campy wheels questions

[d_douglas]

Hi there - I have two Campy questions for you:

Can 9/10 speed wheels be used on a Campy 8 speed system? ie., can I simply block out one or two positions on a cassette? Can an 8spd cassette be used on a 9/10 hub?

If I am looking for an extra set of Campy wheels and don't want to spend much money, where do I look? I bought Frank Beshears very nice Chorus/OP wheels, but now need another set for another bike (can you guess that its 8-spd Campy?) The drivetrain is pretty worked over, so I might move on to 9/10 spd, but wanted to see whether the conversion to 8spd is possible (hence question number 1). I would consider cheap prebuilt wheels as well, but do not know which ones are suitable.

I am 200lb, but do not ride tons, so I would say I don't put a great deal of wear on my stuff. Does anyone have concise preferences amongst the following:

Mavic Cosmos? Ksyrium Equipe? Campy Vento? Protons? Zonda? Scirocco? Others? I would also consider a set of Centaur-ish handbuilts. OR, of course, wait for a set of Record/OP's to come up on our forum.

Like I said, I am on a budget, so I am looking to spend no more than about $250 on them and they all fall into this category (well, Protons, are a bit beyond, but I hear they're nice). In any case, what is the best, cheapest option, in your opinion(s)?

I am living in Switzerland at the moment, so I have looked on the Total Cycling website and see some great deals, but would appreciate some solicited opinions before making a decision.

I look forward to your replies and suggestions...

[GregLR]

Can an 8spd cassette be used on a 9/10 hub?

The spline on an 8-speed cassette is not compatible with that for 9/10 speed.

I've never thought to try one of my Campag 10-speed wheels on my Campag 8-speed bike, since the index spacing will be different. Have to give it a try, though.

Greg

[GregLR]

Can 9/10 speed wheels be used on a Campy 8 speed system? ie., can I simply block out one or two positions on a cassette?
Douglas

Further to my other post, I just put a 10-speed wheel with a Chorus cassette on my bike with a '96 Record drivetrain. While I was able to ride it up and down the street 4 or 5 times, and shifted all the way up and down the gears (ie, from the largest cog to the smallest), the chain jumped cogs several times each time I went through this routine.

Since the largest and smallest cogs were engaged, the exercise confirms that the 10 cogs fit in roughly the same amount of space as the 8 on the other cassette. And that's why the chains skips, the indexing (or space between the cogs) on the 10-speed is smaller than on the 8-speed. In essence, the shifter is looking for 8 cogs but there are 10 in the same space.

It's possible (but unlikely given the different spacing) that playing around with cable tension and with the delimiter screws (ie, perhaps eliminating the smallest & largest cogs from the equation) might go someway towards eliminating or minimising the skipping, but I didn't try this.

Greg

[d_douglas]

Hi Greg - Thanks for the scientific study. Yeah - I figured as much. I will likely need to switch to ten speed or find a nice set of 8-spd wheels. I wonder if any manufacturer makes an 8-spd cassette that fits on 10 spd cassette bodies? Since Campy cassettes are so expensive, the thought of buying an expensive aftermarket unit isn't quite as painful.

[pale scotsman]

According the branford bike to run 8 speed on a 10 speed hub you can install a 9 speed loose cassette, drop a cog and add Wheels Mfg Shift-8 spacers.

http://www.branfordbike.com/cgi-bin/perlshop/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=push&thispage=hub/hub04.html&ORDER_ID=217667777#item8


I'd get a decent set of 10 speed handbuilts if I were you. The other option is to check ebay for some 8 speed hubs and have 'em built up. Eight speed cassette's are cheap compared to 10 speed.

[sc53]

Hi d-douglas, I just PM'd you because I have a set of Campy 8 speed wheels (8 speed Record hubs on Campy Omega clincher rims) that I need to sell. But I just noticed you're in Switzerland not Canada. I am in Virginia. Anyway, some more info re Campy 8 speed experiments for you: I was able to use a Campy 8 speed wheel with a 9 speed cassette by removing the largest cog, swapping out the spacers to 8 speed, and having my LBS dremel off the edge of the one spline on the 8 speed cassette body that is too wide for the 9 speed cassette. Then the cassette rocked around on the freehub body so we found a spacer to mount on the freehub body first. Then the 9 speed cassette fit on the 8 speed freehub body without moving around and the 8 speed drivetrain works fine! But this was a LOT of work and kind of ridiculous.

[djg]

E-bay? There's 8 speed stuff popping up all the time--I'd imagine you could find a good deal on a perfectly good wheel that isn't being used (and maybe even NOS) with, obviously, all the typical cautions about e-bay purchasing.