Campy Cassette help needed

Jabbertaff

I have just bought a bike with Campagnolo 10 speed Chorus gear train, the cassette fitted is a 13 - 26, I have a few long rides lined up one being 300 in 3 days up and around mid/south Wales in the summer, being Wales there is going to be a lot of climbing involved and me not being a spring chicken (although reasonably fit) I think I am going to struggle with the 26 gear.
Searching on the net i have found a Centaur 12 - 27 and 12 - 30 cassette, being only one tooth either way I suspect the 12 - 27 will fit with a longer chain? would this be correct?

how about the 12 - 30, will it fit the Chorus RD which has a short cage?

rolf_f

You'll probably get away with the same chain on the 12-27. I switch between 12-25, 13-26 and 12-27 all on the same chain.

Not much difference between 26 and 27 though the 12-27 is a very nice cassette.

I think the Chorus 10 rear mech might struggle with the 12-30. The current short cages apparently can handle them. You could always get a Veloce mech for the 12-30 for about £60.

The other alternative you haven't covered is the 13-29 (maybe Veloce only) - I've used one of those for really tough rides and that with Centaur and Record 10 speed short cage rear mechs. No problem at all. I even converted it temporarily into an 11-29 for a trip to the Alps with a medium cage Veloce mech! I do use a slightly long chain for that setup (both 13-29 and 11-29).

DeVlaeminck

Yes I've used a 29 for the Alps and Lakes too - also with a 10 spd Chorus mechs - takes a bit of fiddling with the B screw for me to get it to work well with a short cage mech but a small price to pay for the extra couple of teeth. I've actually got a medium cage mech but I don't fit it as it works well enough with the short which is already on.

I didn't know they made a 30 tooth cassette in 10 spd but the 29 looks about the limit when I've used it so like Rolf I'm not sure I'd use the 30 either.

rolf_f

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I didn't know they made a 30 tooth cassette in 10 spd but the 29 looks about the limit when I've used it so like Rolf I'm not sure I'd use the 30 either.

I think the 12-30 is pretty recent - it theoretically only works on the new mechs irrc but who really knows. Obviously it would be a bit more gappy than the 13-29 but I'm not sure that matters for these cassettes - you buy them for going up and down and not so much along the flat!

I'm not sure I wouldn't use the 12-30 if I had the choice. But the 13-29 is going to take me years to wear out as I don't use it much. And since it does convert to an 11-29 then really I'm only missing out on one tooth which hardly seems worth the expense of another rarely to be used new cassette. Please don't remind me of this comment when I'm on Hardknott next month......

c40nl12

I think you need to change the title of your post, it should say "Campag Cassette ".

rolf_f

c40nl12 wrote:

I think you need to change the title of your post, it should say "Campag Cassette ".

If you are going to be pedantic, surely you'd change it to "Campagnolo Cassette". It's not really an improvement changing from an abbreviation that Campagnolo use themselves (Campy) to one that afaik they don't (Campag).

Jabbertaff

Rolf F wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I didn't know they made a 30 tooth cassette in 10 spd but the 29 looks about the limit when I've used it so like Rolf I'm not sure I'd use the 30 either.

I think the 12-30 is pretty recent - it theoretically only works on the new mechs irrc but who really knows. Obviously it would be a bit more gappy than the 13-29 but I'm not sure that matters for these cassettes - you buy them for going up and down and not so much along the flat!

I'm not sure I wouldn't use the 12-30 if I had the choice. But the 13-29 is going to take me years to wear out as I don't use it much. And since it does convert to an 11-29 then really I'm only missing out on one tooth which hardly seems worth the expense of another rarely to be used new cassette. Please don't remind me of this comment when I'm on Hardknott next month......

Thanks for the info I have sourced a 13 - 29 chorus cassette, so will give that a go.

If I were to fit a 11 spd gear, would I just add the 11 taking the 13 off or go for 11 13 15?

Regards

rolf_f

Jabbertaff wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I didn't know they made a 30 tooth cassette in 10 spd but the 29 looks about the limit when I've used it so like Rolf I'm not sure I'd use the 30 either.

I think the 12-30 is pretty recent - it theoretically only works on the new mechs irrc but who really knows. Obviously it would be a bit more gappy than the 13-29 but I'm not sure that matters for these cassettes - you buy them for going up and down and not so much along the flat!

I'm not sure I wouldn't use the 12-30 if I had the choice. But the 13-29 is going to take me years to wear out as I don't use it much. And since it does convert to an 11-29 then really I'm only missing out on one tooth which hardly seems worth the expense of another rarely to be used new cassette. Please don't remind me of this comment when I'm on Hardknott next month......

Thanks for the info I have sourced a 13 - 29 chorus cassette, so will give that a go.

If I were to fit a 11 spd gear, would I just add the 11 taking the 13 off or go for 11 13 15?

Regards

I'm fairly sure I just split it in the middle! But remember I had to buy a new mech to make that work. To be honest, for what you have planned I'd leave it at 13-29. Unless you want to get every last MPH on the descents, you won't lose much by not having a 12 and 11 is slightly silly for mortals anyway. I just thought I'd give it a go for the Alps as I thought I might have a chance to get myself a personal speed record (not even close!) and I had the bits. It was nice having the 11tooth over there but you don't tend to get to spend 15 -20 minutes on a fast descent in Wales!

rafletcher

Looking at the campag tech docs, all the 10sp RD's have a max listed sprocket of 30T, the difference being in the overall capacity and the differences at the front chainring. 11sp are listed as having a max 29T sprocket.

However I know someone who has fitted a custom cassette (Miche, with individual sprockets) for alpine climbing, he's running a 50/34 compact chainset with 11-32T sprockets and a Chorus 11 short cage RD. BUT, and this is the big BUT - he does NOT run the 50F/32R combo EVER, (in fact I doubt he runs 50F/29 - the next ratio down), such is the risk of wrapping the RD around the chainstay of his custom carbon frame. But with care you can usually exceed the max recommended sprocket size on most RD's for climbing.