Campagnolo Ultrashift(er) query

[macaroon]

I've got a pair of 2009 Veloce Ultrashift levers, the shifts using the finger paddle to go into a lower gear were a bit vague (i.e not much of a click to them).

I did some reading and it turns out this was rectified in later models (2010), so I bought a new Ultrashift lever body. Sure enough this one had better clicks and a better cable spool thingy.

I found the new lever body was a slightly different shape to the old one and it didn't sit on the bars quite the same. So, I just swapped the innards, or at least the innards at the back. The front bits I just left (i.e. the finger paddle and associated bits).

The shifter works and I've got solid clicks, but my query is: should I have swapped the front parts aswell? Did they change these in anyway when they tweaked these levers in 2010?

I've noticed the part circled in red ends up sitting at a slightly different angle when the thumb lever has been full depressed...on my original shifter it bottoms out on the lever as pictured, but on the new ones it doesn't.

Any help appreciated before I remove them from my bars and strip them down (which I really can't be bothered to do, hence the questions).

[oldpotatoe]

I've got a pair of 2009 Veloce Ultrashift levers, the shifts using the finger paddle to go into a lower gear were a bit vague (i.e not much of a click to them).

I did some reading and it turns out this was rectified in later models (2010), so I bought a new Ultrashift lever body. Sure enough this one had better clicks and a better cable spool thingy.

I found the new lever body was a slightly different shape to the old one and it didn't sit on the bars quite the same. So, I just swapped the innards, or at least the innards at the back. The front bits I just left (i.e. the finger paddle and associated bits).

The shifter works and I've got solid clicks, but my query is: should I have swapped the front parts aswell? Did they change these in anyway when they tweaked these levers in 2010?

I've noticed the part circled in red ends up sitting at a slightly different angle when the thumb lever has been full depressed...on my original shifter it bottoms out on the lever as pictured, but on the new ones it doesn't.

Any help appreciated before I remove them from my bars and strip them down (which I really can't be bothered to do, hence the questions).

The front guts didn't change. The number of spacers increased and the depth of the notched disc and increased but the front didn't change.

[macaroon]

Thanks oldpotatoe, I thought that was probably the case. I noticed the shim washers behind the notched disc were a bit thinner than the old ones, although there was one extra shim washer directly behind the cable spool.

Any ideas for the position of the bit circled on the picture?

[gfk_velo]

Thanks oldpotatoe, I thought that was probably the case. I noticed the shim washers behind the notched disc were a bit thinner than the old ones, although there was one extra shim washer directly behind the cable spool.

Any ideas for the position of the bit circled on the picture?

The early levers were custom shimmed - some had one shim, some two, some 3, in various combinations of thickness. It was to rectify a manufacturing tolerance problem which was finally overcome in 2010.

In some levers, depending on the age, the lever body was slightly different - very early Veloce and Centaur bodies used a hard nylon bushing for the central spindle to run on, later levers used / use a ballbearing system - so technically, whilst the "front section" didn't change functionally, in these older cases, the spindles that everything revolves around or is attached to (depending on what but you are referring to) are different. The nylon-bushed levers were never wholly satisfactory.

The body shape was changed slightly in 2010, the cable ports were widened out slightly and an extra drilling to accommodate an extra "lug" on the hood was added in, to prevent the hood "squirming" so much when wear started to set in. The cable guide to allow the inner cable to be guided to the outer in the lever body also changed slightly to give freer movement of the inner although that change is pretty much invisible. The back end of the body that rests against the 'bar was re-profiled to better suit 'bars with comparatively (for the time) smaller bend radii - hence they do sit slightly differently on the 'bars.

If the downshift drive ring isn't bottoming out against it's pawl when the cable is attached and tensioned, you may have made a mistake somewhere in assembly - not always, though - there is a little variation in lever bodies' dimensions and later internals were made with slightly different dimensional tolerances that earlier ones - probably the key-way inside the lever body that the tail of the "fixed" side of the clutch sits in, is in slightly the wrong place for the new clutch. It will just mean that the take-up of the downshift lever will be slightly delayed as the pawl needs to contact the drive ring ratchet before it can rotate the lever internal.

[macaroon]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Yes, this is an early lever with the creamy coloured nylon bush (I don't know what's in the new lever as I never delved that far).

Everything that you state about the body shape tallies up; the new one I bought is a different shape for the bars, and the cable guide bit is a different colour (black I think, compared to yellow).

THe part about the key-way also makes perfect sense, although I haven't noticed any problems when downshifting. It's the up shift that feels a bit weird when I change into the lowest/easiest gear.

To be fair though, I'm using a Shimano 10 cassette and a 5800 mech :-D
I tried it with my old shifter and it all seemed to work perfectly, but with the new internals in the old body it's not quite as good as it was (although I have more pronounced clicks).

Saying that though, I've just wound the B tension screw right out and that seems to have improved things. I'll see how it goes on the road, then I may look to swap some shifter parts around.

THanks for your replies.