Campag Nuovo rear mech.

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Dwain Doberman

New Member
Hi, can any one offer some advice. Will my old Campy Nuovo rear mech (1976) ! be of any use on a 9 speed cassette. The mech is from my old road bike that I'm in the middle of renovating and was in use on a 6 speed. It's such a nice bit of kit and I'm loathed to swap it for a new one but will if need be. Cheers thanks for any help.....
 

TheDoctor

Europe Endless
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
It may well work, but it won't index.
If you're using friction shifters, then I'd certainly give it a go.
 
Worth a go, but beware the very limited range of old racing derailleurs, designed for a 10 tooth difference at the front and perhaps only a 26t biggest sprocket at the back. Also you have to be pretty adept with the friction levers to achieve the fine adjustments needed for the narrow gaps of a 9 speed cassette. I've used friction on an 8 speed and that was just about ok.
 

accountantpete

Brexiteer
I don't think it will work but you can try - it won't damage anything.

For any indexed system the rear mech must move a set amount per pull on the cable and the amount of the movement depends on the design. The Nuovo rear mechs were not designed for 9 speed indexing so will move a different amount per click than a modern rear mech. You might be able to set it up to be perfect on the middle of the cassette so that problems only appear on the smallest/biggest rings.

The other problem may well be the jockey wheels and chain - again try it.

The third problem is your username -shouldn't it be Duane?^_^
 

dave pp

Active Member
The third problem is your username -shouldn't it be Duane?^_^[/QUOTE]

Was that the little chappie in Sgt. Bilko?
 
Indexing aside (as noted above, it won't), the issues will be that the spring in the RD will only push the RD a certain distance to the right (high gear end) ... how far it will push the RD will vary with the thickness of the gear hanger. Typical rear hangers in the 70s were about 5 or 6 mm thick - typical hanger now might be 10 to 12cmm thick. Conversely, the top sprocket will in many cases be closer to the right hand drop out now than it was in days of yore.
The spring in the Nuovo Record RDs works against the middle of the plate on the back of the derailleur parallelogram and in many of these older Nuovo Record RDs, that plate ends up slightly bowed out.

The nett effect of all of that is often that the RD doesn't have enough travel to the "outside" to get you into top gear, especially on the road (it might "just about" work in the stand.

Going the other way, you need a lever that wraps enough cable around the heel of the lever to draw the derailleur across it's full range of movement to the left - with 7s on the original Campag lever, using an" Ultra 7" freewheel, to go from top gear to bottom meant moving the lever through about 120 degrees and a U7 freewheel was / is just about the same width as 7/9 of the 9 speed sprockets.

Simplex Retrofriction had a bigger diameter heel than the original Campag levers, and IIRC, Campag Retro 2 were bigger again, so would probably best suit a 9s cassette ....

Now, you might find that the full range of lateral movement of the RD is not enough to get bottom gear, especially if it's a modern frame with a thicker dropout / hanger as the gear will start further out to the right than it was originally designed for ... if it's an older frame, you'll run out of movemnt when further left than you will with a newer frame, so you may and may not be able to get to bottom gear for that reason - the limit screw may be screwed all the way out but the limit surface (that the screw normally impacts to stop the movement) may be in contact with the part of the RD thhat the screw passes through, before you have acheived bottom gear.

In any case, as is noted above, depending on what rear hanger you have, you may and may not be able to work to a bottom gear bigger than 26 - Old Skool vertical dropouts from Suntour, fior instance used to allow a tooth bigger bottom sprocket than Campag road ends ...

HTH
Graeme
 
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Dwain Doberman

New Member
Hi, can any one offer some advice. Will my old Campy Nuovo rear mech (1976) ! be of any use on a 9 speed cassette. The mech is from my old road bike that I'm in the middle of renovating and was in use on a 6 speed. It's such a nice bit of kit and I'm loathed to swap it for a new one but will if need be. Cheers thanks for any help.....
Thanks for all the advice. I will try it out and just see what happens. I'm prepaired to just go and fit a new one .
 
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Dwain Doberman

New Member
The third problem is your username -shouldn't it be Duane?^_^

Was that the little chappie in Sgt. Bilko?[/QUOTE]
Yep you're right should have been Duane, Bilko was a favourite as a kid.
 

Tojo

Über Member
I don't think it will work but you can try - it won't damage anything.

For any indexed system the rear mech must move a set amount per pull on the cable and the amount of the movement depends on the design. The Nuovo rear mechs were not designed for 9 speed indexing so will move a different amount per click than a modern rear mech. You might be able to set it up to be perfect on the middle of the cassette so that problems only appear on the smallest/biggest rings.

The other problem may well be the jockey wheels and chain - again try it.

The third problem is your username -shouldn't it be Duane?^_^
Oh just thought, would have to change jockey wheels and maybe tweek (bend) the cage a wee bit...I'm on it, results will be posted,but do not hold your breath..


Surely the rear mech will only move as far as the shifter dictates, if you can get the stops on the rear mech to cover the cassette it would work. By the way you have set me a task....I love making things fit.......:cheers:....Oh just thought, would have to prob change jockey wheels to get better shifting, depending on what chain you would have to run and maybe tweek (bend) the cage a wee bit...I'm on it, results will be posted,but do not hold your breath..:whistle:
 
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accountantpete

Brexiteer
Surely the rear mech will only move as far as the shifter dictates,

Not quite. If you have a foot rule and six inch rule and (keeping one end fixed) move them both equal amounts the tip of the foot rule will have moved further than the tip of the six inch rule.

Rear mechs are a bit more complex but the same rule applies.
 

Tojo

Über Member
Not quite. If you have a foot rule and six inch rule and (keeping one end fixed) move them both equal amounts the tip of the foot rule will have moved further than the tip of the six inch rule.

Rear mechs are a bit more complex but the same rule applies.


Thank you for for trying to explain very basic engineering physics to me, and extrapolating part of what I said to make a point....would you like to bandy words and try to explain, maybe gas laws, then we may discus, quantum physics, do not insult my intelligence.....:crazy:
 
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