Road and MTB chain compatibility...?!

[Kalahari Vegmot]

Thanks. My situation is as follows:

 

Doing the IM 70.3 next weekend, and my dad gave me a really good set of wheels for my roadbike, but they have a Campagnolo freebody. I have Shimano Ultegra 10spd groupset on my roadbike. 

 

Serviced my bike yesterday, and my chain needs to be replaced and I already have a new 10spd Sram mtb chain in my spares box. Guess it would be easier to replace the freebody and use the Sram chain.

Oh I see. Yah but you're screwed wrt campy cassette and shimano shifters though. The spacing is different.

 

So freebody replacement is the only way to make that work unfortunately.

[100Tours]

Thanks. My situation is as follows:

 

Doing the IM 70.3 next weekend, and my dad gave me a really good set of wheels for my roadbike, but they have a Campagnolo freebody. I have Shimano Ultegra 10spd groupset on my roadbike. 

 

Serviced my bike yesterday, and my chain needs to be replaced and I already have a new 10spd Sram mtb chain in my spares box. Guess it would be easier to replace the freebody and use the Sram chain.

 

I've seen a few people run a 10s Campy cluster on a Shimano drivetrain with no significant issues. The specs are however slightly different (Campy has different, and varying spacing between the cogs) which cycle shops and manufacturers will be quick to point out.

Edited May 22, 2018 by 100Tours

[100Tours]

Oh I see. Yah but you're screwed wrt campy cassette and shimano shifters though. The spacing is different.

 

So freebody replacement is the only way to make that work unfortunately.

 

True that you can't use shimano shifters with a campy derailleur, but using a shimano shifter/deraileur with a campy cassette is possible 

[Schnavel]

True that you can't use shimano shifters with a campy derailleur, but using a shimano shifter/deraileur with a campy cassette is possible 

 

Indeed. A lot of people who own old Zipp wheels are using this as a work around for 11 speed.

 

The old Zipp hubs only allow for 10 speed Sram / Shimano, but the Campy freebody for those wheels can take 11 speed. So instead of selling the wheels (especially an expensive disk wheel), people replace the freebody with a Campy one, run an 11 speed cassette and use it with their 11 speed Sram / Shimano drive trains.

[Kalahari Vegmot]

True that you can't use shimano shifters with a campy derailleur, but using a shimano shifter/deraileur with a campy cassette is possible 

So it works. Interesting....

 

How well? 

[100Tours]

So it works. Interesting....

 

How well? 

 

Pretty well, for once. 10s is good, 11s is seamless. 

 

From a tech point of view it seems that the top pulley on the Shimano derailleurs is slightly less fixed than the Campy equivalent so they are able tolerate the slight difference in the cassettes (also to accommodate the constant spacing between the Shimano sprockets, vs Campy's variable sprocket spacing, of which the variable spacing would better match the RD movement 'curve'). I'm guessing that it is impossible to get the derailleur increments to be exactly constant across the range of gears, and Shimano {loose pulley} and Campy {variable sprocket spacing}  have come up with different solutions to this problem.

 

Using a Shimano cassette on a Campy drivetrain works less well because the Campy RD 'expects' a more precise alignment between pulley and sprocket.

Edited May 22, 2018 by 100Tours

[Kalahari Vegmot]

Pretty well, for once. 

 

From a tech point of view it seems that the top pulley on the Shimano derailleurs is slightly less fixed than the Campy equivalent so they are able tolerate the slight difference in the cassettes (also to accommodate the constant spacing between the Shimano sprockets, vs Campy's variable sprocket spacing, which would better match the RD movement 'curve'- I'm guessing that it is impossible to get the derailleur increments to be exactly constant across the range of gears, and Shimano {loose pulley} and Campy {variable sprocket spacing}  have come up with different solutions to this problem).

 

Using a Shimano cassette on a Campy drivetrain works less well because the Campy RD 'expects' a more exact alignment between pulley and sprocket.

Schweet.

 

Well then it seems it would work. I apolagize for my error.

[Wil6]

Oh I see. Yah but you're screwed wrt campy cassette and shimano shifters though. The spacing is different.

 

So freebody replacement is the only way to make that work unfortunately.

Just an update on this. The campy cassette works perfectly with my Shimano groupset, and with a 10spd Sram MTB chain.