Campy Gravel Bike Question

[Bauch]

A few years back, Branford Bike had a blog post about mixing and matching Campy der/shifter with Shimano wide-range 11-speed cassette/chain to allow for ultra low gears that seem common with modern gravel bikes. They more or less said you could run 11/40 Shimano XT (for example) with a long cage 10s Campy rear der and a Wolf Tooth Road Link and it would shift just fine.

Anyone on here had any experience with this kind of setup?

I ask because I have a full Campy 10s triple drivetrain and could use that on a gravel bike I am building, but I kinda want to see if this "Frankenbike" approach will work.

[72gmc]

I've messed around with several Shimagnolo setups over the years.

The best results I've achieved were based on adding a Jtek Shiftmate. This addition gave me clean shifting on a Shimano cassette with Campagnolo derailleurs and shifters, and vice versa. Other approaches (mix-and-match components, alternative cable routing) only gave me passable, and after a short while aggravating, results. I experimented with 9 speed and 10 speed.

So, I'd say keep it all one brand, or get a Shiftmate and only switch cassette brands. Pretty sure I still have a Shiftmate for 10s Campagnolo-to-Shimano that I'm not using.

[Hindmost]

I can't speak to the Shimagnolo aspect, I wonder that an 11/40 and a triple might be asking a little much of your chain length.

[hummus_aquinas]

I ran centaur 10 shifter, sunrace 11-40t cassette using a wolf tooth road link.

[Road Fan]

Originally Posted by Bauch

A few years back, Branford Bike had a blog post about mixing and matching Campy der/shifter with Shimano wide-range 11-speed cassette/chain to allow for ultra low gears that seem common with modern gravel bikes. They more or less said you could run 11/40 Shimano XT (for example) with a long cage 10s Campy rear der and a Wolf Tooth Road Link and it would shift just fine.

Anyone on here had any experience with this kind of setup?

I ask because I have a full Campy 10s triple drivetrain and could use that on a gravel bike I am building, but I kinda want to see if this "Frankenbike" approach will work.

What sort of gearing do you want for a gravel bike?

[Bauch]

Originally Posted by Road Fan

What sort of gearing do you want for a gravel bike?

Great question. Can't say I have given it much thought! Part of my rationale for asking the question is the triple drivetrain is what I have sitting in a bin in my garage, so it's usable now. I'm pretty confident that I can get the low gearing I would need from the triple setup.

But part of the inquiry was about whether or not anyone else has had any luck with a "Frankenbike" or "Shimagnolo" setup and whether anyone can speak to it being worth it, not worth it, massive pain in the rear, etc.

[Bauch]

Originally Posted by hummus_aquinas

I ran centaur 10 shifter, sunrace 11-40t cassette using a wolf tooth road link.

And how did that work out? Were you happy with the results? I'm curious what the rest of your drivetrain setup is/was. Were you running a 1x or compact 2x crankset?

Many thanks!

[Bauch]

Originally Posted by Hindmost

I can't speak to the Shimagnolo aspect, I wonder that an 11/40 and a triple might be asking a little much of your chain length.

Good point, and the 11/40 in my original post just came from the Branford Bike blog. I'm not committed to that cassette by any means.

I guess what I'm trying to do is figure out if there is any value in setting up a gravel bike in this way or if I'm just going to end up with the cycling equivalent of a Rube Goldberg device.

[hummus_aquinas]

This was on the first iteration of my crust romanceur, double chainring. It shifting well enough, shifters probably needed a rebuild but the actual fit and function of the derailleurs worked well. I ended up changing it to an xt clutch + xt double crankset after I changed the handlebars and shifters.

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=197694


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