Campagnolo triple-post 2001 compatability of Mechs and lever

shaw8670

I have 2000 Veloce kit and would like to change to a triple (it is hilly here on Skye!) but am told that from 2001 on the right levers and rear mechs were changed so if I buy a long mech it won't work with my levers. The other thing I thought of doing was seeing if I could get away with using the short mech I have and just avoiding the extremes (large chainring and large sprocket and vice versa). Does anyone have any experience of this?

Rob Sallnow

Well....I used a short arm rear mech with my triple but it was rather restricted in terms of what sprockets I could use without the chain rubbing things it shouldn't....plus I was using a 13-23 block.....the way I use a triple it meant I only used two sprockets when using the smallest chainring.

Smokin Joe

According to Sheldon Brown pre and post 2000 shifters and mechs WILL work together. He claims that the change in the indexing was so slight that all it means is that you need to be just a little more precise when you set up.

Check it out here -

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html

hamstercp

I run a 1996 Chorus short cage setup with a triple - I have exactly the same problem - the mechs and shifters changed and I would have needed a long cage rear mech.

After a bit of trial and error I run a 30/39/48 chainset and a 12-23 cassette. There is JUST enough sweep of the rear mech cage to get it all to work (bike is a 1996 Litespeed Catalyst, fairly short chainstays.)

You do need to get the chain as short as possible on the big-big combo, then it won't flap loose on small-small. While it's a big noisy on big-big (so not exactly happy) it shifts into this fine and the chain runs freely - enough to prevent any fear of it jamming solid and crashing. I've run it for about 3 years like this now.

Lots of people ask if the 48T ring is too small. Well, 48-12 is the same as 52-13 so you only really lose one gear. There is admittedly a large overlap of gears but that means a smaller jump onto the big ring and less need ever to cross-chain on the big-big combination.

PM me if you want details.

pete.whelan

it will work, but you may notice a little rattle in a couple of gears. You could always get the newer ratchet and fit it into the levers.

[my story on this comes about the time of the change-over, I had just bought a load of Record 2001 kit for a TT bike, and asked Campagnolo how to tell the difference on the kit from pre/post 2000, especially the bar end shifters. easy they say, we haven't made the bar end shifters yet (so Parker had sold me a dud). Anyway, a few weeks later a little package from Italy arrived with a a set of levers, first off the production line - gratis]