Hi, I have tried many different types of Campagnolo shifter and keep breaking them. Either the gear-change paddles snap or the ratchets stop working. After a failure during a 200k audax yesterday, I have decided to give up on them as they are too fragile. Is it possible to replace them with any other type that will work with Campagnolo chain set? Perhaps a pattern version, or maybe someone could recommend a model that is robust. I guess there would be no way you could persuade Shimano shifters to work with my setup. I do a lot of commuting and audaxes. Thanks for any advice.
Problems with Campagnolo shifters
- Thread starter dennetti
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raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Bar end shifters?
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
I've had a set for over 10yrs, there's not much to break on em.
Originally I had them on TT extensions but I couldn't get on with those so I fitted them in the end of the bullhorns instead, this meant changing the brake levers (They originally went in the end of the bullhorns) I might fit 'drops' on that bike now though.
Then the bar end shifters can go in a conventional position and the secondary brake levers can be used conventionally instead of being cabled 'backwards' and used as the main brake levers,
These were the original brake levers,
now fitted to my 531c Raleigh 'Road Ace'
EDIT - BTW they're 10 speed indexed Campagnolo Super Record
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
That's what I was wondering. I have 10-speed Chorus on my best bike and got 15 years out of my RH shifter before the 'click' started to go. I found a video on YouTube showing how to disassemble the shifter and got the spares for a few quid. It took me about an hour to service it and I expect to get another 10-15 years out of it!
The (original version) 9-speed Athena shifters on my other bike also lasted about 15 years. They were starting to get slightly sloppy in operation so I chucked out the shifter parts and used the brake levers on my singlespeed project. I have some 10-speed Campag shifters to replace them, but am currently using that bike as a singlespeed machine on a turbo trainer so I haven't bothered fitting them.
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Ivo
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Maastricht
I've had a few old Mirage shifters go in the way you describe. Better level models never broke.
Due to shoulder issues I changed to the afore mentioned Campag bar ends, virtually unbreakable.
Due to shoulder issues I changed to the afore mentioned Campag bar ends, virtually unbreakable.
Smokin Joe
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
You'd still have to move your hands off the hoods to use them. Personally I found bar ends a pain in the arse but many seem ok with them.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
My experience with Campag shifters is the opposite. I have a 9-speed pair of Record shifters with 200k on the clock. I've overhauled it twice, just replacing the springs which eventually wear out. It isn't expensive, a few pennies for the springs. Once it is open, I grease the bearings as well.
I have another pair with less mileage, but also, no problems.
Admittedly the first Record 9-speed Carbon levers had a weak paddle and the "spring post" that holds the springs in had a weak design. Both these faults have been rectified in later editions.
What parts of your shifters keep on breaking?
I have another pair with less mileage, but also, no problems.
Admittedly the first Record 9-speed Carbon levers had a weak paddle and the "spring post" that holds the springs in had a weak design. Both these faults have been rectified in later editions.
What parts of your shifters keep on breaking?
Ivo
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Maastricht
I also tend to ride mostly on the hoods. For me moving the hands away is a big plus, in this way I'm forced to adopt a less static way of riding, thus reducing shoulder strain.
I have a 10 speed setup, actually. I have never considered fixing them, as I thought it would be too tricky. I will try that next time. Don't think I would get on with the bar end setup as I prefer not to move position when shifting - might just be set in my ways!
Graeme_FK
Veteran
- Location
- Wherever there are sick bicycles
Just to declare an interest here, for those that don't know, I am Campagnolo head mechanic in the UK.
Lever failures are rare but can happen. Obviously, the older and more heavily used the lever is, the greater the risk of failure - wear and tear can strike but a typical life for a well fitted lever on a well-maintained gear system is 100,000 km plus. There are composite inner shift levers in the "Campy Test Lab" which have done 1,000,000 shifts and are still intact.
So, commercial over, here's the technical bit:
Repairability depends on model.
There are two basic types of Campagnolo lever - "Escape" or "ErgoPower" (up to 2009) and "PowerShift" or "UltraShift" (after 2009). To be strict, PowerShift actually appeared in 2011 and there is also some crossover between generations - Escape is actually still made in the Xenon range for sale to specific bike manufacturers.
Escape and Powershift can have new inner levers fitted but apart from that are basically not serviceable since the problems that they exhibit are all caused by damage to, or premature wear, in parts that are not available as a spare part - in these cases, "slipping shift" is generally cased by premature wear in the lever internal, frequently cased by the use of mineral-oil based lubricants (although this is not the sole cause).
It is strongly recommended that Escape levers are not lubricated - they are lubed for their initial service life at the factory (generally held to be 3 years) on assembly and if serviced by a Service Centre thereafter are lubricated again the same way, with the same, compatible, lubricants.
The new inner levers that can be fitted can be alloy rather than composite, so in cases where inner lever failure occurs (most frequently incompatible front mech, incompatible chain / crankset or poor set up - or all 3 - this is sometimes a good option.
ErgoPower and UltraShift are fully serviceable. In the case of ErgoPower, the springs and spring mount rings referred to in earlier posts are all freely available although many users prefer to send the levers to a Service Centre such as ourselves, as we have all the spare parts that might be needed along the way (sometimes the job is more than it appears at the outset). In the case of UltraShift, Campagnolo do not supply many of the individual spare parts but at Velotech, we do keep them all on hand and will service UltraShift levers for customers on request.
