Drivetrain options - Campy 8 sp Record, need lower gearing

[Flinch]

Again I've stumbled into my ignorance of all things Campy. Here's the situation:

Bike: Serotta CSI.
I ride in hilly terrain (I average 200,000+ feet each year, 72 year old legs), and have a Record 2x8 drivetrain. Chainrings are 53-39 (just replaced a 42 for the 39), and cassette is Miche 13-28 (again, new install from 11-23). To keep my normal uphill cadence, the 39-28 combo just doesn't cut it, I need a lower gearing. Right now I'm at 36.6 gear inches or so. I need a sub-30. With the 13-28 cassette that would be a 30t small ring, and no workie with 53t large ring.

As I see it (through my Campy ingnorance fog), I have these options:
1. Drop big bucks on a Campy triple setup - don't want to be spendy though.
2. Find a magical Campy 30-something ring, and 'easier' cassette (no luck there!)
3. Replace the crankset with a compact non-Campy one, maybe a 2x with 24, 26, 28t small ring - but - will the Record front shifter/derailleur be OK (it has multiple 'clicks' so can move the cage incrementally)
4. Sell the Record set, and install a {shudder} Shimano drivetrain (like a 9 speed - I've got an Ultegra setup already).

I'm thinking that option 3 or 4 might be the way to go. I do all my wrenching and wheel building, so not worried about the labor.

Really appreciate info from those who have done something similar, or have insight into all things Campy.

[tellyho]

I just swapped in a subcompact on my SRAM drivetrain and it works great. That would be the route I'd go in your case - either compact 50/34 or subcompact. My existing FD had no issue with the new smaller rings and shifting. Or at least, it hasn't yet...

Having abandoned 52/39 a decade ago myself and with much younger legs, I salute your perseverence with those gears!

Re-reading, it looks like subcompact is what you want. Something like a 46/30 would work nicely - Velo Orange 50.4 bcd or somebody else's version (White industries, Rene Herse, I think there's a Soma / New Albion version). All square taper AFAIK. Or a triple with only the middle and inner ring is a popular way to solve this, but finding the right spindle length might be hit or miss.

[Ralph]

I see nothing wrong with a triple for use you are describing. Centaurs, Comp Triple cranks easy to find. Takes Centaur (or equivalent) 111 ISO BB. Easy to find. You would need at least a Campy mid cage RD. And a Campy triple front. Easy to find. Your shifters will shift that. That combo works great, shifts great. Have it in 10 speed on one of my bikes. I see no reason to convert to a double.

[jamesdak]

Yep, I vote for a triple setup also. I think a quick search on Ebay should find the needed parts easily enough. I just put an 8-speed setup on the Motta this weekend. Seems like the front Ergo-lever pulls a lot of cable so I'm thinking it may work a triple FD.

[Mark McM]

As above, the gear range on a Campagnolo 2x8 system is quite limited. A short cage 8spd derailleur has a relatively small capacity and a limited maximum sprocket size, so even if you could find a wider range cassette the derailleur wouldn't be able to handle it. Even if you used a Road Link to extend the maximum sprocket, the derailleur would still not have the capacity to take up the chain slack. For a wider range of gearing with strictly Campagnolo 8spd components, you'd have to go with a triple. That would require new front and rear derailleurs, new crank*, and new bottom bracket.

Another option to extend your gearing would be modern compact or sub-compact crank. However, due to the rear derailleur capacity, you'd be limited in the chainring differential. With a small inner chainring you'd have to reduce the size of the outer chainring as well, resulting in a much smaller maximum gear size. You could extend the chainring differential by swapping to a long cage derailleur. (Your existing front derailleur would work just fine with a compact crank, and maybe even a sub-compact, depending on the chainring sizes.)


*For a triple setup, you may not need an entirely new crank, if you used a triplizer chainring. A Triplizer chainring is a chainring that takes the place of the inner chainring of a double crank, and has mounting arms to bolt a 3rd chainring to the inside. You'd still need a longer bottom bracket spindle to correct the chainline however.

[AngryScientist]

Unpopular; unsolicited advice: At 72 YO; sell all that ancient stuff and buy a modern subcompact Chorus 12 setup and never look back. Why spend your golden years of cycling on cobbled together sub optimal gears?

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Unpopular; unsolicited advice: At 72 YO; sell all that ancient stuff and buy a modern subcompact Chorus 12 setup and never look back. Why spend your golden years of cycling on cobbled together sub optimal gears?

Gotta agree with Angry. I finally abandoned 3x9 setups with barcons and crossed to the dark side of STI 2x11 with compact 46-34 on the Firefly road bike, and subcompact 44-28 on the Bingham and now Habanero, all with the 11-34 cassette.

