... I changed for a Chorus cassette and all the problems disappeared.

 

[jimphd]

Thanks for the replies guys, that was actually going to be my next question. What are the 'compatible' cassettes like? but I thought I would stick with the campag components just to be sure of quality etc.
The veloce seems the way to go as i'm not a pro so an extra couple of grams isn't going to matter to me.

thanks again

 

[John M]

My bike came with a 13-25 Miche cassette. It was hopeless. Although properly adjusted, it's noisy, hard to shift under load and chrome plating were coming off by 300km of use. Initially I wondered what those bright metal chips were coming from every time I cleaned the chain... I changed for a Chorus cassette and all the problems disappeared.

I haven't had those problems with mine. A Miche 12-23, Centaur drive train and wipperman chain. Smooth and shifts as well as Veloce did. The chrome as held up fine. I would not disagree that your observations that Chorus is better but for the $45 I paid for the Miche, it has certainly been a good value.

 

[sogood]

Maybe there are different grades of Miche cassettes to explain our differing experience. In any case, it came with the bike and now it's off.