mixing groupsets

[berty bassett]

hi
i know this is frowned upon but is it possible nowadays to put a shimano/sram 11 speed cassette onto a campag athena 11 speed set up ?
my favourite bike has a campag set up and my other is shimano , i want to go and play on a mountain but campag only go up to 29/30 t cassette
i am hoping that nowadays there isn't much difference between groupsets so if i fitted an 11/36 to my shimano bike , i could hook the wheel off and put onto the campag
thanks for any responses
ps - i do know that the shimano cassette won't fit on campag wheel , and i may have to use a roadlink

 

[Smokin Joe]

General opinion seems to be that there is so little difference in spacing between 11 speed cassettes that it would work fine.

 

[cyberknight]

General opinion seems to be that there is so little difference in spacing between 11 speed cassettes that it would work fine.

Yup i have seen an article regarding it, spacng is so close on 11 speed its apparantly works fine.

 

[berty bassett]

thanks both of you
i have just thought - i could swap wheels over as is and see what happens before i buy another cassette but its good to have others opinions before i muller something - cheers

 

[Ajax Bay]

Berty - why don't you try it and see for yourself whether "there isn't much difference". Come back on here and tell us the level of success.
The horizontal (relative to the right dropout) position of the smallest sprocket is likely to be different, so some indexing/limit screwing is likely to be required.
Bear in mind one cassette and chain may have had substantially different wear and that might cause a slipping effect.

 

[boydj]

Zinn says yes - http://www.velonews.com/2013/09/bikes-and-tech/drivetrain-compatibility-hidden-in-plain-sight_303199

 

[pawl]

SJS have an attachment called a Shift Mate which it states alows mixing makes of different manufacturers gear mechs Worth a look.

 

[Smokin Joe]

SJS have an attachment called a Shift Mate which it states alows mixing makes of different manufacturers gear mechs Worth a look.

For 11 speed, see the post above.

Also, Campag ten speed will index on a shimano cassette, but not the other way round.

 

[Viking]

I’m running a Campag 12-29 11 speed cassette on an otherwise Shimano 11 speed gear train without any problems. Shifting is fine and there is no untoward noise from the gears / chain

Edit: Spelling

 

[Newman8]

36t cassette may require derailleur with longer cage. I know Athena RD has a long cage (triple) option, but if you have the standard short cage, it might not do it. My short cage RD struggled with a 29t, but changed to a medium cage (Campag 10-spd) & all is well.

Otherwise, I agree with all above - everything I've read says that on 11-spd, there's no room for significant spacing/indexing difference between brands.

 

[Ajax Bay]

As the OP knows, a largest sprocket of 36t is way out of spec for any Campagnolo RD (OP's is Athena) but (as the OP says) a 'Roadlink' might solve that. Question is: can the OP's RD wrap the chain (most unlikely with an 11-36 cassette).

 

[berty bassett]

I’m running a Campag 12-29 11 speed cassette on an otherwise Shimano 11 speed gear train without any problems. Shifting in fine and the there is no untoward noice from the gears / chain

brilliant thanks !

36t cassette may require derailleur with longer cage. I know Athena RD has a long cage (triple) option, but if you have the standard short cage, it might not do it. My short cage RD struggled with a 29t, but changed to a medium cage (Campag 10-spd) & all is well.

Otherwise, I agree with all above - everything I've read says that on 11-spd, there's no room for significant spacing/indexing difference between brands.

what if i put a road link in ? think it is worth a try without link and with the old chain - then make decision with new chain

 

[Newman8]

Not heard of Roadlink before. Just had a look at the link - looks interesting - maybe worth a punt for $20-odd + p&p..? If you give it a try, let us know how it goes. Sorry can't help more than that.

Question though: if medium cage is supposed to cope fine with 32t, would a long cage triple Athena not cope ok with 34 or 36t (prob a dearer option, but you could offset the approx £100 by selling the old RD on eBay).

 

[Ajax Bay]

if medium cage is supposed to cope fine with 32t,

Noone has said this, well, not on this thread afaics. There are two 'limitations' to RDs: max sprocket size and max 'wrap' (capacity). As said: "a largest sprocket of 36t is way out of spec for any Campagnolo RD". A long cage RD addresses the (wrap) capacity issue, not the limitation on the largest sprocket the RD can manage.
For a short cage (55mm) 11 spd RD, the Campagnolo specification is 29T max sprocket size and 33T capacity. With a compact crankset needing 'part' of that capacity (16t) the cassette can only have a small/large sprocket delta of [Edited, thanks @winjim ] 17t. You do the math, starting at 11t or 12t. I'm not saying it can't be run out of spec, but there are trade-offs. If the long cage (triple) RD is used, there is the (wrap) capacity (but no increase in max sprocket capability).

 

[Newman8]

Thanks for the info Ajax Bay - just digested that! never thought about 'capacity' before. I think what you're saying in plain-ish English is that the 'wrap capacity' = (large chainring - small chainring) + (large cog - small cog)? So a 40t capacity on a triple mech = (in theory) an 11/35 cassette with compact chainset? But then quite separately, there's also a largest stated cog value which is still only 30t?

It just seemed like it 'should' handle it, but I accept it's not supposed to now!