mixing campagnalo with shimano sram

[adamangler]

Sorry i know this has been covered elsewhere, but ive reasarched and still unsure, dont want to waste money....

What is the general rule?

i want to use campy veloce shifters, does this mean my entire groupset has to be campy?
for example would campy shifters/mechs/cassette work with sram apex brakes and shimnao 105 cranks
(just as an example)

what should i beware of? cheers

 

[fossyant]

ideally, yes stick to Campag. Mixing Campag and Shimano is a no no generally. It can be mixed but you have to drop a speed, as the cable pull is different on each groupset.

I wouldn't mix campag/shimano myself. I also generally stick to same groupsets also.

 

[adamangler]

thanks

my idea is full veloce 10 spd groupset with sram apex 10spd crankset, is there any reason this wont work?

 

[boydj]

You should be able to run any chainset with Campag shifters. The difference in spacing between chainrings is minimal between the different makes and well within the limits of any shifter. I'm currently setting up a new bike with an Ultegra triple chainset and Veloce shifters. You can get away with most mechs, but a Campag mech is probably going to work best with the Campag shifter. I have used a Shimano mech at the front with a Campag shifter and it does work.

Similarly, brakes can be pretty much any road brakes and they should work fine.

It's a different story at the rear. You'll need a Campag mech and a cassette with Campag spacing. If your wheel is a Shimano/SRAM compatible wheel, you can get a cassette with a Shimano spline and Campag spacing here - http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/17/ambr317/ambrosio-10-speed-casette.html. I've got one of these on my commuter at the moment and it works fine.

 

[adamangler]

Excellent info. Thanks

what about brakes? i assume all makes interchangeable as its just a cable being pulled?

 

[Jon2]

They could have different cable pull ratios, so pulling the brake lever all the way in might not close the caliper as much as it should. I don't know which brands have which pull ratios though.
There are also the quick release bits. Campag has it on the shifters, Sram and Shimano on the calipers. This is fine for what you've suggested.

 

[smokeysmoo]

FWIW I used a full Veloce groupset but with a Shimano cassette at one time, but I've never mixed shifters and mechs etc.

 

[boydj]

The main differences between pull ratios are between brake type - caliper / v-brake / cantilever - rather than different brands. My Campag levers are pulling Tektro brakes on one bike and Shimano calipers on another bike, and on the new bike they'll be pulling Campag brakes.

 

[adamangler]

ok cheers. will get matching brakes to make sure

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

I too looked in to this as i wanted to run Shimano Dura ace and somehow run a Campag cassette on a new build. The idea being that it would allow me to change wheelsets when it pleased me. My other bike is full campag chorus and has 3 wheelsets. This would have given me much more choice between the bikes but i just can't see any way of doing it without having to switch the cassettes every time i change the wheels. I could only do it with one of the above Ambrosio cassettes that has a shimano spline with Campy spacing. That solution would only allow one wheelset to be used unless i wanted to remove the cassette every time i wanted to switch wheels. Bugger that.

 

[PpPete]

Absolutely no issue with Campag levers pulling dual-pivot brakes from another manufacturer.
FWIW having a QR on the levers (Campag) and another on the calipers (Shimano-style) is actually rather useful to get lots of clearance when removing a skinny road wheel with a fat tyre.

There are various ways of making Campag shifters compatible with Shimano drive trains.
This page has the pretty much the full story http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo
Two bikes in our family stable have Campag Veloce 10 speed Ultrashift levers operating 9 speed triple Shimano drive trains using the Hubbub cable routing described on that page. Works very nicely. One has Shimano R450 deep drop brakes, the other old-style wide cantis.

 

[NotFabian]

+1, I run veloce on winter bike and ultegra on race bike, all wheels are shimano and no issues. Brakes manufacturer makes no difference.

 

[adamangler]

gone with full sram rival anyway lol. doing my head in working out what works with what

 

[fossyant]

Ohh no, please don't start mixing makers, especially Campag Shimano, or even worse Campag SRAM...

Stick to one maker.

 

[jann71]

Any reason you didn't want a Veloce chainset?