Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed rear mech

davep1

Mine is broken, it isn't changing down the cassette very far and my mechanic pal tells me something inside it is beyond repair, so I need a replacement.
It doesn't look like they make it any more, so would a Xenon/Daytona/Chorus 9 speed be ok?
Or would the 10 speed Veloce mech be compatible with my 9 speed chain and shifter?
Not sure if the current one is medium or short cage; it was set up with a 12-25 Veloce cassette which I was planning to replace with a 12-27. Would that have any impact?

Sirius631

All Campagnolo rear mechs are identical in swing geometry. The 9, 10 & 11 speed branding is only a marketing ploy to make it desirable to upgrade. What changes between 9, 10 & 11 speed set ups is the incremental length of cable pulled by each index click.

Buy the Veloce 10 speed rear mech and you'll have no problems.

davep1

Thanks for sharing the knowledge Sirius! I've gone for a Xenon 10 speed mech, it's half the price of a Veloce. The whole bike only cost me £500 so I don't want to blow over 10% on a mech! I'll keep the money for the next (mythical) bike...

rolf_f

DaveP1 wrote:

Thanks for sharing the knowledge Sirius! I've gone for a Xenon 10 speed mech, it's half the price of a Veloce. The whole bike only cost me £500 so I don't want to blow over 10% on a mech! I'll keep the money for the next (mythical) bike...

That's probably not a worthwhile saving. The Xenon mech won't be as strong or as repairable as a Veloce mech (uses a lot of plastic). Better to buy a used Veloce mech on Ebay than a new Xenon for the same money.

mercia_man

I think you'll be fine with Xenon. I replaced my broken Veloce rear mech on my tourer three or four years ago with a Champ triple rear mech which is also part plastic and looks identical to Xenon apart from the long cage. It works better than the old Veloce, appears to be just as strong and you can replace jockey wheels just like on any other Campag mech.

bigflangesmallsprocket

What Rolf said. I bought mine second hand from Ebay and though it's not had massive use it's held up well and still looks good and works well.

rolf_f

Mercia Man wrote:

I think you'll be fine with Xenon. I replaced my broken Veloce rear mech on my tourer three or four years ago with a Champ triple rear mech which is also part plastic and looks identical to Xenon apart from the long cage. It works better than the old Veloce, appears to be just as strong and you can replace jockey wheels just like on any other Campag mech.

Hopefully you are right. I recently bought a Veloce medium cage rear mech just for the Alps and I did consider a Xenon one but decided the savings weren't worth it. Xenon rear mechs do seem to be known to occasionally snap. And of course, it isn't so much the inconvenience of having to replace the mech but the potential damage to yourself and the bike if the mech goes into the rear wheel.

For my money, it just isn't worth buying a plastic derailleur for the sake of a few, if any quid. £30-£40 easily gets you a second hand Veloce mech on Ebay - no more expensive than a new Xenon.

mercia_man

A fair point, Rolf. But the OP only wanted a cheapo rear mech for his £500 bike and the Xenon fits the bill and I reckon it will be OK.

I've also seen internet complaints about Xenon mechs snapping. On my Champ the plastic (Campag call it fiber composite) makes up the two knuckle shaped bits that attach the metal parallelogram plates to the frame and to the metal cage plates - the bits that are carbon fibre on Super Record. The so-called fiber composite appears to me to be a lot harder than the softish plastic used on some low end Shimano.

My part plastic Champ certainly works very well - no doubt because the cage is slightly longer than the old medium cage Veloce - and appears to be robust. My all metal Veloce snapped where it attached to the frame, went into the spokes and bent the dropout on my 531 tourer a week before I set off on a French coast-to-coast trip. Luckily I was able to source a replacement mech and bend the dropout straight in time for my holiday. One advantage of a steel frame.

rolf_f

You are probably right. But I think it is worth flagging. There's a far bigger difference in what you get between Xenon and Veloce than Veloce and Record so it's best to make the choice with a bit of knowledge. The reported breakages are not exactly in their thousands but I suspect that the likes of Graeme from Velotech and Ugo would have some things to say about the quality of recent Xenon!