shimano/campag mix'n'match

marjorie dawes

being fairly new to cycling i am aware that a rear wheel hub is suitable for either shimano and sram or campagnolo, is this where the incompatibility ends or could i for instance fit a campag hub + cassette into a bike with shimano chain and crankset and expect things to work ok?

has anyone tried this or any other comination?

thankyou in advance for your constructive answers.

Monty Dog

Here's some general rules:

Chainsets are almost universal - there are few intercompatiblity options - chainrings do differ in width so try and stick to a ring suitable for the number of gears e.g. 8, 9, 10 or 11 speed.

Likewise with chains - the are all the same pitch i.e. distance between rollers but vary in width to suit the number of gears.

Stick to the same brand of shifters and gear mechs - each have different cable-pull / actuation ratios.

Shimano and SRAM hubs and cassettes have the same spline pattern and therefore generally you can interchange cassettes. Campagnolo has a different spline pattern and spacing between sprockets so intercompatibility with other brands is more problematic - there are some 'fixes' but not too straight-forward.

marjorie dawes

thanks monty dog, the only bit i knew for sure was chain width and hub spline, but the cassette sproket spacing i was unaware of,,

rolf_f

Monty Dog wrote:

Stick to the same brand of shifters and gear mechs - each have different cable-pull / actuation ratios.

Shimano and SRAM hubs and cassettes have the same spline pattern and therefore generally you can interchange cassettes. Campagnolo has a different spline pattern and spacing between sprockets so intercompatibility with other brands is more problematic - there are some 'fixes' but not too straight-forward.

Surely the mechs are less of an issue than the cassette and chainring spacings? As long as they have sufficient range of movement I'd have thought the mechs would be pretty interchangeble. On the other hand, how much the lever physically moves the cable is directly relevant to how far apart the chainrings and cassette sprockets are.

Monty Dog

These were general rules and obviously there are work-arounds.

The different makes of shifter each pull a different amount of cable and the mechs are designed to match the amount of linear movement to suit the indexing / sprocket pitch.

Whilst you can mix and match certain shifters and mechs, this isn't straightforward and may require a certain degree of ingenuity on behalf of the mechanic to get a nice clean shift. Some are easier than others.

For example a Campagnolo 10 speed shifter indexes perfectly with 8 speed Shimano rear mech and cassette.

Peddle Up!

Is there a good reason why anyone would want to mix components from different manufacturers?

Just curious.

ride_whenever

because it's what you have in your spares box...

cooper.michael1

This is the best article about this subject:

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

There are several combinations which work, the JTek Shiftmate converter, converstion cassettes lots of options. I ran a 10sp Shimano Cassette with a 10sp campag groupset for two years and it was fine.

cooper.michael1

Peddle Up! wrote:

Is there a good reason why anyone would want to mix components from different manufacturers?

Just curious.

I love Campagnolo Ergo Levers; so superior to shimano in my opinion and half the price. Shimano STI's are the weakness of the groupsets, expensive, fragile, and thow-a-way if a fault occurs (I've thrown 4 pairs in 10 years = £700).

However shimano wheels, mechs etc.. are much more common (and robust), especially if you are touring. Mixing the strengths of both is quite good!

marjorie dawes

my reason for asking is that there are a lot of bits for sale on ebay and it opens up your options, i've looking for a pair of ksyrium elites, there's as many campag as there is shimano, also campag always come up lighter on most comparsons,

thank for the info guys, most usefull