Campy for Cross

[Parera]

OK, so I had a massive fail tonight. My fault, but honestly trying to build a cross bike on a budget nudged me towards Shimano 105 5700 which I obtained for cheap but I can't get around that these hoods are just buzzkill, numb hands after 5 minutes regardless of how I set up the bike. Even swapped out handlebars and no dice.

So as I'm packing up these parts to send back to where they came from, pondering what my alternatives would be (Shimano 5600/6600 is one); why not an Athena group? It's surprisingly inexpensive if you budgets shop for them, even the same price if you go with alloy cranks.

Anyone here run Campy on a cross rig? Only issue might be those RD pulleys, I can only imagine mud is very fond of those small spaces.

 

[LugHugger]

OK, so I had a massive fail tonight. My fault, but honestly trying to build a cross bike on a budget nudged me towards Shimano 105 5700 which I obtained for cheap but I can't get around that these hoods are just buzzkill, numb hands after 5 minutes regardless of how I set up the bike. Even swapped out handlebars and no dice.

So as I'm packing up these parts to send back to where they came from, pondering what my alternatives would be (Shimano 5600/6600 is one); why not an Athena group? It's surprisingly inexpensive if you budgets shop for them, even the same price if you go with alloy cranks.

Anyone here run Campy on a cross rig? Only issue might be those RD pulleys, I can only imagine mud is very fond of those small spaces.

All of the advice I've seen says stay away from 11 speed for cross. Campag do offer both 10 and 11-speed cross-specific cranks and b/b. Add Centaur shifters and derailleurs and you are good to go ride the mud.

 

[Parera]

All of the advice I've seen says stay away from 11 speed for cross. Campag do offer both 10 and 11-speed cross-specific cranks and b/b. Add Centaur shifters and derailleurs and you are good to go ride the mud.

*slaps forehead*

I always forget about centaur.

Sounds like a plan!

 

[Parera]

Also, any top pull derailleurs compatible with centaur shifters? I know, sacrilege to even contemplate slapping a Shimano XT FD on a campy group, but that little pulley to route a bottom pull on the seat tube really likes collecting mud.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

OK, so I had a massive fail tonight. My fault, but honestly trying to build a cross bike on a budget nudged me towards Shimano 105 5700 which I obtained for cheap but I can't get around that these hoods are just buzzkill, numb hands after 5 minutes regardless of how I set up the bike. Even swapped out handlebars and no dice.

So as I'm packing up these parts to send back to where they came from, pondering what my alternatives would be (Shimano 5600/6600 is one); why not an Athena group? It's surprisingly inexpensive if you budgets shop for them, even the same price if you go with alloy cranks.

Anyone here run Campy on a cross rig? Only issue might be those RD pulleys, I can only imagine mud is very fond of those small spaces.

I wouldn't do 11s on cross...Racing? Get a Veloce group, yep it's all black but same shift innards and BBs, etc as Athena, just 10s.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Also, any top pull derailleurs compatible with centaur shifters? I know, sacrilege to even contemplate slapping a Shimano XT FD on a campy group, but that little pulley to route a bottom pull on the seat tube really likes collecting mud.

Nope, probably not the right 'arc' for the cranks either. Just strip the pulley of the cover, use a bare pulley, glob on lotsa grease, good to go.

 

[DirtyWorks]

OK, so I had a massive fail tonight. My fault, but honestly trying to build a cross bike on a budget nudged me towards Shimano 105 5700 which I obtained for cheap but I can't get around that these hoods are just buzzkill, numb hands after 5 minutes regardless of how I set up the bike. Even swapped out handlebars and no dice.

So as I'm packing up these parts to send back to where they came from, pondering what my alternatives would be (Shimano 5600/6600 is one); why not an Athena group? It's surprisingly inexpensive if you budgets shop for them, even the same price if you go with alloy cranks.

Anyone here run Campy on a cross rig? Only issue might be those RD pulleys, I can only imagine mud is very fond of those small spaces.

The current leader in the UCI World Cup Katie Compton run/ran Campag. It seems to work for her. I don't follow gear so much so maybe she's doing something different now.

