Best/most reliable Campagnolo Ergos

[bigbill]

I put 11 speed on my Pegoretti in late 2008. I just replaced it with a new Chorus 11 group last month. In that time I wore out cassettes, chains, and UT bearings (3-4 years), but it was super reliable and the 11 speed has the advantage of not having the wear parts (g-springs, similar index gear) that 10 speed and below have.

I'm a little quick to change stuff out, probably. I replace chains at 3500 miles and cassettes every other chain. I clean the drivetrain with a wipe down once a week. I've only used a hose and brushes on my cross bike.

[macaroon]

Originally Posted by paredown

If you are seriously thinking about downgrades, I like the Centaur 10 alloy, pre-quickshift era. Levers are solid, mechs are solid and the 10 speed chain is a little thicker on the plates.

THanks for the recommendation.

As for cleaning my bike regularly; it's not gonna happen. Most of my miles over winter are in the rain, and on wet/muddy roads. I do use mudguards. Do a couple of hundred miles per week. THe lower half of my frame/forks are now a brown/muddy colour, hence the need for a good wash outside. THe rear mech usually gets clogged with a mixture of oil and dirt, same with the cassette. Took my freehub off yesterday and that was also full of grime and barely engaging, with three snapped pawl springs. FML.

[thwart]

Originally Posted by macaroon

THe rear mech usually gets clogged with a mixture of oil and dirt, same with the cassette. Took my freehub off yesterday and that was also full of grime and barely engaging, with three snapped pawl springs. FML.

Don't know that any road components are going to stand up to riding in nasty conditions with no cleaning or maintenance.

Think about the pail of warm water from the tap and the sponge thing. Easy-peasy, 10 minutes tops, once it becomes a routine. I usually warm up a bit inside and rehydrate (with something hot) before going back out to do the wash, then bring the bike inside to dry so everything doesn't freeze together... when inside I run a dry rag over the drivetrain.

Or... maybe you need to move to MTB components on your road bike...

[merckx]

Originally Posted by macaroon

THanks for the recommendation.

As for cleaning my bike regularly; it's not gonna happen. Most of my miles over winter are in the rain, and on wet/muddy roads. I do use mudguards. Do a couple of hundred miles per week. THe lower half of my frame/forks are now a brown/muddy colour, hence the need for a good wash outside. THe rear mech usually gets clogged with a mixture of oil and dirt, same with the cassette. Took my freehub off yesterday and that was also full of grime and barely engaging, with three snapped pawl springs. FML.

Make no apologizes. It is absolutely fabulous that you use your machine to it's utmost, and invest time riding it rather than fretting. As I mentioned previously, my move to DT shifters, and 9v has significantly extended the intervals between service. DT shift cables are very easy, and quick to replace too. Keep everything lubed, and as clean as reasonably possible, and carry on.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by merckx

Make no apologizes. It is absolutely fabulous that you use your machine to it's utmost, and invest time riding it rather than fretting. As I mentioned previously, my move to DT shifters, and 9v has significantly extended the intervals between service. DT shift cables are very easy, and quick to replace too. Keep everything lubed, and as clean as reasonably possible, and carry on.

This. The Serotta I have coming is to be my "rain" bike for Portland and will be 7spd 600 DT shifters (at least to start...until I can find suitable Campy bits...).



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[giordana93]

Originally Posted by macaroon

THanks for the recommendation.

As for cleaning my bike regularly; it's not gonna happen. Most of my miles over winter are in the rain, and on wet/muddy roads. I do use mudguards. Do a couple of hundred miles per week. THe lower half of my frame/forks are now a brown/muddy colour, hence the need for a good wash outside. THe rear mech usually gets clogged with a mixture of oil and dirt, same with the cassette. Took my freehub off yesterday and that was also full of grime and barely engaging, with three snapped pawl springs. FML.

I feel your pain. Rode in Cleveland winters with salt & sand and did not like to touch the drivetrain until it was unavoidable. But I did it on an old mountain bike running slick tires and friction thumb shifters, very forgiving. If you want to stick to a road setup, I like the idea of friction downtube shifters, but I will add this: even if it costs more in the long run to buy a good lube, it is cheaper than parts. Problem is that the wet type lubes that can resist the winter rain and grit are also the ones that attract the gunk and turn into sludge (even more so when ambient temps are near freezing when viscosity turns to molasses). I actually used synthetic motor oil or the heavy wet lubes like phils or some other brand I forget, but I do know that they have come a long way in the last few years. No longer experimenting in those conditions so can't be sure, but we like the rock n roll extreme blue, and I would bet something like the NFS or progold (or whatever, just try em out) would serve better. If you can't take the time to clean, you can at least take the time to drip some lube on there, and given your cleaning habits, I'd go for something thin that has to be applied more frequently over the heavy stuff that goes through phase transition. don't bother with wax, of course, it is useless in those conditions. maybe it is time to try a belt drive?

forgot to add: chorus 10v is pretty bulletproof, but as mentioned, you might want to forgo indexing altogether and run friction

[gfk_velo]

Originally Posted by weisan

I have access to an outside hose and tap...but that's not what I use to clean my bike.