Finger lever failures are usually a result of excessive force being applied on a repeat basis. As mentioned, this can be an incompatible front mech (wrong pull ratio), or a poor choice of chain (typically KMC) or a poor choice of chainset. Other issues we see from time to time are also poorly assembled or routed cables, low quality, compressible outers, plastc ferrules (not in themselves a cause but often used in combination with poor quality outer because it makes for a cheap package).
One of the worst combinations is also often fitted, especially by bicycle manufacturers, again for reasons of cost - FSA chainset (lacks really good uplift ramps and pins and the rings are actually too far apart for a Campag 10s system) and KMC chain (the link shape doesn't "grab" the already sub-optimal upshift ramps and pins very well).
The end result is that the finger lever is held across too hard, for too long, in an attempt to "force" the change. This results in, after repeats of this over a period of time, a lever failure.
Even in cases where all the parts are Campagnolo and correctly compatible, we see many, many cases of poor set-up. Front mechs too high, too low, wrongly angled ... poor quality clips to hold a braze on mech to a frame with no braze on so that the mech can't be correctly positionned (or in some cases, it can but it isn't) ... incorrect cable tension ... attempts to use a double lever on a triple system - the list goes on.
One's own experience is often a poor indicator - but it's maybe worth saying that I have always used Campagnolo, since I was 16 (I am 54 now) and have raced every season ... since ErgoPower was first introduced, I have used it, in almost every case with the composite inner lever and never suffered a lever failure. My wife, who does at least as many km as me in training and racing and has done for the last 26 years, since we have been married, has also used Campagnolo all that time - she has never had a lever failure.
Lever failures are rare but can happen. Obviously, the older and more heavily used the lever is, the greater the risk of failure - wear and tear can strike but a typical life for a well fitted lever on a well-maintained gear system is 100,000 km plus. There are composite inner shift levers in the "Campy Test Lab" which have done 1,000,000 shifts and are still intact.
So, commercial over, here's the technical bit:
Repairability depends on model.
There are two basic types of Campagnolo lever - "Escape" or "ErgoPower" (up to 2009) and "PowerShift" or "UltraShift" (after 2009). To be strict, PowerShift actually appeared in 2011 and there is also some crossover between generations - Escape is actually still made in the Xenon range for sale to specific bike manufacturers.
Escape and Powershift can have new inner levers fitted but apart from that are basically not serviceable since the problems that they exhibit are all caused by damage to, or premature wear, in parts that are not available as a spare part - in these cases, "slipping shift" is generally cased by premature wear in the lever internal, frequently cased by the use of mineral-oil based lubricants (although this is not the sole cause).
It is strongly recommended that Escape levers are not lubricated - they are lubed for their initial service life at the factory (generally held to be 3 years) on assembly and if serviced by a Service Centre thereafter are lubricated again the same way, with the same, compatible, lubricants.
The new inner levers that can be fitted can be alloy rather than composite, so in cases where inner lever failure occurs (most frequently incompatible front mech, incompatible chain / crankset or poor set up - or all 3 - this is sometimes a good option.
ErgoPower and UltraShift are fully serviceable. In the case of ErgoPower, the springs and spring mount rings referred to in earlier posts are all freely available although many users prefer to send the levers to a Service Centre such as ourselves, as we have all the spare parts that might be needed along the way (sometimes the job is more than it appears at the outset). In the case of UltraShift, Campagnolo do not supply many of the individual spare parts but at Velotech, we do keep them all on hand and will service UltraShift levers for customers on request.
Finger lever failures are usually a result of excessive force being applied on a repeat basis. As mentioned, this can be an incompatible front mech (wrong pull ratio), or a poor choice of chain (typically KMC) or a poor choice of chainset. Other issues we see from time to time are also poorly assembled or routed cables, low quality, compressible outers, plastc ferrules (not in themselves a cause but often used in combination with poor quality outer because it makes for a cheap package).
One of the worst combinations is also often fitted, especially by bicycle manufacturers, again for reasons of cost - FSA chainset (lacks really good uplift ramps and pins and the rings are actually too far apart for a Campag 10s system) and KMC chain (the link shape doesn't "grab" the already sub-optimal upshift ramps and pins very well).
The end result is that the finger lever is held across too hard, for too long, in an attempt to "force" the change. This results in, after repeats of this over a period of time, a lever failure.
Even in cases where all the parts are Campagnolo and correctly compatible, we see many, many cases of poor set-up. Front mechs too high, too low, wrongly angled ... poor quality clips to hold a braze on mech to a frame with no braze on so that the mech can't be correctly positionned (or in some cases, it can but it isn't) ... incorrect cable tension ... attempts to use a double lever on a triple system - the list goes on.
One's own experience is often a poor indicator - but it's maybe worth saying that I have always used Campagnolo, since I was 16 (I am 54 now) and have raced every season ... since ErgoPower was first introduced, I have used it, in almost every case with the composite inner lever and never suffered a lever failure. My wife, who does at least as many km as me in training and racing and has done for the last 26 years, since we have been married, has also used Campagnolo all that time - she has never had a lever failure.
Ivo
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Maastricht
For me that nearly pefectly describes the situation with the old Mirage Ergopowers packing, but in a slightly different form.
The frame dated from the early Ergopower/STI time with the cable running on the bottom bracket without anny plastic cable guide. After a lot of riding (and shifting) the cables cut through the powdercoating, increasing the cable resistance. Add a lot of mucky roads and long distance audaxing, reducing service intervals. Living at the northern edge of the Ardennes doesn't help for the liftime of your kit
.