Oh, and in another thread here, we see that a whole Shimano R8000 groupset, rim brake, mechanical, is obtainable from the UK at about $630!

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Unpopular; unsolicited advice: At 72 YO; sell all that ancient stuff and buy a modern subcompact Chorus 12 setup and never look back. Why spend your golden years of cycling on cobbled together sub optimal gears?

But Campagnolo 8spd is a classic! It's a pinnacle of cycling tradition! I mean, there's a good reason to maintain traditions, right? The whole purpose of tradition is ... umm ... well ... it's traditional! Heck, without a framework of tradition to hold us up, all that would be left are things like progress, modernity, utility, and practicality. And where would we be then?

[cgolvin]

FWIW, when I faced a similar challenge (albeit a Nuovo Record 52/42 crankset), I found a Veloce compact crankset and Chorus 10 shift group with a mid cage RD and a 12-30 cassette. That gave me a low gear of 34-30 which is sufficient for even the steeper stuff I encounter. But none of that stuff is easy to find (especially the crankset) and it ain't cheap.

Were I facing the same conundrum today I'd do like Angry says and buy a subcompact Chorus 12 crankset and shift group. It would probably be only a bit more money.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Snip That gave me a low gear of 34-30 which is sufficient for even the steeper stuff I encounter.

Uh huh, this coming from the guy who climbs 1,000,000 feet of elevation in a year!

[Spaghetti Legs]

Campy 8 speed works really, really well. If you keep the current short cage RD, you’ll be able to to get a 50-34 compact crank to work fine with it. I rode my Merckx Century with this setup today. My Heron touring bike uses a 46-30 IRD crank with a long cage Racing Triple RD on a stock cassette. I am contemplating cobbling a wider range cassette as I have been pushed to my physical limits on occasion riding the bike loaded up some double digit grades. The Racing Triple crank is 52-42-30, but you’d still need the long cage RD.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Flinch

Again I've stumbled into my ignorance of all things Campy. Here's the situation:

Bike: Serotta CSI.
I ride in hilly terrain (I average 200,000+ feet each year, 72 year old legs), and have a Record 2x8 drivetrain. Chainrings are 53-39 (just replaced a 42 for the 39), and cassette is Miche 13-28 (again, new install from 11-23). To keep my normal uphill cadence, the 39-28 combo just doesn't cut it, I need a lower gearing. Right now I'm at 36.6 gear inches or so. I need a sub-30. With the 13-28 cassette that would be a 30t small ring, and no workie with 53t large ring.

As I see it (through my Campy ingnorance fog), I have these options:
1. Drop big bucks on a Campy triple setup - don't want to be spendy though.
2. Find a magical Campy 30-something ring, and 'easier' cassette (no luck there!)
3. Replace the crankset with a compact non-Campy one, maybe a 2x with 24, 26, 28t small ring - but - will the Record front shifter/derailleur be OK (it has multiple 'clicks' so can move the cage incrementally)
4. Sell the Record set, and install a {shudder} Shimano drivetrain (like a 9 speed - I've got an Ultegra setup already).

I'm thinking that option 3 or 4 might be the way to go. I do all my wrenching and wheel building, so not worried about the labor.

Really appreciate info from those who have done something similar, or have insight into all things Campy.

Number 3 and the front der will be fine. A option is to find a triple crank/BB combo..Use track(short) CR bolts and mount a single ring in middle position(no big ring) and then as small as ya want, small ring for the probably 74mm BCD small ring.

Or a Campag compact for a 34t small ring.

[witcombusa]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Unpopular; unsolicited advice: At 72 YO; sell all that ancient stuff and buy a modern subcompact Chorus 12 setup and never look back. Why spend your golden years of cycling on cobbled together sub optimal gears?

Shimano 8sd is 'classic' now NOT ancient.
A friction DT shifted Campy NR with a 5sd freewheel has now finally made it to ancient!
(and both still very enjoyable to ride)

[dddd]

You could use a cable-travel adapter that will allow use of 8s Shimano 12-32t cogset and rear derailer, but then will also need a Shimano-style rear freehub I suppose.
You might get around the latter requirement by using an appropriately large (again thinking 12-32t) Miche 8s cassette(?).

You can re-brand certain of Shimano's MTB rear derailers using an appropriate sticker:

[Scott5182]

I have to agree with Angry....
Unpopular; unsolicited advice: At 72 YO; sell all that ancient stuff and buy a modern subcompact Chorus 12 setup and never look back. Why spend your golden years of cycling on cobbled together sub optimal gears?

I have gone to Chorus 12 on a couple of my old classics. I use a White Industries VBC square taper crank with it. I am running a 30/50 and an 11-34 rear.

Pretty much covers it all...