Campag 9 speed/11 speed compatibility

Good morning,

I have some components spare which I want to bring across to knock together.

I have 9 speed Centaur shifters from this era:



I have found a modern 11 speed mech for a giveaway price and i'm wondering if it will be compatible with my shifters to get a 9 speed setup?



I gather that 9/10 speed are both compatible but 11 speed is new territory for me and with the shifters being a bit older I am pretty lost! Wheels are 9 speed Campagnolo Khamsin.

No, I don't think they are - there have been changes to the actuation ratios

Re:

The pictured Veloce rear gear is 10s and shares actuation ratios with both 9s made since 2000 as 10s. It will work fine with your 9s levers so long as the cable runs are not too convoluted and the levers are in good condition in terms of their indexing.

The levers can wear internally meaning that especially in the low gears, the gear cable can end up slightly preloaded. This can cause a set up problem with 10s RDs made since 2007 apart from Record and Chorus, as the return spring tension was made lighter so complex cable runs in combination with relatively high internal friction in the Ergopower lever (compared to the Escape / PowerShift designs they are made to work with) can cause set up issues.

I'd stress that if your 9s levers are in good working order, this should not affect you.

It's worth reiterating to use all Campagnolo cabling and to make sure to use metal, not plastic ferrules.

11sRDs (currently Athena and upwards) do indeed have different actuation ratios and cannot be mixed with 10s systems without resorting to modification of the components, non standard cable positioning and / or the use of Shift-mates or similar devices.

Hope that helps ...

KRs
Graeme

Re:

Just to be a little contrary - I'm running late 90s 9 spd athena shifters with brand new 11 spd athena front and rear mechs quite happily!
YMMV...

Re: Re:

insanefred":337squud said:

Just to be a little contrary - I'm running late 90s 9 spd athena shifters with brand new 11 spd athena front and rear mechs quite happily!
YMMV...

Click to expand...

Might work for you but in different circs might not work.
Also depends on how you define "work" ...

There are cases where apparently incompatible parts can be made to work ..if its a late 90s shifter, the cable spool may be the older diameter with a different click to click cable recovery to those made post model year 2000.

We have several examples in our teaching resources of things that we have made to work, or at least function ... but that we wouldn't recommend for any number of "hidden" reasons. Manufacturers and SCs have to think about adverse consequences that end users might not consider, related to everything from frame geometry to the shape of the bottom of the seatstay, to durability of materials in shifters under greater than designed for stress, etc, etc.

Thrre is generally a good reason, apart from just the marketing departments take on how best to sell a new product, for the recommendations made. In Campags case, a typical product development takes 4 to 6 years. About half that time is various testing so all the bases are covered ... Which is why I was careful with my caveats ...

Re:

Looking at http://blog.artscyclery.com/science-beh ... atibility/, the derailleur ratio for 10-11 speed is same as new 9spd. So it should work.

Though i'd revisit this thread as i've been riding the bike for a while - under load, ie uphill, I am victim of chain skipping which is so annoying! It seems as if there is too much tension in the larger cogs. I've adjusted the tension so many times but still can't get it right.

I'm using Modolo downtube bosses if that makes any difference.

Took the bike our yesterday with a view to nailing down the chain skipping issue.

Didn't get very far up a climb until it started happening to no avail. Could my shifters be knackered? They are 9 speed Centaur items which worked fine on a previous bike before fitting them on the current bike. I have a full Chorus groupset including shifters on another bike and there's a distinct clicking sound when engaging in each gear, which I don't get with my Centaurs.