8-speed Record - cassette compatibility

TimB34

I would be grateful for some advice.

I've just been gifted a mid-1990s Bianchi (model unknown) equipped with full 8-speed Campagnolo Record (even the seatpost!). It's the old bike of the father of a colleague of mine. My colleague is moving house and was going to chuck it in the skip...

But his brother wanted the wheels. And all the other wheels I have are fitted with Shimano freehubs.

The bike is already fitted with a SRAM PC58 chain, which got me thinking. Do I have to use a Campag cassette or will a SRAM 8-speed cassette work?

Like this one:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=17901

That way I could just buy a new cassette (and probably a new chain: SRAM PC830 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=26313 or KMC x8 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=25424)

Does anyone know which cassette & chain combination will work best?

I've seen 8-speed Record cassettes too : http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=36763
but it's for "ExaDrive freehubs" and that would mean new wheels!

Thanks.

PieterM

There is a very good article on cross compatibility of the different shifting systems on the CTC website. May be that is of help to you.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=3946

BG2000

I ran 8 speed Record with Shimano hubs/cassettes for years without any problems. The trick was getting an old 8 speed Campag cassette, stripping it apart to get the sprocket spacer rings, then splitting apart a Shimano cassette and rebuilding it with the Campag spacers. You can get away with this because the sprocket thickness is very similar for 8/9 speed Shimano and Campag 8 speed.

TimB34

Ah, really useful thanks.

So the spacing is different between Shimano/SRAM 8-speed and Campag 8-speed : 5.0mm/4.8mm

So I can't just buy a SRAM cassette.

But I found this forum : http://www.campyonly.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2

Which led me to here:
http://wheelsmfg.com/content/view/525/40/

So I can get an 8-speed Shimano/SRAM cassette and change the spacers between the cogs!

Now I just have to find a stockist for the spacers.

TimB34

BG2000 wrote:

I ran 8 speed Record with Shimano hubs/cassettes for years without any problems. The trick was getting an old 8 speed Campag cassette, stripping it apart to get the sprocket spacer rings, then splitting apart a Shimano cassette and rebuilding it with the Campag spacers. You can get away with this because the sprocket thickness is very similar for 8/9 speed Shimano and Campag 8 speed.

Thanks BG.

What did you do with the largest and smallest cogs? The 8-speed Shimano cassettes I've seen have the smallest cog spacer as part of the cog, and the largest cogs are usually riveted to the spacers?

The Wheels Manufacturing site I linked to above recommends 8sp 105 cassettes. In your experience do these have loose spacers for all cogs?

BG2000

Maybe you'll be OK with a Shimano 8 speed cassette then. To be honest, I never tried as I had so many spare 9 speed Shimano cassettes (cast offs from my other bikes) I just used to take sprockets from those. This was only possible on cheaper cassettes where the sprockets were individually clamped together with a 1.5mm allen key long bolt. I guess you could drill out a rivet ?

I can't remember what I did about the smallest sprocket to be honest. I think I might have used an 8 speed one from an old 8 speed cassette.

I've since purchased a NOS Campag 8 speed cassette and found this fits the latest Mavic Aksium wheelset, so ditched my old method of using Shimano bits (this was due to my Ultegra freehub failing).

stud

I know that there haven't been any posts in this thread in a while, but I've found it witha google search for campy 8spd..

so, basically, my problem:

bike with good working 8spd campy drivetrain, but with the constant fear of thrashing some of the components (eg: bent rear axle, cracked rear dérailleur, ergos, etc..)

Is it really true then that one can just simply put a 8speed campagnolo cassette onto some modern splined campy freewheel, such as on mavic aksiums? I'm asking this, because sooner or later the rims will give out from braking, and it's always cheaper to buy a discounted khamsin, fulcrum 7 or aksium than to re-lace the hubs with new rims. : D

Ohh, and it also can be the first step in converting the drivetrain to 9 or 10 speed stuff (esp. 9 can be quite cheapish second hand!)

thanks for the input.

