Convert to Compact

Smeggers

I know roughly whats involved but any ideas roughly what a LBS would charge?

Its Campag Mirage (9 spd), so on a like for like conversion what do you think the budget should be?

Hugh A

What sort of Mirage do you have - new or old style square taper?

If you are just swapping square taper ones then there are good deals to be had on nice Centaur or Chorus compacts at the moment around £40-£50. All you need is a chainset puller.

If new ultra-torque will be a bit pricier.

Smeggers

Hugh A wrote:

What sort of Mirage do you have - new or old style square taper?

If you are just swapping square taper ones then there are good deals to be had on nice Centaur or Chorus compacts at the moment around £40-£50. All you need is a chainset puller.

If new ultra-torque will be a bit pricier.

Sorry for the noob question, but how do I tell?

andyp

Smeggers wrote:

Sorry for the noob question, but how do I tell?

A simple way - if you look through the bottom bracket can you see out the other side? If yes then you have the Ultra Torque b/b, introduced by Campag this year. If not, then it's the old style taper b/b.

Hugh A

Thanks Andy - yup the Ultra-torque is the newer/lighter/stiffer etc. etc. chainset with its own special bottom bracket with bearings outside the bb shell of the frame and you can see right through it from the side. The old style ones just have an allen key bolt in the centre where you tighten them up. They are still a perfectly good piece of kit and worth changing to Centaur or better as the chain rings are better. Pro-bikekit and various others have them on special offer right now.

maddog 2

as above, if you're running square taper then the minimum is a new c/set

You could also think about a new compact front mech. The standard one will work but the compact one shifts better. Other than that you'll be fine - maybe lose a few links in the chain to compensate for the smaller rings

If your BB is oldish then you could consider moving over to ultra-torque. Depends on how much you want to spend.

Smeggers

Thanks for this guys - much appreciated.

Its the old style BB, the bike was new in 2005.

Would somehting like this be OK?....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Campagnolo-Veloce ... dZViewItem

Thanks.

maddog 2

yep

just check your BB is 111mm, which it should be.

there may be other places with deals on ST compacts - Ribble, CRC and Parkers seem to be out of stock though.

Anonymous

maddog 2 wrote:

You could also think about a new compact front mech. The standard one will work but the compact one shifts better.

I have just logged on to post this question. Campagnolo text which most websites seem to use is very specific that a new front mechanism is required. I have just bough a new Veloce compact chainset off ebay (only £30!!) but have not got the correct front mechanism on my current 39/53 chainset bike.

I can't see why a new mechanism is needed as both the inner and outer ring is smaller on my new chainset but what issues might arise if I make do with the current mechanism?

Cheers,

Gavin.

Anonymous

Smeggers wrote:

Would somehting like this be OK?....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Campagnolo-Veloce ... dZViewItem

I've just bought a 175mm crank version from them, it arrived in 2 days and was well packaged. I paid £30 (on an auction, not Buy It Now) and couldn't find a Campagnolo compact for a similar price anywhere else.

Gav.

maddog 2

just the shifting is a tad better with the compact - bigger inner cage helps the upshift.

normal is okay though.