campagnolo gravel range

[d_douglas]

Hi folks,

I know lots has been said about Campy and their low gear range, but I just wanted a bit of feedback on compatibility if I were to try to match up:

Potenza shifters (maybe hydro, maybe not)
Potenza HO mid cage RD
Potenza chain
Shimano 11-36 cassette (Deore?)
Sugino 110mm square taper cranks (either 36-38t NW or a 36x24t double)


Would these work together to make a setup that I could ride off-road on?

Yes, I am a Campy person. I am not trying to make it difficult - I know Shimano works great, but dont love their shifters.

Thanks for any replies,

Darren

[jtakeda]

FYI. Sram has a 11-36 cassette of you’re unsure about shimanos offering.

I’m planning on the same build as you and collected parts.

From my reading here and elsewhere

11-36 sram with a medium cage RD and a wolf tooth road link will work perfectly

[Pinned]

I think it depends where you live, but here a 1:1 isn't quite enough. You can certainly make it work, but sometimes I'd rather take it easy than hammer. I think the 24-36 low range would be really nice.

Good luck!

[HTupolev]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Hi folks,

I know lots has been said about Campy and their low gear range, but I just wanted a bit of feedback on compatibility if I were to try to match up:

Potenza shifters (maybe hydro, maybe not)
Potenza HO mid cage RD
Potenza chain
Shimano 11-36 cassette (Deore?)
Sugino 110mm square taper cranks (either 36-38t NW or a 36x24t double)


Would these work together to make a setup that I could ride off-road on?

Yes, I am a Campy person. I am not trying to make it difficult - I know Shimano works great, but dont love their shifters.

Thanks for any replies,

Darren

It would probably work. If you can't get the derailleur to clear the big cog by messing with the H-screw, you might have to use a hanger extender like a Wolf Tooth Roadlink.
If something weird happens and it just doesn't work out, another option would be to use a 10-speed Shimano Shadow or Shadow+ MTB derailleur with your shifters and a Jtek Shiftmate 7.

The bigger concern I'd have is that I'm not sure that the two options you're looking at make sense as alternatives to the other. If you're looking to exceed the cog capacity of your derailleur then you're presumably looking for lower gearing, but your two options have vastly different low gears. Heck, even if you stuck with an 11-32 cassette, the 36-24 crank would give you a far lower bottom gear than a 1x setup with a 36T chainring and an 11-36 cassette. It's not clear what you're trying to achieve with your sprawl of gear ratios.

Do you know what kinds of gradients (and how sustained) you'll be tackling? And what sort of VAM or W/kg you do on several-minute climb efforts on road rides?

[d_douglas]

Yeek ! Watts?? Low??

I am using this bike on trails and off-road - think of it like a hardtail MTB. You are correct that a 24x36 is pretty nuts. If it was a 24x32, that would be fine as well.

I am not sure about gearing yet, but it’s in that range. A road link seems indispensable either way...

[HTupolev]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

You are correct that a 24x36 is pretty nuts.

I don't think it's nuts. Lots of people can make use of a gear that low. I just think that if you have use for it, I don't understand why a 36T 1x with an 11-36 cassette would even be on your list, because its low-end would be way too high.

I'm curious about your climbing experiences because that would help inform what gearing you have use for. It depends on both the terrain and the rider; the average person on a road bike might struggle hard in a 34-28 on a hill that Giulio Ciccone would handle easily in the big ring. Do you have another bike that you already ride on the trails that you'll be doing?

[d_douglas]

I have a skinny tires road only bike (52x36 and 12-27) and a FS bike that is 30t and 11-42 (or 46?!) that I use for ‘real off-roading’. I just want a ‘hooligan’ bike that I do dumb things on to make me laugh. I get a charge out of riding CX bikes on technical single track, and this would make that type of riding less daunting ...

[R3awak3n]

I had a road link with 11-36 sram cassette. Worked decent and you can make it work ok. Wont be the best shifting and you will get some chain slap here and there because of not having a clutch but it works.

Personally though, I would rather forgo the road link and do a 46-30 crank and then a 11-32 cassette in the back. You get sub 1 and no road link. You can even go 11-34 shimano cassete probably without the road link and that is a lot of gear.

Untimately, for gravel I rather have s clutch rd so I would probably not go with campy. Sad because the hydro campy stuff is the best of the 3 imo.

[rain dogs]

Hey Darren,

You're looking at very similar to what I just got and put on my new Niner RLT.

What I've done, (for the same reasons.... I hate Shimano STI's) is:

Campagnolo 11spd Potenza mechanical
Shimano Deore XT Shadow+ 10spd RD - I did this specifcally because I wanted the clutch RD... I feel like it makes a big difference in chain performance in rough
Jtek shiftmate #7
Shimano 11-34 11spd Cassette (11-36 fits as well)
Front crankset is Hollowgram SI... so although I have is setup with 50/34 I could easily buy the 44/30 Spiderring or throw on my mountain spider and rings.

It works well. Only bug is that MTB rear derailleurs don't come with barrel shifters (forgot about that) so I had to do it with just cable tension. Shifts 98% but haven't got around to buying the barrell shifter to add.

Brakes are Spyre flat mount....if you're wondering.

Lawrence