All I need is baby wipes, WD40 and some rags.

I'd avoid WD40, or in fact any sprays.

They atomise the lubricant / cleaner into a mist that is finer than the seals in most sealed bearings used in bicycles are designed to resist, so tending to flush grease out. The grease in most cases is there for corrosion control and because re-oiling is a PITA but in fact, oil is all that most bearings need if they are used regularly and the oil is re-introduced regularly. In using a degreaser or WD40, which is a very thin hydrocarbon distillate with poor lubrication properties, you will increase the risk of running the grease out and reduce the chances of any subsequent application of oil (or grease) staying put.

Some areas of the bike, such as some ErgoPower levers (and in fact some SRAM and Shimano levers) also react badly to mineral oils as they use plastic parts or parts with high natural rubber content that are not necessarily all that resistant to (especially more volatile) mineral oils. Accelerated aging and early wear and tear are characteristic problems. Swelling or softening are problems seen in high natural rubber parts like o-rings often used for weather sealing. Add to that combinations of different oils with different additives and in some cases propellants in the aerosols that are also bad news for plastics / rubber and you can end up trashing the very parts that you are aiming to preserve.

Baby wipes, Clinell wipes, bucket and sponge and a really good quality low viscosity chain lube (in-house we use ProGold ProLink and have for 14 years - tried many, many alternatives but always come back to this) will keep the bike running as it should with well-timed service intervals on hubs, BB bearings and chain / cassette replacements - UK winters are pretty mucky but this kind of routine seems to keep the bikes that we look after running as they should, regardless of whose name is on the transmission.

[Mzilliox]

everyone is gving you bad advice, heres mine. Ill trade you a record 10 setup for your chorus 11. there, solved. 10 is way less finicky, you can use any dirty old chain, and the adjustment between shifts has much more room for error or dirt. so i say leave it dirty and give me your chorus 11

[Tommy Mac]

I run 9-speed on one bike and 10 on several others. The 9-speed feels more "chunky" when shifting and I'm guessing more reliable. But I don't know that you can convert an Ultrashift lever to 9.

[macaroon]

Downtube friction shifters are not something I want to bother with again! I think if I lived somewhere flat then I'd consider them, but I make a lot of gear changes, half the time when I'm out of the saddle.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Tommy Mac

I run 9-speed on one bike and 10 on several others. The 9-speed feels more "chunky" when shifting and I'm guessing more reliable. But I don't know that you can convert an Ultrashift lever to 9.

Cannot..10 or 11s only.

[macaroon]

OP, I know you're clued up on Campagnolo. What's your opinion on the best 10 speed Ultrashift Ergos?

I've got a set of Veloce shifters like the ones below, and they shift very well. Are these (or the Centaur model) what I should be looking for?

[Ti Designs]

Originally Posted by Cicli

So, you want stuff that works even when you dont take care of it?

I have a 100:1 rule, I ride my bikes 100 hours for every hour I spend working on it. Some years it's more like 200:1, this year I think I'm going for the record by pressing 3 bikes into service until they just don't work any more - one of those is a fixed gear...

The simple answer to the durability question is the fixed gear. There's just so little to go wrong. One step up from there I would have to point at Shimano's 9-speed stuff. My cross bike has hand-me-down Dura-Ace 7700. Right now it's my only working bike, if you want to call it working. The freehub body has a spun bearing, the front derailleur sometimes needs to be helped back to the small chainring, the rear brakes don't both make it to the rim, I can't tell where one chain link ends and the next one begins, and the rear light on the seat tube has so much sand and dirt on it that it's hard to tell if it's on.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by macaroon

OP, I know you're clued up on Campagnolo. What's your opinion on the best 10 speed Ultrashift Ergos?

I've got a set of Veloce shifters like the ones below, and they shift very well. Are these (or the Centaur model) what I should be looking for?

Late 2009, 2010 Centaur and Veloce..same guts and post running change making them more 'clickier(deeper 'troughs' in the disc).

[Pastashop]

So, let's say I want to get metal 11sp Ergo levers to run on my otherwise Shimano 9sp setup, which ones should I get? :-)