Where was the crash? How much shorter/higher is your stem as compared your road bike? One of the unpleasant realities of 'cross is it tests your bike handling.

BustedKnuckle is right. Grease the pulley and go.

 

[LugHugger]

The current leader in the UCI World Cup Katie Compton run/ran Campag. It seems to work for her. I don't follow gear so much so maybe she's doing something different now.

Where was the crash? How much shorter/higher is your stem as compared your road bike? One of the unpleasant realities of 'cross is it tests your bike handling.

BustedKnuckle is right. Grease the pulley and go.

Katie has multiple bikes and a mechanic to fine tune each bike between pit stops. She's a sponsored athlete and rides what her team dictates. For instance, this season she's running Shimano DA.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Katie has multiple bikes and a mechanic to fine tune each bike between pit stops. She's a sponsored athlete and rides what her team dictates. For instance, this season she's running Shimano DA.

Woaah there. Until the Rabbobank deal, she and her husband were a DIY bike team. I don't know how much you watched her racing, but to win she doesn't spend much time in the pits.

Sooo how long/high is your stem? I ask because I see too many locals with 98% of their roadie bar position trying to go fast in cross, then crashing.

 

[LugHugger]

Woaah there. Until the Rabbobank deal, she and her husband were a DIY bike team. I don't know how much you watched her racing, but to win she doesn't spend much time in the pits.

Sooo how long/high is your stem? I ask because I see too many locals with 98% of their roadie bar position trying to go fast in cross, then crashing.

I've watched Katie at plenty of WC races in Europe. She ran SRAM in 2009-10 and 2010-11. So she certainly hasn't run an 11 speed set up. Katie spends as much time in transition as any top pro needs to in order to win races.

 

[Parera]

Woaah there. Until the Rabbobank deal, she and her husband were a DIY bike team. I don't know how much you watched her racing, but to win she doesn't spend much time in the pits.

Sooo how long/high is your stem? I ask because I see too many locals with 98% of their roadie bar position trying to go fast in cross, then crashing.

Road Stem setup: 130mm, -10 rise, 8mm headset dustcover/spacer

Cross setup: 110mm, -6 degree rise, ~20mm of spacers.

The cross bike also is about 0.8 cm shorter in the top tube compared to my road bike.

And yes, I think people do tend to "do it wrong" with cross setups. It's better to be more upright, easier to move your weight weight around, manipulate the bike, etc.

 

[kiwirider]

I run a combination of 2009 Veloce and some older (ie., square taper BB) Record that I had in the shed on my cross bike. That same bike gets used as a commuter - including as a winter bike.

I've had no trouble with the bike - in fact I like the set up far better and I think it works far better than the Shi-t-mano that came on the bike originally. I've had no more problems with shifting than what you'd expect from any bike in cross conditions. Haven't really put it to the "crash test" yet though (says he, with a quick tap on the wooden desk ...) ...

And before you go buying Centaur, go check out Campag's tech documents for the spare parts ... You'll find that, apart from the bits with the gruppo name on them, Veloce and Centaur are pretty much the same (in fact, until 11 came along, Veloce even used bits from the Record gruppo) ...

And Lughugger - when Compton was running Campag, it was during the phase where you voided any warranties if you used the stuff on the dirt. (Their official line was "not recommended for ...") So she was buying all her own stuff. I know that she changed at the end of '08/'09 - went to Shimano, but again unsponsored (hence she blacked out all references to product names on the gear - if they wouldn't pay her, she wouldn't advertise for them) until she picked up the sponsored ride with Planet Bike - which is when the SRAM came in. So most of the time has just been her and her (Kiwi boy) husband as the team ...

 

[Parera]

Oddly enough we slapped the Shimano 105 onto my BMC tonight (she is just asking to be ridden, couldn't wait to get a Record group) and the hoods weren't as bad. Maybe my abs in the more aggressive stance is taking pressure off my hands? /shrug

Dear lord, Shimano on a BMC road bike and Campy on a Giant Cross frame...I'm doing this backwards.