Campag Record Rear Mech - going from 12-15 to 13-29

andyedwardsster

I currently run Campag Record 10 speed gears. I need to switch to a lower gear set up for some tough European sportives.

For the rest of the year, 12-25 does me fine; but I need lower gearing. If I buy a 13-29 cassette; can I get away with keeping the same rear mech which I believe is a small not medium cage?

Alternatively, if I switch to a 50x34 chainset; can I keep the same rear mech (i.e small not medium)?

I only need the lower gearing for maybe 1-2 rides per year so I don't want to spend any more money than I have to.

Thanks,

huuregeil

Yes, you can run a 13-29 with a short-cage rear mech. You'll lose maybe one or two ratios, depending on how finely you can adjust it (e.g. 39-12 or 53-29, so no drama!) and you'll need to lengthen your chain but it does work. (You also need to take the b-screw to the max).

I've had both 53/39 and 50/34 running happily with a 13-29, and usually run 12-25. It's the ideal lowest-cost option for getting some alpine bail-out gearing!

chriskempton

Lengthening your chain may be unnecessary depending on how 'tight' it is now.

andyedwardsster

Thanks for the help. Have now gone for a compact 34x50 as it was just as cheap (found something on Google) and it worked out I'd get a better spread of ratios.

I think I preferred the old days when you could just get individual cogs!

tenor

Easiest option is to get a Centaur cassettes (about £38) which has individual sprockets. I run either a 12-25 or 13-29, but can combine the two to get 12-29, albeit at the loss of the 16 sprocket. Beats the SRAM 11-32 hands down as the ratios are much closer.