campy veloce sloppy shifting

Stuart.M

hi all. hopefully this is the correct place to ask. recently bought a bianchi c2c nirone 7, used but good condition. it comes with the veloce groupset, which is great in terms of how the hoods feel, really like the design of the shifters where you shift with thumb and lever (same as my mtb setup) but I cant get over how sloppy the changes feel going up the gears. there's a massive amount of movement in the lever and sometimes, say 40% of the time, it miss shifts and goes back to the gear it was in. I've just given it a service and went out on a 80 mile ride last weekend where it was exactly the same. is there a way to crisp the shifts up a bit more? or is it just a case of upgrading levers?
I'm used to shimano xtr excellence on my mtb, and I have an old Peugeot with full 600 groupset that is far better than this, even if only 10 speed.

cheers
Stu

Monty Dog

Try changing the cables - if the outers aren't seated correctly there's too much 'slop' in the system

keezx

Stuart.M wrote:

but I cant get over how sloppy the changes feel going up the gears. there's a massive amount of movement in the lever and sometimes, say 40% of the time, it miss shifts and goes back to the gear it was in. I've just given it a service and went out on a 80 mile ride last weekend where it was exactly the same. is there a way to crisp the shifts up a bit more? or is it just a case of upgrading levers?

Stu

What year are your shifters?
The pre 2007 ergo's can suffer from worn springs which are cheap and easy to replace.
Post 2007 Veloxes are so called Escape , the cannot be repaired or rebuild.
Unfortunately almost all the later, cheaper models are no good.
Actally the best option is buying a pair of the older Ergopowers (pre 2007), regardless the model, and fit your brake levers to them.

Stuart.M

They're 2012, ive been looking briefly at the centaur shifters on eBay, maybe they'd be better? I
'll be upgrading the wheels next spring to something a bit more light weight. When I do, there will be the option to change the groupset to shimano ultegra (seeing as you need the specific hub body thing for campy or shimano). Or keep it campy and go for some thing a bit more upmarket but then it's serious £££!

keezx

Well, unfortunately 2012 Centaurs are no good, in prctice they're throwaway products...
A plastic ratched ring wears out and these things cannot be bought anywhere.....
Really strange is that the corresponding ratched ring for the left Ergopower (which is used much less) still can be bought.
In your case, search for a right one or set Centaur 10 speed Ultrashift Ergo's.
Powershift are the ones to avoid.

See this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=12896586&p=18053741

g00se

Powershift may not be as good as Ultrashift, but I wouldn't call them 'no good'. It's just they've made these generally non-serviceable like the Shimano ones (and lost the multishift feature). You can buy replacement bodies - swapping over the levers, hoods etc - but you do end up replacing the majority of the unit.

I wouldn't run to replace these unless/until they break. When they work, they work fine. But it you can find some NOS (new old sale) Veloce or Centaur levers from 2010 when they were ultrashift, then it's worth getting them to use later.

Centaur levers (2009 onwards) are identical to Veloce, apart from logos and some are carbon wrapped. the bodies are the same for both the pre 2011 Ultrashift and post 2011 Powershift.

Finally, from your description, it doesn't sound like the levers anyway. When Powershift ratchets fail, it'll mean they'll tend to skip sprockets doing one way or the other - they have a kind of escapement double-ratchet system like the workings of a clock. When one ratchet is turned to release the cable spindle, the other ratchet moves to catch it. if one of these ratchet teeth wears, then there are positions where the spindle will slip over the teeth until a 'good' one halts it.

It sounds more that you have something up with the cabling or mech - if you do get a new cable set - make sure you use the proper campag-style inners as the cable ends are slightly different in shape to shimano ones. The shimano ones will fit but will stick a bit and do odd things... in fact, may be worth checking that's not the issue right now.

keezx

To me it does sound as a shifter problem, but checking the simple things first is best.

Stuart.M

ok well the cables are all in good order, nice and clean, well lubed under the bb. I changed the bar tape too and know the cable outers are seated correctly, so guess its just something I'll have to live with unless some older centaur shifters come up. its not that they dont work, just they dont feel as positive as other stuff ive used.

thanks for the advice though. now what groupset to get in the future...

dulwichiron

Are you sure your rear derailleur is correctly setup? I had some shifting issues and they were solved by adjusting the H screw on the derailleur based on the specifications in the campag documentation, linked below..
http://www.campagnolo.com/media/files/0 ... _07_13.pdf

keezx

Derailleur adjustments must be performed by skilled
personnel: a badly adjusted derailleur can result in an
accident, personal injury or death.

Stuart.M

I'm pretty sure it's set up correctly. I'm a fairly competent mechanic. I'll check the 'h screw' tomorrow, but don't know wether the cheap veloce deraileur will have it like the sr one in the illustration. The problem I'm having is just the length of travel in the shifter, doesn't feel all that engaged or crisp, and then miss shifts sometimes. I also recall the thumb shift occasionally getting stuck when pressed and needing to be pulled back up to release the gear?
Good manual though dulwichiron, thanks.

Stuart.M

Keezx wrote:

Derailleur adjustments must be performed by skilled
personnel: a badly adjusted derailleur can result in an
accident, personal injury or death.

Love that, I might die from a poorly adjusted deraileur, lmao!

keezx

Any Campagnolo manual has this text on multiple locations.
I suppose a lawsuit in the States causes this ridiculous phrases....