Campag Ergo levers

bilsea159

Bought some of the 9 speed centaur with hole through the shift lever and need to know two things, firstly I am replacing my Xenon 9 speed levers on my bike so when fitting I am intending to replace the cables but can I leave the existing outers an the cable set was new last year 1000 miles ago and also any recommenations for inner cablesets, and are my ergo shifters ultrashift?

g00se

If the Centaurs are mkIIs like the Xenon's, then yes (basically the same shape), you can keep the outers. You should be able to get Campag inners as individual items but whatever inners you get, make sure they're Campag compatible as the bullet ends are a different shape to Shimano/SRAM compatible ones. Ribble sell them.

If you end up getting whole new cable sets, make sure they're for the older ergos and not ultrashift/powershift (mkIII) as the outers on these are narrower.

Your ergos are not ultrashift - as that term is for the new-shape mkIII ergos (the other mkIII style is called powershift). With your mkIIs, they'll either be 'ergopower' or 'escape'. The 'ergopower' ones have a ratchet on the left gear levers and the right levers will shift up and down multiple sprockets at a time. 'Escape' left levers will jump one chainring at a time with limited trimming - and the right will only allow going to a smaller sprocket one press at a time. Utrashift and Powershift are the modern equivalent but Ultrashift left levers are less 'ratchet' and more multiple trim positions.

You can tell if your levers are ergopower or escape by looking at the thumb buttons. If there is a slot in the hood/body to allow the thumb lever to travel all the way down to the bottom, then it's ergopower. If it's just a small hole to let the thumb lever pivot down one click - then it's escape.

Escape:



Ergopower:



For info - these are mkIII, mkII and mkI:

Monty Dog

That lower photo isn't correct - Mk 1 Ergopowers look like this:

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx? ... 5&AbsPos=2

g00se

Monty Dog wrote:

That lower photo isn't correct - Mk 1 Ergopowers look like this:

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx? ... 5&AbsPos=2

Yes, no lever! It was late

Monty Dog

The irony is that if you had a pair of those early 1990s Record brake levers - the rubber hoods alone in mint condition are worth more than the Ergos!

g00se

Monty Dog wrote:

The irony is that if you had a pair of those early 1990s Record brake levers - the rubber hoods alone in mint condition are worth more than the Ergos!

Time to get the chemistry set out...