12-speed Chorus rear with 11-speed shifters?

[osbk67]

As part of a never-ending process of eclectifying bicycles/rearranging the deck chairs I acquired some cable-actuated SL15-TT11CGC Campagnolo Bar End shifters at a price I couldn't resist.

The destination bike has an 11-32 11-speed cassette and needs a new rear derailleur. Having initially thought I'd track down an 11-speed Potenza or Chorus mid-cage one it occurred to me a 12-speed Chorus would cover the range (11-32 and 48/34) and potentially be of more use into the future, come the next rearrangement.

In an hour or two online I couldn't find a useful answer - so will a new 12-speed Chorus rear mech. follow the instructions of post-2015 11-speed Bar End shifters, or for that matter similar vintage Potenza or Chorus Ergopower shifters?

Grateful for anything definitive anyone here can offer either way...

[oldpotatoe]

As part of a never-ending process of eclectifying bicycles/rearranging the deck chairs I acquired some cable-actuated SL15-TT11CGC Campagnolo Bar End shifters at a price I couldn't resist.

The destination bike has an 11-32 11-speed cassette and needs a new rear derailleur. Having initially thought I'd track down an 11-speed Potenza or Chorus mid-cage one it occurred to me a 12-speed Chorus would cover the range (11-32 and 48/34) and potentially be of more use into the future, come the next rearrangement.

In an hour or two online I couldn't find a useful answer - so will a new 12-speed Chorus rear mech. follow the instructions of post-2015 11-speed Bar End shifters, or for that matter similar vintage Potenza or Chorus Ergopower shifters?

Grateful for anything definitive anyone here can offer either way...

12s way too new to know if a 12s rear mech will work with 11s ERGO. I suspect it will but don't really know. I'd stick with a lower end, and less expensive, option.

[Dave]

H.If you do decide to try this, the best way to test the RD travel is to install it without the chain, align the RD as accurately as possible on the first sprocket, then shift all the way to the largest sprocket.

I did this with 10 speed RD and 11 speed cassette, when 11 speed first came out. The RD position ended up about half way between the 10th and 11th sprockets, indicating inadequate travel. To correct that, I shortened the lever arm length on the RD by grinding the cable clamp bolt threads down to the root, in the area where the cable contacts the bolt. This increased the total travel to align the RD with the largest sprocket. I ran that setup for several years.

[mistermo]

12s way too new to know if a 12s rear mech will work with 11s ERGO. I suspect it will but don't really know. I'd stick with a lower end, and less expensive, option.

OP was inquiring about bar end, not ergo? Im not fluent in Campy barends, but if they can be run in friction mode, I have no idea why they wouldn't work.

[AngryScientist]

OP was inquiring about bar end, not ergo? Im not fluent in Campy barends, but if they can be run in friction mode, I have no idea why they wouldn't work.

11sp campy bar ends dont do friction.

[FlashUNC]

12s way too new to know if a 12s rear mech will work with 11s ERGO. I suspect it will but don't really know. I'd stick with a lower end, and less expensive, option.

Campy 12 speed is two years old at this point.

I'm sure someone's had to fiddle around with this rando combinations by now.

[osbk67]

12s way too new to know if a 12s rear mech will work with 11s ERGO. I suspect it will but don't really know. I'd stick with a lower end, and less expensive, option.

Thanks all, and thanks Peter. Yours was my initial thought but when I starting virtually shopping around I found Chorus 12-speed rear derailleurs were more-or-less the same price as Potenza 11-speed, and less than Chorus 11-speed. Only Centaur 11-speed offered any real savings (although to be fair the savings in this whole exercise would have come from not buying the Bar End levers in the first place).

I guess that's the result of less carbon in the 12-speed Chorus (than in 11-speed), increasing sales volume and competition for the new spend...

Anyway, to further dissect the question, the Bar Ends are 11-speed only with no friction mode. So I think it comes down to two things:

1. Will 11-speed Bar Ends (and Ergopower) move a Chorus 12-speed rear derailleur the same range laterally as they do 11-speed rears? The clicks are in the levers...
2. Will an 11-speed chain run through a 12-speed rear derailleur, and/or will a 12-speed chain work with an 11-speed cassette and crankset? (I'm not changing those just yet...)

Thanks again...

[oldpotatoe]

Campy 12 speed is two years old at this point.

I'm sure someone's had to fiddle around with this rando combinations by now.

Not really, 'at this point'..introduced in summer/fall of 2019..generally available after that. So, about 10 months....or less. I'm guessing 'somebody' may have tried to slap a 12s rear der onto a 11s ERGO bike but probably not much..cuz, ya know, this 12s stuff is still pretty new.

When in the trenches, as with 11s, I built a bike and purposely tried a 10s rear der with 11s ERGo, and vice versa...just to see. BTW-11s rear der with 10s ERGO, works great, 10s rear der with 11s ERGO-nyet. Any front der works...with Chorus/Record/SR ERGO..with the 'ratcheting friction' LH/front shifter. I even tried a Ultegra 11s front der with Campag 11s..gee, it worked...:)

[fredd]

Reviving this thread to see if anybody here has tried this since.