Campagnolo Athena indexing issue

gwillis

im running 11 speed athena on my bike but I'm having a nightmare with the indexing at present. I've checked the cassette for wear and chain for stiff links etc and they are ok.

I can get the chain to shift up the gears from 11-25 no problem but when I shift back down the shifting is slow and stutters often taking ages to fibd the nextbgear. When I adjust it so as I've got a smooth down shift I then find when climbing that when on the lowest gear the chain slips almost under load. I've tried reseting the indexing from scratch but always end up in the same boat. Am I missing something obvious here ?.

Bike has jag wire cable with adjusters near the bars and all cables are running smoothly.

Monty Dog

Cable runs are critical - did you cut the outers cleanly, square-off the ends and open-out the liners? The fact that it is the downshift is causing problems identifies that cable-drag is the problem - you may have kinked the outer or got the runs too tight. Whilst Jagwire cables are OK, I'd try using the Campagnolo outers for the bar runs.

gwillis

Monty,

thanks for the reply. The cables were fitted by epic when I bought the bike and all look to be ok, my only concern are the barrel adjusters near the bars which I know others have commented on. I've managed to get it shifting a little better but it still hesitant when shifting say to the last 4 gears when on the 53 ring on the front. I think the next move is to swop the gear cables over to campag which I have a spare set of for a build I'm about to attempt.

dieselgeezer

If the barrel adjuster is suspect, do without it & just do the indexing on the adjuster on the rear mech. I had trouble with barrel adjusters undoing themselves as I rode along so I binned them.

gwillis

I might give that a go the only reason I haven't is I thought the adjusters were needed to fine tune is that bit the case?

Monty Dog

In-line barrel adjusters are more trouble than the're worth IME - with modern drivetrains, if installed correctly once bedded-in they barely need adjustment. It's a whole different story with the Super Record drivetrain on my 1980's Gios which needs fettling before, during and after rides

gwillis

Big thanks to you both, I've today rechecked all my cables, I roved the rear mech cable from it's bracket that holds it in situ on the frame near the rear drop out and cleaned it with gt85 and badabing !!!!!! The problem is solved.... I've spent hours this week and the only think I didn't chech was the cable where it attaches to the frame , i removed a minimal amount of road crud so as you rightly said it was the cable not being completely free to go move back down that caused the issue.

My faith is restored in campagnolo and at least I've learned something new from you.

Best


Gwillis

gwillis

Just a quick update, tried out the bike on my usual route tonight with some big hills thrown in along the way, the chain was still slipping on the rear cassette when under load but I was told to make 1/4 anti clockwise turns until this stops (is that correct) the upshot it my down shifts are better but still a little slow on the last 3 gears . Will give it another blast in the morning

gwillis

Just a quick update, tried out the bike on my usual route tonight with some big hills thrown in along the way, the chain was still slipping on the rear cassette when under load but I was told to make 1/4 anti clockwise turns until this stops (is that correct) the upshot it my down shifts are better but still a little slow on the last 3 gears . Will give it another blast in the morning

blackpoolkev

I also had similar problem with my Athena shifting.However after recently upgrading my Pro-Lite Como wheels to Mavic Ksyrium Elite the shifting is now perfect.I was expecting the new wheels to run smoother,quieter etc.(they did) but the gear shifting improvement was an unexpected bonus.