verdict on 8 speed c record ergos? or new 10/11 speed

bit of a dilemma... whilst i want a retro bike i want a usable bike.

i've been offered a set of 8 speed c record ergos at a good price - look ace but fear i'll have issues with incompatibility with modern wheels (i really want modern wheels)

ive read loads of 8 speed conversion threads and truely confused myself!

in the ideal world id use my 10 speed shimano wheels on my modern bike as i like the 2013 campag zondas very much for the price.

to add to the dilemma i can spend £1000 on the cycle to work as of april on new kit which all of a sudden makes new kit cheap and new wheels

thoughts.... (sorry i know this is a bit of an vague open post!)

what ever happens i'm having a c record crank on it!

To use 8 speed erg's and why not you will need a wheel with a campag free hub body. Plently of wheels that come with HG free hubs can be swapped to campag ones.

To make 9/10/11 speed Ca freehub body work with a 8 speed cassette you take a 9 speed veloce cassette (seprate sprockets) and remove one. Then you get a wheels manufacturing spacer kit and use these spacer in place of the veloce cassette spacers. Vola an 8 speed cassette. You wll still need to use a 9 speed chain but that will not be an issue for you 8 speed mechs and chainset.

I cannot make a fair comparison as my shifters don't exactly match but my 8 speed Ergos (Sach badged CarbonBB Marked) are nicer to use than my modern Veloces.
As for the 8 speed issue I just use a 8 speed Shimano cassette and its fine. I suppose you could try various Shimergo versions Try the CTC forum for that .
Or you could go complicated with splitting cassettes . If you have the wheels try the first version first. Buy the shifters anyway. You will always sell them and probably at a profit.
1 last thing. Legend has it that 8 speed cannot be upgraded to 9 speed. But at least 1 web post somewhere has assured me that it has been done with a bit of file work. Of course 9 speed can be turned to 10

the old style ergos had a better mechanical feel and oozed durability. But there are compatibility issues and the corresponding rear mech is getting rare/expensive. If you crash, replacements wont be easy.

The new ones are comfier to hold and better to brake from the tops if youre a hood rider, but mechanicals have been softened to make them less clunky, resulting in a more vague feel to changes.

Of the 2, I'd probably go for new ones as compatibility is easy with shimano 8 or 9 speed back ends.

don't forget that 8 speeders will happily index with almost any old mech. I run mine with an early SR rear mech. Do you want to stick period on the bike or run 10 speed. Thats your choice really. Then tell me where these cheap Ergos are

They will also run 7 speed, I run some on a record/victory 7 speed setup and it works great. Also worth bearing in mind that the chorus and Athena early ones are the same as record (exactly the same part no.s), is you find Athena/chorus listed on eBay they will be much cheaper than those listed as record. I got a pair requiring new hoods and g springs for £50.

I'm confused - you say you want a retro bike but want to use Ergos and modern wheels. That's like saying "I'm vegetarian but I eat chicken and fish". Twenty year old Ergos are still Ergos, still the current technology.

If you're looking to mate a steel frame with modern components then that's fine, there's been some really good examples of that shown on here. Usually the ones where an entire modern groupset is used rather than a mish-mash of old and new parts (I've been guilty of the latter).

I don't ride my old bike enough but that's not because of the friction downtube levers which are perfectly usable, it's more because it's a racing bike with no mudguards and I can't bear riding without them in the rain.

All the advice given here about using 8 speed is spot on but I gave it up when I couldn't get new replacement indexing parts for my Ergos. The thought of buying complete second hand units just to replace the internals seemed very wasteful and a bit of a lottery.

I guess trying to work out all the combinations and going through a few builds is all part of the process of finding out what works for you and what doesn't. After all none of it is permanent.

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a ramble. Good luck with whatever you decide to build and ride.

Mark.

there is also the 3rd way: a record 10 sp with the spider of the c record crankset,the best looking crank ever mad,IMO.

well you convinced me - 8 speed c records bought today

i suspect the theme of the bike will end up all mid 90's c record - but will take longer than anticipated to finance / build!

going to have a play with what wheels / cassettes i've got to start off with.

I've found 7 speed shimano cassettes index very well with 8 speed ergo shifters and rear mech. Useful if you have shimano hubs, you just need a spacer for modern 8/9/10 speed hubs which are widely available. I was running this setup without problem while saving up for original 8 speed campag hubs and cassette.