Campy 10 Shifting Woes

[scottaharper]

I am hoping that someone can give me some advice on what is going wrong with my Campy 10-speed drivetrain. I have the Centaur shifters with the new style hoods and an older 10-speed century-grey Centaur rear derailleur. Both are several years old and have maybe 3000 miles on them. I just got a new frame, and transferred the parts from my old bike. Things were running fine before the switch, as I recall. My problem is that all the gears shift fine, except for the 2nd smallest cog. All other cogs shift great. When in the second cog, it wants to jump to the smallest cog. When I adjust to make the drivetrain to operate properly in the 2nd cog, all the other cogs are funky.

My first thought was that I had a bad cog. So I switched out the cassette. Same problem. I am thinking shifter but I have never delved into the guts of a shifter, so it is probably best to take it to a shop but I wanted to check here before I did to see if anyone recognized the problem.

Thanks,
Scott

[lhuerta]

Transferring parts will require adjusting parts to fit new frame parameters. First, will need to check limit screws on rear der...hanger might be thicker placing der in different alignment with cassette. Second, check for kinked cables as friction will be your worst enemy on Campy setups. Third, check rear der hanger alignment (with proper tool, not eye-balling it)...every hanger must be aligned upon install on new frames. Lou

[ultraman6970]

If you ping/pull the cable by hand it doest do what it should? if it does you have a problem of friction somewhere.

Are you putting the rd cable in the back or in the front? makes a difference.

Secondly, the cable head it might getting trapped outside of the cable spooler and when that happens the last shifts or the middle ones have problems. JUst check inside if the cable head is 100% inside of the spooler in the positions you are having problems with. I believe campagnolo changed the spooler in some units because the hole did not have the right diameter, I believe the spooler is white color, the correct one is black.

If you have that problem you have 3 ways to adress it, one is getting a new spooler (i do have one if you need one, new. Or talk with potato, he has them too), second way is to take the spooler out and just drill a larger hole just be careful. The 3rd way and the fastest way is to dremel the cable head so it fits in place. I would do the 3rd one is the easiest and less intrusive one.

Another detail, the cable that goes from the chainstay to the RD, if the cable is too short will mess you up also, campagnolo likes kind'a long cables.

Had you ever try to use a record or a chorus rd?? those have stronger return springs and those will pull the cable no matter what.

Put a lot of grease in the cables and check for kinks, kinks sometimes cause problems as yours.

Hope this helps.

[scottaharper]

If the problem was the limit screws, derailleur hanger, or routing the cable to the wrong side of the screw, then I would expect to have problems with all gears at one end of the cassette. My problem is different, in that the smallest and 3rd smallest cogs are fine. Just the second smallest cog is off.

I am not sure I understand the cable spooler issue. i also am not sure where to look to check the color of this part. Why would that cause a problem in one gear, but no others?

One other bit of information: the cables and housings are all new. The cables are designed for designed for Campy shifters.

Thanks,
Scott

[Ralph]

Do you have the spacers correct. If it's a loose cog cassette, you have 3 different width spacers. If the larger two cogs are pined together on a carrier, you have two differennt width spacers. It matters where they go.

[carpediemracing]

Spooler is the part the cable goes into - when you installed the cable you threaded the cable through the spooler. If the head doesn't sit all the way in then you'll have issues.

You said you're using new cables/housing, you should use the Campy supplied housing (or similar). I believe it's slightly narrower than most other cable housing.

It sounds like a friction type issue. You get to the 3rd cog okay because the derailleur spring still has tension. You get to the 1st cog okay because you can basically unscrew the limit screw and the derailleur will stop under the 1st cog due to lack of spring tension to pull it further.

The second cog issue means it's probably friction related, i.e. too much friction. I'm sure you did but make sure there are no kinks in the cable, housing is cut properly, etc.

Personally I use White Lightning in my cable housing, works great, been doing it for a while now (15+ years). I also use Nokons (on the second-last generation Campy 10s). I'm about to move one bike over to the new style levers.

Hope this helps.

[ultraman6970]

The cable spooler is the piece where the cable head sits on, when you pass the cable onto the shifter there is a piece where the cable head sits on, thats the one that turns everytime you move the lever, right?

This will help you more... this is what im talking about...

http://home.comcast.net/~bicycle019/012.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~bicycle019/013.jpg

And this is how it should be...

http://home.comcast.net/~bicycle019/027.jpg

[thwart]

Nice pics...

[merlincustom1]

I doubt it's the shifter. If it was fine just before the switch and bad right after, something else is the problem. I know this ain't much help.

[Peter B]

I think I'd start by chasing friction. Did you use new cables and housings? If not, might be worth a try to do so. As suggested earlier, I'd recommend a Campy cableset. While you're at it, me meticulous with the routing.

Perhaps OP will see this and chime in with the right answer.

[deanster]

If you purchased a frame the derailluer hanger may have been dinged in shipment. A good shop should have a tool to check the alignment of the hanger. If everything worked well before and you switched the parts over sounds like the shifters should be ok. I just swapped campy parts between 2 XC bikes and had no problems. It doesn't take much of a ding to cause problems. I crashed a few years ago the the RD hanger went out of alignment just a little and gave me fits.
If you ever want the shifters rebuit check out Vecchios Biciletta (sp?) in Boulder, CO. The shop has done a conversion from 9 to 10spd for the 2001 Daytona shifters and they have been working perfectly for 10K miles.
Good luck.

[ultraman6970]

I believe those shifters cant be repaired, Now campagnolo sells assemblies.

[deanster]

I believe those shifters cant be repaired, Now campagnolo sells assemblies.

Call Vecchios. Campy should have parts available and they can be rebuilt, but few shops can provide the service. Worth a try!

[scottaharper]

As many of you suggested, it was a cable/friction issue. I swapped out the Jagwire cable and housing for Yokozuna and the problem went away. I guess being cheap does not pay.

I also looked at the cable spooler. As ultrman6970 suggested, it is white while my other 3 bikes with these shifters have black spoolers. Dremeling or drilling sound like more than I want to do, so I figure that I should get ahold of the black model. I will be shooting ultraman6970 a PM on this. How big a deal is it to replace?

Thanks to the forum! You saved me time, money and frustration by not having to take my bike to the shop.

[ultraman6970]

Jagwire cables are pretty good, wonder if the yokosuna cables are that nice, always wanted to try them but are too expensive for me.

The other thing i would love to try is to use graphite lubricant, the one that is black and coat just the ends that are suceptible to friction and see how it goes...

Sent you an email.

[ultraman6970]

All the "new shaped" shifters once they die you have to replace the body assembly.

Call Vecchios. Campy should have parts available and they can be rebuilt, but few shops can provide the service. Worth a try!

[oldpotatoe]

Call Vecchios. Campy should have parts available and they can be rebuilt, but few shops can provide the service. Worth a try!

Well, actually they only DO supply assemblies but I have the spools, if that's the problem. I think it's drag somewhere.

Cleanly cut 4mm housing, making sure the wee brass inserts in the lever, where the der housing enters, are still there and not turned 90 degrees.

Route the der housing behind the handlebars, not in front, making sure the housing is long enough. A bit too long s way better than too short. I use Boeshiled inside the housing, a very thin lube. metal ferrules(NONE in the lever please, not for brakes either!!).

Clean, plastic not metal under BB guide and the same gig with the rear der..I use a section of 5mm housing there at the rder.

If it was working before, mnot now on a new frame, i suspect the above needs to be addresses, not the lever.

[Vientomas]

Check picture 10 in the instructions. Did you attach the cable correctly?

http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/documenti/en/10s_Rear_derailleur.pdf