FSA/shimano compatibility

TheGreatGatsby

I'm pimping my ride at the moment and have just bought some Ksyrium es wheels with a shimano freehub and was wondering about a couple of options anyone could help with?

Firstly - when I come to upgrade my gruppo can I change the freehub body to campy cos ideally i'd like a chorus set up instead of shimano?

Are FSA cranksets any good cos they appear to be pretty cheap for the lightness etc?

Should I mix and match the gruppo to fit the wheels or just change the wheels?

Can any one help?

ta

Gats

Monty Dog

Chainsets are pretty well universal between makes - earlier models of FSA crank can be had for £100-120 if you shop around. Most wheels these days come with the option to exchange freehubs to convert from Shimano to Campag - however, you don't need to do that as you can buy Shimano-splined cassettes which are Campag spaced from AM Classic or Evolution - try Byercyles for the Evolution cassette.

proto

My advice would be to buy a Campag spec freehub for your wheels, saves mucking about with spacers and casettes. You'll probably get half of your money back if you sell your old freehub on ebay.

I've got FSA chainsets on both my good road bikes - FSA SLK Mega Exo compact on one and a Carbon Pro Team Issue ISIS BB on another. I've been very happy with both but the former is the way to go with the integrated BB. FSA stuff is very decent quality, can't fault it, light, well made, looks good. Excellent.

bassounds

I have an FSA compact with Ultegra (Shimano) derailers, and the shifting works very well.

I agree with the previous post- if you want campy, get a campy freehub setup. The conversion of a shimano freehub to campy will just add extra parts which may break, and even some extra weight.

maddog 2

if you're going Campag then I'd go for one of the new ultra-torque chainsets.

FSA are okay but the mega-exo has had its problems and anything running ISIS is also problematic. The SKF isis BBs last longer than others but the design is still inferior to the external bearing c/sets IMO.

freehub on the wheel can be changed.

Monty Dog

Why is fitting a Campag spaced cassette a problem? It'll cost £50 for the freehub, plus at least another £20 for the cassette when you could buy the cassette alone for £25-35. You guys are too indoctrinated by what the manufacturers tell you, I bet none of you have actually tried it.

moonie

A mate has an FSA triple on his centaur equipped bike, he has trouble with the chainrings that seem to be just far enough apart to allow the chain to slip with the edge of the chain links riding on the top of the teeth. a right pain in the jacksy changing down for a sudden uphill. It's a carbon jobby too, not a cheap one.