NB: I've truly seen a guy with aksiums and 8spd campy cassette, but he didn't know anything about how he acquired it, he tld me that mechs in the shop smply put it up to the freehub and off he went.

ugo.santalucia

I think with careful indexing you should get away with it... in the worst case scenario, a Shiftmate can help

stud

: ) Intent would be to finally convert the drivetrain to either 9 or 10 spd. That'll require new wheels. But it'd b nice if the wheels of choice would be also compatible with campagnolo 8spd as well. And I've seen few aksiums running with 8spd campy cassettes recently. seems to be a sensible choice (the new version is actually quite light, and mavic wheels generally have high reputation, even in their "bdget" category.

cheerz.

ugo.santalucia

stud wrote:

: ) Intent would be to finally convert the drivetrain to either 9 or 10 spd. That'll require new wheels. But it'd b nice if the wheels of choice would be also compatible with campagnolo 8spd as well. And I've seen few aksiums running with 8spd campy cassettes recently. seems to be a sensible choice (the new version is actually quite light, and mavic wheels generally have high reputation, even in their "bdget" category.

cheerz.

a 9-speed cassette is 38.2mm wide, whereas an 8-speed cassette is only 36.9mm wide... therefore you either use a spacer on the wider modern freehub or you can use the 9 speed sprockets an the 8 speed spacers... the indexing won't be perfect, but with careful indexing as I said before, it should work fine. If your cassette has many shallow splines, it will chew into the modern freehub, designed for few deeper splines... so in essence you can make it to work, but it might give you grief.
Personally I would use a Shimano 8 speed cassette on a shimano modern freehub and a shiftmate if necessary. When you upgrade to 10 speed, you can get an Ambrosio cassette spaced for Campagnolo and splined for Shimano...
That to me seems the most sensible way to go... unless you want to upgrade to 10 speed now... in which case I might be interested in your 8 speed shifters...

Monty Dog

You can't run an 8 speed Campagnolo cassette on later model hubs - the splines are too deep. The recommended conversion is to take a 9 speed cassette e.g. Mirage/Veloce/Miche i.e. one that splits into individual sprockets - use the 8 smaller sprockets and fit 8 the speed spacers.

stud

Monty Dog wrote:

You can't run an 8 speed Campagnolo cassette on later model hubs - the splines are too deep. The recommended conversion is to take a 9 speed cassette e.g. Mirage/Veloce/Miche i.e. one that splits into individual sprockets - use the 8 smaller sprockets and fit 8 the speed spacers.

I just thought that perhaps aksium freehub bodies can be used for either 8-9-10 or 11 spd cassettes provided with spacers. I've found some ref. for it in an older (2007?) mavic document as well as BG2000 wrote it that he used those wheels for campy 8 speed cassettes.

And also, I've seen an anachronistic build of 2013 frame (orbea aqua) with 2013 aksiums and old pre-97 chorus 8spd complete groupset : ) looked ridiculous with those parts. : )

Yet there was also a bikeshop who sold an old fondriest steel bike with 8 spd Dura Ace cassette and campy chorus 8spd drivetrain. : ) They said it worked like magic.

ugo.santalucia

stud wrote:

Yet there was also a bikeshop who sold an old fondriest steel bike with 8 spd Dura Ace cassette and campy chorus 8spd drivetrain. : ) They said it worked like magic.

I have run 10 speed Campagnolo drivetrains with Shimano cassettes, they do work, but the shifting is a bit dodgy towards the edges of the cassette. I have run 9 speed too, same thing... I suspect 8 speed will work better... as long as you start your indexing from the middle of the cassette.
There is nothing wrong with a Shim-ergo setup and if it doesn't work well, a Jtek shiftmate will improve it. Lastly, if your frame can take them, consider downtube, friction shifting, at that point you can mix and match any component you like and it will always work as long as the chain is vaguely compatible with the sprockets

mankybianchi

I'm currently using a SRAM 8 speed cassette on a shimano wheel and Campag 8 speed setup. I'd previously being using a Campag cassette but the old Veloce hub packed in and since I had the SRAM cassette just sitting there I thought I'd give it a go.

It's perfect. I simply put the wheel in place and there wasn't any need to reindex the gears or adjust the stops, it simply worked.

stud

it explains why the bikeshop sold that steel bike with 8spd shimano cassette -wheels, yet 8spd campy drivetrain.. It worked. It seems that the miniscule difference in the cassette spacing is small enough not to cause any problem even with a campy drivetrain.

sounds good enough.