KneesUp
Guru
As per another thread I got an uncharacteristically itchy finger on eBay (honestly, I’m quite good at not buying bikes - the bikes find me etc) so I now have a lovely old thing with a (largely) complete Campagnolo 2 x 8 speed Chorus groupset on it. Actually it’s a mix of 8 and 9 speed, which is all compatible, but the shifters are 8 speed.
My issue is that my knees are made of chalk, and I live on the edge of the Peaks, so all my bikes have low gearing. Which has been easy enough with the others as they’re all Shimano with JIS square taper and (because I’m a dinosaur) friction shifting. So any old thing out the parts bin is fine for them.
The rather lovely Campagnolo crankset is full on Campy with a 135mm BCD which limits me to a smallest chainring of 39 teeth, and ISO taper. Along with the 13-28 cassette, it doesn’t give me the gearing I need. Maybe 30 years ago when it was new and I was in my twenties it would have been fine, but not today. Not with my knees etc. So my question is how would you economically change the gearing on this thing in a way that works with the shifters and keeps it looking all classy and that? It’s nice to have a bike that doesn’t look like I built it from bits out of the parts bin for once, and I’d like to keep it that way. That said …
I do have a Campag triple that I could put on to it. It’s black not silver, but I could get it blasted if it works. It’s not as high spec as Chorus though. It’s marked as 9 speed Exa Drive and came attached to an old blue Ribble frame I bought for £20 so it’s pretty low spec I think. I have the correct Campag BB for it, but again, not Chorus. I guess I won’t remember, notice or care about the downgrade once it’s fitted though. However, if I replace that I would also need to replace both derailleurs and all of a sudden I’m spending at least a hundred quid on 30 year old bits for a bike I actually want to use a fair bit. The small ring on the triple has a 74 BCD so can go down to 24 teeth iirc. One other option I considered would be to replace the outer with a blank guard-thing and try the ‘triple‘ as a 46/30 with the current double FD but even if that works I think I will ultimately want a gear smaller than 30/28 which would mean a smaller chainring because you don’t seem to be able to get Campy cassettes with more than 28 teeth, and at that stage I think it would be too much for the FD.
I’ve also considered selling everything other than the shifters are starting again. But then why stop there? Why not sell everything including the shifters and then move to a higher number of gears? But then would I also need new wheels?
Basically I’m paralysed by ‘what about if I try this’ thoughts about spending money upgrading a bike I only bought because I saw it on eBay and though ‘Oh now that’s nice and no-one else has bid on it …’
What would you do, Cyclechat?
My issue is that my knees are made of chalk, and I live on the edge of the Peaks, so all my bikes have low gearing. Which has been easy enough with the others as they’re all Shimano with JIS square taper and (because I’m a dinosaur) friction shifting. So any old thing out the parts bin is fine for them.
The rather lovely Campagnolo crankset is full on Campy with a 135mm BCD which limits me to a smallest chainring of 39 teeth, and ISO taper. Along with the 13-28 cassette, it doesn’t give me the gearing I need. Maybe 30 years ago when it was new and I was in my twenties it would have been fine, but not today. Not with my knees etc. So my question is how would you economically change the gearing on this thing in a way that works with the shifters and keeps it looking all classy and that? It’s nice to have a bike that doesn’t look like I built it from bits out of the parts bin for once, and I’d like to keep it that way. That said …
I do have a Campag triple that I could put on to it. It’s black not silver, but I could get it blasted if it works. It’s not as high spec as Chorus though. It’s marked as 9 speed Exa Drive and came attached to an old blue Ribble frame I bought for £20 so it’s pretty low spec I think. I have the correct Campag BB for it, but again, not Chorus. I guess I won’t remember, notice or care about the downgrade once it’s fitted though. However, if I replace that I would also need to replace both derailleurs and all of a sudden I’m spending at least a hundred quid on 30 year old bits for a bike I actually want to use a fair bit. The small ring on the triple has a 74 BCD so can go down to 24 teeth iirc. One other option I considered would be to replace the outer with a blank guard-thing and try the ‘triple‘ as a 46/30 with the current double FD but even if that works I think I will ultimately want a gear smaller than 30/28 which would mean a smaller chainring because you don’t seem to be able to get Campy cassettes with more than 28 teeth, and at that stage I think it would be too much for the FD.
I’ve also considered selling everything other than the shifters are starting again. But then why stop there? Why not sell everything including the shifters and then move to a higher number of gears? But then would I also need new wheels?
Basically I’m paralysed by ‘what about if I try this’ thoughts about spending money upgrading a bike I only bought because I saw it on eBay and though ‘Oh now that’s nice and no-one else has bid on it …’
What would you do, Cyclechat?
